PARISHES REPRESENTED: PURPOSE: Life-long Formation: Childhood (ages 6 to 18 years) The meeting was called to order by Sister Anne Bryan Smollin. A brief
discussion of last month’s meeting followed. Beginning prayers and readings were done. A preliminary discussion of tonight’s meeting, and what we hope
to accomplish, was outlined by Sister Anne regarding what children in
the age group of 6 to 18 are looking for within the church. SISTER ANNE: Basically those age groups—we have to think what are
the needs that really and truly we have to look at. What are children
looking for? It’s almost like the heart of the religion really hits
the child during those stages. So, what we want to do is look at the needs.
You received a lot of material about the Catholic schools and all of the
data that was associated with that. I’m assuming you all read that. But in a lot of ways children get in awe of the mystery. But as you start
to grow and as you get into this six to eighteen group, we have to look
at rituals, ways that people were born, ways that we live. And that’s
really at the heart of what we are going to do today. We’re going
to really look at different ways that we can be able to look at what we
have, what we need, and how we meet the needs of those children between
the ages of six and eighteen. DESIRED OUTCOME OF TONIGHT’S MEETING SISTER ANNE: There are four questions, although I would like us just
to look at the first three for a moment. And this all fits in with what
we have been talking about, not only what we have talked about as we come
together, but also all of the background that we received in the handouts.
And these are the questions. And what I would like us to do for a few
moments is just have a few moments of discussion as a group with the first
three questions listed: • what areas do we wish to strengthen or improve as we meet the
needs of these children, their parents, and families? Just for a few seconds—and perhaps we could do it as a whole group
just for a few moments because we have a task to do. The next question
is going to be the recommendations to the Bishop and the Deanery. So,
what we want to do is hold off on that for a few seconds, and get a little
bit of feedback. What are some of these kinds of things, what areas do
we wish to improve. (A participant requested an introduction of the people at each table.
A brief moment was taken to address that and make introductions.) SISTER ANNE: Let me suggest that perhaps it might be helpful—not
the whole meeting tonight, but the first part of this meeting—as
you start to say something, just identify yourself and what parish you’re
from, and then make a comment. And maybe we could just start to get to
know each other on a name basis with that. But let’s go back to this. Because this is only going to be about
five minutes we’re going to spend on this, on these three questions.
Because then we’re going to move to what you want to do with it.
So, surface for yourself, and surface for all of us. What areas do we
wish to strengthen or improve as we meet these needs, and what does this
planning group want to do to develop these needs, and what can we do immediately
to promote the faith formation? Let us have some feedback from some of
you. Some of you are dying to say something. Go ahead. BILL MIELKE: My name is Bill Mielke, I’m from Our Lady of Mercy
parish. I was talking to parents that have children in this age bracket,
and it would be safe to say that they’re disappointed in what we
offer. The fact is that their children don’t know the basics, they
don’t understand the beatitudes, they barely can mention the ten
commandments. This individual said that we should go back to the old way.
Now, I don’t suggest Baltimore catechism—I think that she
was thinking about that—because getting a hundred on a religion
test doesn’t mean that you’re practicing your faith. But she
notices a de-emphasis of many of the traditions and practices that she
grew up with that identified us as Roman Catholics, that she looked forward
to when she was going to Mass. SISTER ANNE: Okay, Bill. Who else, who else is sitting here and has feedback?
Some of it was to ask other people. SISTER JAMES MARIE: I’m Sister James Marie, I’m principal
of St. Ambrose. I’m just wondering why we don’t have our schools—the
few of us that have schools in the area—filled with the kids. Because—and
I’m not knocking any religious ed. program—we have it here
at St. Ambrose and they’re wonderful—but they’re only
one hour a week. And we have it every day. And I wonder if there’s
something we could do to get out there. Because the school is the heart
of the parish. And we were talking here briefly that this group is kind
of lumped into one age of 6 to 18, and that might be a large group to
deal with. SISTER ANNE: Sister James, good. What else, please? Could you identify
yourself? JOHN KENNEDY: John Kennedy from Our Lady of Mercy. Maybe along those
same lines, how do we get children within this age group to participate
more in church activities? Maybe not necessarily the Mass, but just activities
within the parish. SISTER ANNE: Thank you. Geoff? FR. GEOFFREY BURKE: Geoff Burke from Our Lady of Assumption. I really
feel that this whole meeting is kind of at a disadvantage. Because if
you look at this age group from a developmental program, this is absolutely
absurd. I’m sorry. We have at least four different developmental
groups here that we’re supposed to talk about from 6 years old to
18 years old, which is absolutely absurd. I’m sorry. So, I don’t
know who put this together, but they don’t have children. I don’t
have children, and I know that. SISTER ANNE: Could you make sure that’s in those notes? FR. GEOFFREY BURKE: That I can talk about, all right. You know, I think
if we’re going to get any headway in this between 6 years old and
18 years old, you’ve got to develop it into the levels that, you
know, are represented there from—you know, from primary, to middle
school, to high school, to post. I mean, it just doesn’t make sense
to try to group this together. Because children are going to respond in
different ways. And, I think after 28 years in ordination you kind of
learn also that, as much as people want to go back into the box, into
safe areas of learning repeated, that’s not where they are. I’m
sorry. There’s a different— you’ve got to move beyond
that if we are going to touch these kids. Not all kids are going to respond
to the same program in every single parish. I know—and right here in Latham—that St. Ambrose has a wonderful
program of Life Teen that doesn’t hit everybody in Latham. We have
a lot of kids who go back and forth between the two parishes because what
we offer at St. Ambrose is different from what is happening at Assumption.
And so, you know, I think we have got to be open to those possibilities
and sharing our programs together. That’s enough. SISTER ANNE: Thank you, Geoff. Next? JON SOZEK: Jon Sozek, St. Francis de Sales. We in our parish have the
same concern about bunching the different developmental stages together.
But we thought that one of the major focuses for tonight that would maybe
help us to understand the whole question of it is parental involvement.
