Over the past year, our community has been preparing to launch a new model of faith formation in the community. Our first step taken was our staff has read and discussed a book called Faith & Families. The premise of the book is that parishes should be doing a better job helping parents raise their children as Catholics. They should offer more family friendly activities, help families connect what happens at home to what happens at church, and should involved parents more in the faith formation of their children.
Next step was the formation of a Faith Formation Commission, a group of parents, catechists, staff and board members who met four times this past year to discuss and help plan for this transition. They created promotional materials, conducted interviews for the bulletin and help to finalize the plans for this new approach.
Thirdly, we offered workshops to all the parents called "Strong Catholic families, Strong Catholic Youth" where data was presented from the National Study of Youth and Religion which shows that teens who are more involved in Church activities along with their parents and siblings are much less likely to engage in risky behavior (sex, drugs, alcohol) and do significantly better in school. These workshops were presented so that parents could be made aware of the research, but also as a way to further promote our new approach. At the end of each presentation, parents were given an opportunity to fill out a survey that asked them what they need to help them raise their children as strong Catholics, what else should St. Matthias be doing? One of the things parents said was to offer family service projects. We listened and are building those in to our program monthly.
Our new approach is called GIFT : Generations in Faith Together. We do view this as a GIFT to the parish, a way to help parents connect what happens at home to what happens at church and a way to help them learn what their children are learning. We will have monthly gatherings for the entire parish, with break out groups for the grade levels and adults. Fr. Craig will lead the adult sessions and our volunteer catechists will lead the small groups.
We are also offering a youth ministry type program for 5-8th graders and high school kids. This is an additional way for them to connect with their peers and begin to "own" their faith in preparation for the promises they make in and after confirmation.
The benefits of this approach:
-gatherings are only once a month so families have time to spend with each other and participate in parish activities which are really "the faith formation program"
-parents get to learn what their children are learning
-high school aged youth have a forum after Confirmation
-more attention can be given to fun activities and service projects
-the parish can become a more vibrant worshipping community as adults connect with one another
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