The Church’s catechetical mission aims to help the faithful to grow in both human and Christian maturity, enriching the whole of life with the leaven of the Gospel. To be faithful and effective it will offer, over time, a comprehensive and systematic presentation and exploration of the core elements of Catholic faith and practice—a complete initiation into a Catholic way of life. Consequently, appropriate goals and content will embrace all the faith dimensions of an adult life—for example, understanding and communicating the faith, skills needed for personal growth, the experience of family life, relationships, public service, and concern for the common good. Meeting the challenge will be both demanding and rewarding. For guidance, we offer the following goals, principles, content, and approaches.
Major goals in adult faith formation
1. Invite and Enable Ongoing Conversion to Jesus in Holiness of Life.
In response to God’s call to holiness, our faith and life as adult disciples are grounded in developing a personal relationship with Jesus, “the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:69, Mk 1:24). As its first goal, faith formation helps adults “to acquire an attitude of conversion to the Lord.” It leads them to recognize and repent of sin in their hearts and lives, to seek reconciliation through the sacraments, and to embrace the invitation and challenge of an ever deepening faith in Jesus
2. Promote and Support Active Membership in the Christian Community.
As adult believers, we learn and live our faith as active members of the Church. Accordingly, faith formation helps adults make “a conscious and firm decision to live the gift and choice of faith through membership in the Christian community,” accepting “co-responsibility for the community’s mission and internal life.” Adults not only receive the ministries of the Christian community, they also contribute to its life and mission through the generous stewardship of their gifts.
3. Call and Prepare Adults to Act as Disciples in Mission to the World.
The Church and its adult faithful have a mission in and to the world: to share the message of Christ to renew and to transform the social and temporal order. Accordingly, faith formation seeks to help each adult believer become “more willing and able to be a Christian disciple in the world.” As salt of the earth and light for the world (cf. Mt 5:13-16), adult disciples give witness to God’s love and caring will so that, in the power of the Spirit, they renew the face of the earth.
Sourced from: Adult Faith Formation | USCCB
Ministries
- Resource Library: manage the self-service libraries in each church vestibule that contain CD’s, DVD’s, and books on the Catholic Faith.
- Rite of Initiation of Adults: Prepares people who are interested in becoming Catholic to receive the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist.
- Sacristans: Ensure all liturgical supplies and objects are ready and available for Masses.
- Sunday Readings Study Group: Study and discuss the readings from the previous Sunday.