We even just said this in our group now that, a lot of times, the parents
will just drop off the kids, and we’re all familiar with this. But
how can we increase both what they’re doing at home with the kids
and their involvement at the parish. That’s helpful in understanding
all of these age groups. SISTER ANNE: Thank you, Jon. George? GEORGE CLINE: George Cline, St. Clare’s. I think there is a big
difference between children that go to parochial school and children that
go to public school and the amount of religious education that they get
in any given week. Because the parochial school children get religion
classes every day, where the public school children get it one hour a
week. So, those kids are at a disadvantage to begin with. And their parents
have to take some kind of responsibility for filling in the gap. It’s
impossible for a public school child to get all of the religious education
that they’re going to need by going one hour on a Saturday morning. SISTER ANNE: Tom? FR. TOM KONOPKA: Tom Konopka, St. Clare’s. A couple of comments.
One, we’re asking about the needs of—I’m going to specifically
look at high school age—we’re talking about them. And my experience
with high school age kids—which is a lot—they know what they
want. We have to dialogue. It’s not about us imposing on them what
we think they need. The second thing is—and I’ll stick up for the public school
kids, being one myself—Sister, with all due respect, just because
they get religion here doesn’t mean the parents are reinforcing
it. And are the kids here at Mass on Sunday? As a public school kid, I
got religion at home. My parents taught me. And, you know, we can give
them all the head knowledge we want, but their hearts are what need to
be informed, and that can only happen at home. SISTER ANNE: Thank you, Tom. Dave? FR. DAVID NOONE: Dave Noone, St. Francis. I kind of want to second what
Geoff said, and what Jon said. We met this afternoon. We broke up our
meeting into concerns and suggestions. But one of the concerns we thought
about: to ask us to come together tonight and to discuss faith formation
in two hours, going all the way from elementary school to high school,
was just a waste of time to be blunt, and then at the end of this discussion
not knowing what other parishes are doing. And even in our small planning
group, many of our planning members didn’t even know what our parish
was doing. I mean, they know there’s a program but they’re
not into the specifics. So, by the time you just found what people were doing, and what worked,
and what didn’t work—I mean, even if you could do that in
two hours—and then to say what are we going to do, what are we going
to recommend to the diocese, our concern is we would be better off if
we weren’t this large a group, and if we had a smaller task force
to spend several weeks looking at faith formation at various levels, and
then came back to this larger group and make some recommendations. For
us to discuss this in two hours and come up with reasonable suggestions,
I think is just ludicrous. SISTER ANNE: Thank you, Dave. Nancy? NANCY STREETER: Nancy Streeter from St. Francis. I’m kind of piggybacking
on what Jon and Father mentioned. I think we’re trying to look at
faith formation in terms of a continuous process from birth through high
school and beyond. And that we need to be thinking of faith formation
as more than preparing for the next sacrament, and that we need to be
working with our young people at every age to incorporate faith in their
life. What does faith mean? How do I walk in my faith when I’m eight
years old, when I’m ten years old, when I’m in middle school?
What does that mean to me? And that we have to be really very specific
about where kids are developmentally. I think one of the first thoughts that we had on the groups that were
presented in the materials is that they’re unrealistic. For example,
one group was 14 to 18. I think anyone knows that you don’t have
14 and 18 years old in the same group. Their needs are very, very different.
And I would ask that we begin to look—in developing our programs,
look at it developmentally, looking at the age groups more realistically.
And to piggyback on what Father and John said, we really need to look
at this in-depth. If we’re going to do anything concrete, if we’re
going to do anything that’s going to have any meaning, it has to
be more than an hour a month. SISTER ANNE: Thank you, Nancy. Ann? ANN WALSH: Ann Walsh, St. Clare’s. We interviewed our youth minister
last week (Patty Clark). We interviewed her last week and she talked about
the program at St. Clare’s. And after they’re confirmed (which
is about 15 or 16), there isn’t anything. So, 17 and 18 isn’t
even on the drawing board. But they have a long-range plan that will take
a while to get into place, where they would involve the family in all
age levels instead of people just dropping kids off. It’s a hard
goal to reach, but it’s there, they’re working on it, looking
for folks to do that. Some of the classes only get an hour. SISTER ANNE: Please? ROSEMARY GAVIN: Rosemary Gavin, Our Lady of the Assumption. I’m
kind of in a strange position because I’m a youth minister, but
I’m also on the board of ??? high school. So, I see both sides of
the coin. I’m also a person who went all through Catholic schools.
And I can tell you that some of the young people that I graduated with,
who I went all through Catholic school with, to attend Mass on a weekly
basis, they still call me Sister Rosemary because I do and they do not. There are a number of young people in the faith formation program who
come to faith formation sessions, but not to Mass on weekends. But the
ones who do are the ones who have connected, not just with their parents,
but with another adult, with other people, with other groups in the parish.
They do service together in the food bank—“Oh, I know Mrs.
So and So, we go to the food bank together”. Or, “I know Mr.
So and So, he’s in the choir with us”. It’s that relationship
that makes them feel like they’re inclusive of something. I think
we need to consider that in our role here when we’re trying to plan
what we think is best for young people. How many of us are actually out
there all the time reaching out, making relationships with young people,
and considering ourselves more the wisdom keepers rather than know-it-alls? DOLORES MURPHY: Dolores Murphy, St. Ambrose. I would like to pick up
on two things that were said. One is I think the age differences are unrealistic.
But I felt as we left last month, that focusing on these little kids was
unrealistic, that we have to start with the parents. I mean, those little
kids aren’t going to learn anything if they don’t get it at
home. And I think maybe it’s completely backwards, but that’s
my take on it. I think the parents have to be involved. That’s one
of the needs we’re not meeting for those children. SISTER ANNE: David? FR. DAVID NOONE: Dave Noone, St. Francis. I’m going to piggyback
on that. When we met this afternoon, we had the “concern”
side and the “suggestion” side. The suggestion side was that
we need to really—we have neglected the parents. We have put so
much focus on the kids—high school kids, little kids, sacramental
programs. And when we get the parents in for sacramental preparation with
the kids, that’s about it. Our expectations of the parents are very
minimal. And we decided at St. Francis that we really have got to work
on that side of the coin. So, I agree with you. SISTER ANNE: Please? SANDY ZELKA: Sandy Zelka. Yes, I think it’s unrealistic to lump
this whole group together. I have four kids in school, and you couldn’t
put them all in one room and make it work. But I think what they’re
looking at when we talk about faith formation is we have to look at that
mystery time and something they can hold on to. And I think doing that
we have to look at the way we are educating them in that once-a-week process.
If they go to Catholic ed. every day, they’re going to have a different
viewpoint on it. But I know my kids, if you don’t do this—
make this like a ritual every day, if you don’t pray at dinner and
things like that, make it part of your life, they’re not going to
hold on to it. It’s like anything. It’s just like what they
learn in school, if you don’t keep building on it, they’re
not going to grab on to it. So, I think we need to take the parents and
make them part of the education process instead of them just checking
off the sheet saying I dropped the kid off, they made their sacraments,
it’s up to you now. So, I think maybe it’s the education process
again with the parents, we need to call that out. SISTER ANNE: Please? BILL MIELKE: Bill Mielke from Our Lady of Mercy. Talking from the parents’
perspective, my wife and I have been intimately involved in our church
and children’s upbringing from day one. I might suggest that—my
feelings—don’t look down on the parents, because we have tried
everything we can; yet all three children have rejected their faith. My
daughter at 16 said, “Forget it, dad, I’ve had it”.
I don’t know what’s missing. But it obviously is, because
my children do not practice their faith any more. MARY NICHOLSON: My name is Mary Nicholson. I’m from Our Lady of
Mercy. And I really think that, in looking at faith formation, we’re
looking at it wrong. We’re looking at it as education. And the whole
goal is to make them disciples, and the ultimate goal is with families.
Parents are the first catechists of their children, and they need to be
empowered; not looked down upon, but empowered. And we need to make the
children disciples and families disciples. Where else are they going to
go? We can teach them all the book knowledge we want, we can have groups
with them, but they’re not going to stay unless they fall in love.
So, if we as a community—and parents can’t do it alone, and
we can’t do it alone—we have to work together and somehow
form something to give them the nurturing that everybody needs so that
they can become disciples for us. STEVE MAWN: Steve Mawn, St. Francis de Sales. Sort of to build on what
Mary was saying, at St. Francis de Sales we were talking about it today.
The important thing is not only to simply say, well, the parents are the
primary educators, but to realize that we have to do what we can as programs
and parents to support and encourage the families in their struggle. Having
been a faith formation director in the parish, I know a lot of times parents
-- “Steve, my kid doesn’t want to go to classes any more,
but they have to go to get confirmed in 11th grade.” There’s
a constant struggle. And it’s, like, “What can we do? I told
them you have to keep going until you get confirmed or they graduate”.
And that’s it. But the thing is to encourage the parents, because
they are facing a struggle trying to share their faith with their children
in an environment we exist in. It’s another world today. We live
as Christians, and yet we are called upon to kind of push them. So, we
have to do what we can to support those people who are trying to pass
the faith on to the next generation. JON SOZEK: Jon Sozek, St. Francis. Just to clarify what I had said before.
I in no way wanted to blame the parents at all. I don’t think it’s
a matter of empowerment, I think it’s a matter of don’t put
the cart before the horse. So, I think the thing I would like to suggest
is empower parents; both encourage them and empower them. SISTER ANNE: Thank you, Jon. Anybody else? I have one recommendation
for the deanery. Please? WENDY KISSELBACK: Wendy Kisselback, from St. Ambrose. It seems to me
that what everyone is saying is going from grade 6 to 12, no one here
wants to lump the one group together. It seems to me that everyone wants
to do an in-depth study of how we can do this together. And maybe that’s
what we want to recommend. We want to recommend that we break down this
age group into its appropriate groups, and then take smaller groups and
study it in-depth, not one hour a month; that it’s more important
than the time we gave it today. SISTER ANNE: Thanks, Wendy. Please, Nancy? NANCY STREETER: I think I was going to say the same thing. She said it
very nicely. NANCY OCEMOGLU: Nancy Ocemoglu, St. Ambrose. I guess what I’m hearing
in the group at large is perhaps there needs to be clear guidelines in
religious ed., less activities such as fun and games and crafts, but maybe
perhaps emphasis on reverence to church and the Blessed Sacrament, perhaps
participation in alter serving and activities like this. BILL MIELKE: Bill Mielke from Our Lady of Mercy. Our religion program
should not operate around baseball season. And I would suggest to the
deaneries to encourage and……empower, I guess—I can’t
think of the right word—for parishes to put together a religious
education program that’s going to meet the needs of the community.
And if you’re going to run it until the kids are nearly out of school,
then you run it until the kids are nearly out of school. Because I was
talking with another family, and this mother forced her son to go to religious
education class instead of going to football practice when they had it
scheduled and he would arrive late. I asked the kid was he scarred for
the rest of his life and is now going to be an axe murderer. And he started
laughing and he said, “No”. I said, “Were you happy
with your mother?” He said, “No”. I said, “Are
you glad she did it?” And he said, “Yeah”. So, when
I hear this word “empowering”, I can remember as a scout leader
that we kind of had to tailor our program to baseball because they all
disappeared. So we stopped in the beginning of May instead of going, say,
right through to July. And I think they just should stand up to the plate
and say, “You know what, this is the way it is”. Don’t
scream at them if they don’t show, but try to encourage them in
a loving way to continue to have the children come. And I believe if they’re
able to put together whatever the program might be that is exciting for
all of them, and they want to go there without question, then we’d
all be better off. MARY BETH BUCHNER: Mary Beth Buchner from St. Francis. As part of an
in-depth study of the age groups and stuff, I think it would be great
if we can have some focus groups to actually hear from the people who
we’re talking about, and see what their input is. SISTER ANNE: Super. Thank you. Please? CAROLINE GOMEZ: Caroline Gomez, St. Ambrose. I would like just to put
a plug in for the Catholic schools. I think there’s a big need for
them. And in talking with people, the thing I found is they don’t
even mind so much if teachers are accredited or not. The problem is tuition.
And I don’t think it’s just right here in our area, it’s
all across the country. Schools are closing. And I just would like to
say that I would like to see us be able to do something more for our schools
monetarily, and perhaps we can do more as far as even buying supplies
and stuff to get better use for our money and work with suburban schools,
with inner city schools, so we can use the resources of both. Because
I think they do meet a great need. And a lot more parents need to send
their kids, at least in my talking with parents. SISTER ANNE: One of the things that you pointed out that you didn’t
restate was tuition. She said she thinks that’s a piece of the problem. SISTER JAMES MARIE: Sister James, St. Ambrose. I just can’t sit
here, I have to stand up. I would hate to ask everybody out here right
now how many support Catholic schools. But what I think the Bishop—we
should say to the Bishop is where do the Catholic schools fit in with
this? If everybody supported the Catholic schools, the tuition would be
down. I just want to say—I know you’re all talking about religious
ed., I kind of sense that, and I want the school—that’s why
I’m here—to see where we’re going to fit into this. TERRY RYAN: Terry Ryan, St. Francis. I interviewed four families with
kids all through this age group, and most of what I have heard tonight
they touched on or a lot of it. One thing in particular they asked for,
though, was some sort of neighborhood-supported bible study groups. If
you’re not going to be able to do it churchwide or parishwide, get
the parish to help small groups in neighborhoods to form bible study starting
with the kids. Bring the families together, the mothers, the fathers,
and the kids, and do a weekly bible study in addition to one hour of faith
formation. But to be realistic, they said you’re going to have to
do it on a neighborhood by neighborhood basis, get four or five families
that go to St. Francis and live in my neighborhood and get Jon, or Father,
or whoever can help us, to put those type of things together. That’s
one specific suggestion every one of them made. SISTER ANNE: Carol? CAROLINE GOMEZ: Just really fast. Father Dubois keeps saying if everybody
would die in our parish, we wouldn’t need tuition. There was an
article in the Evangelist not too long ago, and there are tuition-free
schools in a diocese in Wichita, Kansas, and other places. Maybe we could
get in touch with some of these guys and get ideas. Because I think we
would see our enrollments soar. SISTER ANNE: Okay. These are things that we can bring back and we will
put on that piece of paper to go back to the deanery or whatever. I’m going to move you to the next section where—we have all
agreed I think, and I heard you all say, that to look at the age of 6
to 18 is almost impossible. So, now I’m going to ask us to divide
into three different categories: elementary, which is 5 to 10 years old,
which would be grades K to 5; the younger adolescents, which is 11 to
13, which is grade 6 to 8; and then the last group is 14 to 18. NANCY STREETER: Sister, could we have four groups? I think we all agree
that if you’re 16 to 18, you don’t belong in a 14 or 15 age
group. SISTER ANNE: So, you want us to break 14 to 16; 16 to 18? Okay. We are
going to do it in four groups. But this is the way we’re going to
do it. This group here and this group here are going to do the first group,
elementary 5 to 10, grades K to 5. This group here and this group here
will do younger adolescents, 11 to 13, grades 6 to 8. This group here
and this group here will do the older adolescents, 14 to 16. And that
group there will do 16 to 18. FR. DAVID NOONE: I think this is insane. I think you’re asking
a group of people in five minutes to brainstorm. That gives us a minute
apiece? SISTER ANNE: Well, it’s just to start to say: “What do we
already have?” FR. DAVID NOONE: Within five minutes, and then we have ten minutes of
discussion, and all of a sudden it’s 9:00 o’clock and that’s
it. We’re done with this whole piece. And now next month we have
another thirty pages to read. I just think it’s— DOLORES MURPHY: The other thing I would like to recommend is that maybe
we should be assigned to groups that we’re interested in. You know,
like maybe I don’t know what’s in place in this age group,
but I know something about a different age group. This is too important. SISTER ANNE: All right. Hold off for two seconds and we can change this.
It’s all flexible in this group. Because there are two pieces. The
first piece that I said about five minutes to get you started to say “what
do you already have?”. Part two of that is to move to who nurtured
your faith at this level; what do you recall about your faith development;
in light of our present culture and realities, what is needed to nurture
the faith beyond this age level and their families; how does the parish
community celebrate milestones at this level; and what do families with
children of this age group need from the faith community? That’s
the task, that’s what we’re supposed to look at. So, I only
said five minutes to get you going on what we have. I agree and I’m
sure you agree. We’re asked to do a huge thing in a very short amount
of time. And all we can do is try to come up with things and throw them
out and see where we go with them. But let me say: Do you want to move
to groups where you feel more comfortable with the age group? Is that
the feeling of the people in this room? If somebody wants to move, please
feel free to move. The groups are elementary over here, and that’s
K through 5, and it’s 5 to 10. These two tables are 11 to 13 years
old, grade 6 to 8. These two tables are 14 to 16. And that group over
there is 16 to 18. Please feel free to move. (A five minute brainstorming session followed.) SISTER ANNE: So, you had about five minutes, and I realize how frustrated
you people are, but I also know that if we can just kind of stay with
this for a few minutes, quickly, as we really just listen to each other,
maybe we can help each other get through this frustration a bit. Let’s start with these two groups here. What do you have in place?
Now, this is only the elementary; so, this is the 5 to 10 years old, grades
K to 5. Just give us quickly what’s on your list. • catholic schools SISTER ANNE: This group here, K through 5. GROUP 2 • catholic schools SISTER ANNE: Wonderful. Now we’re going to move to the next group,
which is adolescents, ages 11 to 13, grades 6 to 8. GROUP 3 • day retreats SISTER ANNE: And this group here, same age group. GROUP 4 • There is a strong school model, but it was thought that the children
were lectured to as opposed to being more involved, and that it felt more
like school as opposed to beginning to learn how to practice your faith. SISTER ANNE: All right. Now we’re going to move to the older group
of ages 14 to 16. That group back there, please. GROUP 5 Well, we didn’t really write anything down. We didn’t get
there, but: • Life Teen, we touched on that. SISTER ANNE: This group here has the same age group. Could we have that? GROUP 6 • Different parishes have Life Teen, where they have a special
Mass and music for the teens SISTER ANNE: This is the older group, it’s ages 16 to 18. We only
have one group with this age. GROUP 7: I think that Nancy reported for St. Ambrose, and a lot of the
things the other group said basically are happening in St. Ambrose, and
that maybe the other parishes—once the kids have gone through Confirmation,
there isn’t really much in the way of formal programs. SISTER ANNE: Now, the next thing that they ask us to do—do you
remember that model child that we had, that picture last month that we
had—you’re supposed to now look at that handout, the one that
you had last month. It’s the homework for 6 to 18 years old. It’s
this handout right here, the one that says on top “Called To Be
Church Homework, Life Long Formation April, 2007, Children 6 to 18 years”.
Everyone should have gotten it in their packet. And then it has “faith
and family, religion”. Did everybody get that? What we’re supposed to do now is address the five questions that
are now on your sheet of paper: • Who nurtured your faith at this age? Those are the questions using that sheet that you have. Let’s do
that within these groups for a few minutes, and then see what we can do
with the whole group. (Short discussion session followed.) SISTER ANNE: Would each table take just a second now and think about
what was just said? I’m going to give people a chance to finish
the session. Would you now just within the table that you find yourself
in, think about some of the things that were just thrown out? As a table,
what do you want all of us to know? We don’t want to hear every
single thing that was said, but as a table what do you want us to know
about what was just said? Let me just one more time say, as a table, just
right now think about what do you want us—as you listen to everybody
at your own table -- what would you like us to know that was said? We
don’t want to record everything that was said. Just give us some
kind of highlight or something that was said. And let’s just hear
from all the tables before we move to the next thing. I’ll give
you a couple seconds to talk to each other at the table. What do you want
us to know...because that will lead us into the series of questions we
need to reflect on next. PARTICIPANT: I think we found that, even at this age, the predominant
influence on faith development was our parents. And that those fortunate
enough to go to Catholic schools found a great influence with Catholic
schools. And certain groups—someone belonged to the Children of
Mary, a sodality group in school, that type of thing that helped out. SISTER ANNE: This is the 16 to 18 you’re talking about? PARTICIPANT: This is the 16 to 18. And that the whole community—there
was a different atmosphere, especially if you were in smaller communities,
where most families went to Mass on Sunday. So, you weren’t the
odd one because you went, you weren’t the only one or two on your
block. Most people went to church. And so, there was a community atmosphere
that Sunday was a holy day, a day to be observed, and that had an influence.
And there were celebrations of feast days. For example, Our Lady of Mt.
Carmel Day was a big day, and families celebrated the feast days more.
And even Saturday confession had an influence on people because you weren’t
the only one—families went, children went. So, those were some of
the influences at this age group. SISTER ANNE: Thank you. This group here and that group there, you two
tables had the 14 to 16. As far as what is needed, we felt we need to get parents involved, possibly
even do one-on-one visitation with parents. And we also need to get kids
who are Catholics who have no exposure to church—since only thirty
percent of Catholics go to church, so how do we reach those kids? SISTER ANNE: And the other group that has 14 to 16, please. PARTICIPANT: We have nothing. SISTER ANNE: You have nothing? PARTICIPANT: Basically, for most of us it was our parents’ influence,
you know. We saw—we were nurtured at home, some of us went to parochial
school and got what we needed there. But for most of us, we really felt
our parents, our grandparents—that was where the foundation was.
And somehow we’ve got to get back to those parents and nurture them
up or something. SISTER ANNE: Now we have the 11 to 13 year olds at these two tables.
Do you want to do this one first? PARTICIPANT: As far as who nurtured us, the dominant one was the family.
People mentioned how they would all get together and go to church at the
same Mass and so there was an identity there. We also did a small survey
and found out that every one of us at this table had grown up going through
the Catholic education system, so I’m going to put that on my resume
because I think it’s pretty neat. But the most important topic that we discussed was what is needed to
nurture, and we believe at this age that we need to create and develop
activities so that they can practice their faith in their parish. We need
to reach out to the parents and ask them for assistance. And we have to
engage these children in action activities. I kind of inherited decorating
the church for Christmas. And one day I showed up and I was the only one
there. So, I asked friends at the 8:30 Mass that I go to all the time,
hey, can you stop by and give me a hand? That has blossomed to the point
that now I have families bringing their children, and the children are
in this age group, and they just love coming here because I stick them
down in the basement—which is a scary place, but perfectly safe—and
they love it. And they’ll do anything you want. So, I think that
should be permeated throughout all. SISTER ANNE: That group back there, still 11 to 13. PARTICIPANT: When we were talking about ourselves, like we heard here,
we talked about our grandparents, our parents, family, and our peers,
being people who nurtured and helped our faith to grow. But also the fact
that we really grew up in a Catholic culture, that you don’t have
today, to help us to grow in our faith. One of the things from the 11 to 13 age group is that we were wondering
how welcoming are we to parents who don’t really understand and
know their faith, because of whatever reasons when they grew up, did not
have a strong hold on that, and that’s why they’re really
not seeming as supportive, because they don’t really know what to
do. They know it’s important, and that’s why they bring them.
So, as a community to help that age group, we really need to help the
parents understand and be welcomed. SISTER ANNE: That group over there, these two tables are 5 to 10 years
old, K to 5. Let us have that table first. PARTICIPANT: We really focused on the first question. Actually, we didn’t
get past the first question. The usual list of nurturers: parents, grandparents,
peers, family. But then what we kind of concluded at the end, we talked
about each of our own experiences, was that none of us had one role model
or one nurturing element, that we all kind of relied on several or all
of those groups. And somebody said that we grew up in Catholic tradition.
And, yeah, I think maybe that is what’s missing today. Our children
are not benefiting from all of those groups. And that’s as far as
we got. SISTER ANNE: And this group here, please – ages 5 to 10? PARTICIPANT: From ages 5 to 10, we said it’s important to create
a nurturing, trusting environment, both at home and in church, that involves
rituals and routine and touches the lives of all and their families. For
example, having grown up in an Irish-Catholic household, during Lent we
always had codfish. Our friends next-door who were Italian, they had pizza.
Guess who won? SISTER ANNE: Now we’re getting to specifics. Nancy? PARTICIPANT: I had a couple points. I thought you were doing one question
at a time, but I think it’s important. SISTER ANNE: So, going back to the 16 to 18. PARTICIPANT: The 16 to 18, because our group felt that this is the group
that, by and large, has gone through Confirmation. And that music is a
way to really connect with them, not just religious music but other music,
and social activities where you can connect with them, where they are
developmentally, but then work in faith-based activities with that. And
a couple of primary ways are discussion groups. Kids at this age are very
intellectually curious. They’re in schools with kids of many different
faiths. And if we had discussions on what does it mean to be a Catholic,
is it as good to be a Catholic as it is to be Muslim, or an Episcopalian,
or a Methodist? What is it about Catholics that makes us different? Because
they get faced with these challenges. So, we think discussion groups.
And having other young adults— not old fogies of forty -- but young
adults that share their faith stories with young people. They’re
very impressionable at this age. And if a 20-something came in and shared
their struggle with the faith, how it wasn’t always an easy road,
and how they came through with this, that would be inspirational in this
group. PARTICIPANT: One last part on the 14 to 18, I think we should mention
retreats and overnight experiences like that. For myself, that was probably
the primary way of getting involved. So, I think we as parishes should
support that as much as possible. SISTER ANNE: All right. Now, you’ve heard a lot of input, and we
covered the gap of a billion years, we know that right now. But what we
need to do now is take a look at these next two questions: • as the church community in this local area, what aspects of faith
formation do we wish to strengthen and improve? Now, that’s what we are going to look at right now. What do we
need to do? So, the focus now is on these two questions: What aspects
do we need to strengthen or improve or add and develop? So, could we spend
some time at the table right now doing that? And then there’s another
part to that in a few seconds that I’ll get to. (Brief discussion session followed.) SISTER ANNE: As you look now at that list that you just created—as
you start to look now at that list you just made, the aspect of faith
formation that you wish to strengthen or improve, or that you wish to
add or develop, this is the task. I ask you as a table now to take that
list and prioritize it. What is the most important, number 2, number 3,
however many you have? And what you are going to do now is take your list
and put it in a priority. So, as a table would you take your list now
and prioritize it -- 1, 2, 3. (Brief discussion session followed.) SISTER ANNE: For a few moments can we just as a group, could we now listen
to these lists, because that’s the task of this group to then take
this list and prioritize it. So, now what we’re going to do is take
this list that we’re going to hear—all of the lists that are
in the room—please read it in the level of your priority at your
table. So, as you read the list back, read number 1, 2, 3 -- whatever
you have down there—and let us all listen reverently to each other.
And then as we hear that, please, then as a group now—we’re
just going to work as a group from now on—let us look at what we
think should be number 1, 2, 3, 4, and those are the things that we’re
going to be able to pass on to the deanery and to Bishop Hubbard. So,
let us start with this group here. PARTICIPANT: Group 11 to 13. We really came up with two priorities and
we weren’t sure which was 1 or 2. But, one, more cluster involvement
with the programs—the day retreats, the other programs that each
parish does. So, a more clustered group involvement to get kids connected
to other kids for peer support. And the other is working with parents. We mentioned that early on. Newsletters,
get the parents involved in social activities, such as the retreat, have
a dinner afterwards with the parents there. So, the two priorities were more cluster involvement and working with
parents. PARTICIPANT: This was a great topic for conversation. And we believe
that parents need to know that they’re number one and they need
to be empowered. And the question was what do you mean by empowered? The
fact that they are important. Don’t roll up and toss the kid out
before you even stop the car and take off. There is a sense—I’ll
say it came from me—that parents don’t get involved because
they may have the feeling that they’re not necessary. Turn your
kids over to us because we have the trained professionals, you’re
not. And, consequently, if indeed that may be true, we need to change
that mind-set and let them know that they are important and they are welcome,
and that we want to be working with you. SISTER ANNE: Just give us a summary. PARTICIPANT: Keep in contact with parents after baptism, improve communication
between religious education teachers and the students. Don’t just
have it be I’m going to regurgitate something to you and you just
throw it back in my face, but get in some kind of dialogue. Improve communications between the parishes. SISTER ANNE: By the pastor? PARTICIPANT: That was the suggestion. An old-fashioned door-to-door parish
through-the-neighborhood census by the pastor. SISTER ANNE: I think we better agree not to comment on any of these,
simply to listen to them. All right. Let us move to that group way over
there. Could we just hear your priority listings, please? PARTICIPANT: Basically our priority was to describe the type of program
that we think ought to be in place rather than specific activities. We
thought as this group did here that this should be cluster-based, that
it needed to be activity-based, and that the youth ministers from the
various parishes could bring the young people together because at the
16 to 18 age group they want to be involved themselves, they like to plan
themselves. And it’s a little presumptuous for us to list 5 activities,
rather let it come from the group at this age. And the support that the
adults could have that are part of this initiative would be to help fundraise
for the activities that they would like to have, to help them with publicity,
and most importantly to help energize the parents to get behind the activities
that the young people would like to have. SISTER ANNE: That group over there, let us hear from you. PARTICIPANT: Our first priority for 5 to 11 was formation opportunities
for the parents which we heard already. The second was to welcome the
families and, especially, to accept where they’re at in their own
faith. Then we went on to provide opportunities for that age group to
experience the mysteries, the rituals, the ceremonies in an attempt to
develop that understanding of tradition. We mentioned bible stories. And
finally we mentioned opportunities to gather in groups of young children
maybe—I think outside—the indication was outside of the school
setting where they could be exposed to aspects of that faith formation. SISTER ANNE: How about jumping to this group over here. PARTICIPANT: Number 1, improve parent involvement in faith formation.
Exactly how is a complicated question. Number 2, improve communication
and sharing between the parishes, know what other parishes are offering,
give parents the possibility of maybe cross-parishing to get the proper—not
the proper, but the program that their child would fit into better. It
might not be in the parish they’re in. Number 3, reach out to people
where they are— like, for instance, going out and serving dinner
to a homeless group, et cetera. Lectionary studies, bible studies in small group formats seemed to be
very effective. SISTER ANNE: That group over there, can we hear from you? PARTICIPANT: We don’t have a list, but we do have one thing we
talked about. We didn’t have to prioritize. What we talked a lot
about was really looking at these students or kids in their stage of development
that they’re in, and really what kids— we had 14 to 16 years
old—and really what kids that age want to do is be with their friends.
I mean, that’s really what it’s all about, is being part of
a social group, hang out with their friends. So, we really talked a lot
about group development, that there needs to be more of that, having more
activities to bring kids out with their friends. We talked about having
activities for social justice issues, just activities that reinforce the
values such as a service, having a soup kitchen, and then talking about
faith in that way. SISTER ANNE: And this last group over here. PARTICIPANT: Thank you for saving the best til last. We have a top priority
mission statement: to encourage all families wherever they are at in their
faith, to nurture and to nourish the faith of the family to become closer
to God. SISTER ANNE: So, you’ve come up with a mission statement for us.
Wonderful. • what do we want to strengthen? So, let us now look at that. What do we want to strengthen? PARTICIPANT: Family involvement. SISTER ANNE: What else? PARTICIPANT: Love of God. SISTER ANNE: What else? PARTICIPANT: Cluster. SISTER ANNE: Cluster interaction, cluster cooperation. What else? PARTICIPANT: Communication. SISTER ANNE: What else, please? PARTICIPANT: Stronger catechesis. SISTER ANNE: What else, please? PARTICIPANT: Fun. I think it needs to be fun. I think we need to have
activities that young people want to come to. SISTER ANNE: Okay. Fun, things that will draw people. Question 2: What do we wish to develop? PARTICIPANT: Focus groups. SISTER ANNE: Anybody else? What do we wish to develop? PARTICIPANT: We have to develop a more concrete plan about all this stuff.
And what we really wish to develop are faithful people, kids, families,
people of faith. PARTICIPANT: We talked a lot about empowering the adults. I think maybe
we need to empower the 14 years olds, and the 15 year olds, and the 16
year olds, and 18 year olds, to actually say to us what they need. Instead
of us saying they need this or they need that, maybe we simply need to
say to them “what do you need?”. PARTICIPANT: If we were to develop activities that would help create
a sense of our parish, we would be happy to tell people “this is
the parish I belong to”. And one of the observations that came out,
the outcome would be the parish then would become more important to the
central life of the social fabric of that community. So, if we could come
up with some way that would engage everybody at all age levels, and people
would get to talk to one another and see one another, and just develop
those friendships, then I think we’ll be in the beginning of a tidal
wave of change once people just start saying “hi” to each
other. PARTICIPANT: A cooperative kind of interaction between parishes on the
various programs that we all each have. Some of us do better than others. SISTER ANNE: Super. Tom? FR. KONOPKA: At the risk of being shot, an environment of freedom. I
keep thinking of the rich young man. He went before Christ, and Christ
offered him faith and let him go because he wasn’t ready. And I
think we need to be willing to do that with our high school kids. And
not just with high school kids, but with everybody in church. I mean,
we offer faith, that’s what we have. And let them choose it. SISTER ANNE: Anybody else? PARTICIPANT: One last thing. I think one of the things that we want to
develop that I almost heard the opposite of, it seems to me that where
the church is going right now, we don’t need to strengthen our parish.
We need to break down our parish borders and strengthen our clustered
community. Especially with the way the priest situation is right now,
we’re going to have fewer priests; we’re going to have to
work together. So, it seems to me that we want to develop a strong cluster
community of Catholics. PARTICIPANT: We have been asked to say why the students or the children
are not participating, and yet have we ever asked them why? We should
be asking them why. SISTER ANNE: Let us move to the third question: What will we do immediately
as a local planning group? PARTICIPANT: I wonder if it would be something that we could do even
though the powers that be at pastoral planning have their own set-up,
if we could set up some of these focus groups or a task force to look
at this for the Colonie parishes. And, you know, develop it further parallel
to what we’re doing as the official Called To Be Church pastoral
planning process. SISTER ANNE: So, you’re suggesting forming groups now to— PARTICIPANT: Well, maybe not tonight. If we think about it, and maybe
next time around, people could volunteer if they want to actually do over
and above this responsibility to be involved in an inter-parish committee
to look at this in more depth. SISTER ANNE: Okay. What else can we do? PARTICIPANT: I believe it should be suggested to pastors and their parish
councils, parish life directors, and anybody else that feels like getting
involved, to take a list of all your parishioners on record, divvy it
out among the people that don’t care if you make a phone call and
you get screamed at, and invite them to come back or find out why they’re
not there if they’re willing to talk to you. About ten years ago
we went through that list. And I had persons tell me they hadn’t
heard from anybody in 20 years. And they were thrilled. I had nobody scream
at me. And I think that we have to make that honest effort. Because I
know tons of people—we ask for volunteers from the pulpit, nobody
does anything. I ask personally, and I get all the people I want. So,
you have to have that human contact, you have to have that touch. And
I believe very strongly that that has to be done and it has to be done
now. SISTER ANNE: What will we do immediately as a local planning group? PARTICIPANT: I’m going to get the list and make some phone calls. PARTICIPANT: I don’t know to what extent it already occurs. I mean,
are there meetings of the religious education people at different age
groups across the six parishes? PARTICIPANT: We have our deanery. And then also there’s youth ministry
meetings once a month, which is for the whole diocese. And quite a few
of us come. And actually our deanery spoke to them. So, we do collaborate. PARTICIPANT: Do we ever ask the people— like, the oldest group
we’re talking about, has that ever occurred? I mean, do we ever
invite the community—maybe people wouldn’t come, I don’t
know—but I just know because that’s what they always do at
the state level, you have all these focus groups, and when I worked at
early intervention, they were very helpful. You would go to different
parts of the state and invite people— maybe give them lunch or something.
And you would get a lot of great input from the actual people who the
programs were being designed for. SISTER ANNE: So, you’re saying ask the people. Let’s move to the last one. Perhaps that will also be helpful:
What would be our preliminary recommendations for the future? PARTICIPANT: Sister, I think it’s too early to give preliminary
recommendations. We have had an hour and a half tonight roughly. And just
to give something off the top of our head to answer a question, I don’t
mean to be rude, but I think that if we do have something more in-depth,
we could have more informed recommendations, recommendations that have
perhaps some steps and goals attached to them rather than just off the
top of our heads fling something on the paper so we can turn it in. That’s
my thought. PARTICIPANT: As a possible suggestion, may we have that as the first
topic when we meet in May? Because you’re correct, my brain is blank,
I don’t have the slightest idea. I’m on overload. SISTER ANNE: Sure we can. But will everyone take that on as a responsibility,
each group take a look at that? And we begin with this then: What do we
want to recommend for the future? PARTICIPANT: I don’t know if other people might think this, but
could we suspend the other topics for a little bit? We’re all energized
by this topic right here, the age group from 6 to 18. Why don’t
we spend two or three months on this age group, and come up with something
very substantive and meaningful rather than rushing on to the next thing?
That’s my recommendation. SISTER ANNE: I hear what you’re saying. I just need to remind you
that there are 18 segments of this, and that there are 18 focused topics. PARTICIPANT: Well, maybe another deanery should do the other topics.
Let’s us do a good job with this one. Fr. NOONE: If we’re going to do 18 the way we’re doing this
one, I don’t see what the value is in the whole thing. I hate to
keep going back to that. There has been a lot of good discussion tonight,
but we’re rushing through to complete a task like Nancy says, and
there’s no meat. SISTER ANNE: I hear you, Dave. I hear what you’re saying. PARTICIPANT: That is a good recommendation…….that we take
more time on one topic. PARTICIPANT: This is too serious a topic to say, all right, it’s
done let’s move on to the next one. PARTICIPANT: You had made a suggestion that I thought was superb, that
we might be able to work on a topic maybe for two months or so, and we’ll
take topics that may not need as much focus like facilities, and lump
a couple together in a month so we have more time for what we really need
to talk about. Is that a possibility? SISTER ANNE: For those of you that came in late, I was stalling for time
trying to get you organized. And one of the things I said is that the
topic for next month has been changed. It was supposed to be on young
adult concerns. And they’re not doing that for next month, they’re
skipping to adult rather than young adults. Now, I don’t understand
the process. I get these things the same time you do. I am very willing
to look and to go to the whole group and say to Jack Manning and group,
“tell me what’s going on for the next two or three times,
see if we could put it together a little bit differently and put some
meat on it”. That’s what I said in the beginning. Because
I hear your frustrations, I hear what’s going on. I’m not
quite sure where we can go. We have to cover the topic somehow. Perhaps
there’s a more creative way that this group—I’m not
saying the diocese has to come up with a creative idea—I’m
simply saying that perhaps this group could facilitate the process in
a different way and still be able to accomplish the goal. Maybe we could
pull two or three together and do them that way and milk something that
we think is much more important and be able to look at it that way. That’s
what I think. If that’s acceptable, I certainly will do my homework,
go to Jack, find out what’s going on, see how we can do it, and
see where we go with that. Do you like that idea? PARTICIPANT: Yes. SISTER ANNE: Steve, what did you want to say? PARTICIPANT: I was going to mention that the reason why they switched
the topics for the next two months is that the education cluster at the
pastoral center is developing a DVD of young adults who work at the pastoral
center, sharing some of their ideas and comments on this topic of young
adults in the church, so that they could have that. And they weren’t
going to have it ready for next month’s meeting, so that’s
why they reversed the topics. PARTICIPANT: What ages are those young adults? PARTICIPANT: Young adults is, like, 20 to 40. SISTER ANNE: I think it’s 20 to 35 is usually the thing they throw
out, but I don’t know how to identify that. Let me see if I can see what we can do here. What if we all take really
very seriously the recommendation that we start with this the next time
we come together, and we really put some meat on this and then go from
there. Let me see where we’re going with the rest of it, and see
if we can put it together in a different way. PARTICIPANT: Before the next meeting do you want us to get together as
a local parish and come up with the recommendations? SISTER ANNE: That would be much more helpful. It would be helpful if
each group would come together and be able to come together having discussed
it already, and have some ownership in that part of the process. Is that
acceptable to every person? PARTICIPANT: It is to me. STEVE MAWN: Spring Enrichment meeting is May 14 to 17 over at the College
of St. Rose. It’s a program that started out 34 years ago as a program
for catechists and youth ministry training certification. It’s expanded
over the years. So, it is not just for religion teachers any more, it’s
for everyone in the diocese. Listening tonight there are at least seven
different two-hour courses and workshops that are being done in Spring
Enrichment dealing with ideas that came up tonight. There are 146 different
workshops over the course of four days. Everyone is invited. It was in
the “Evangelist” in March, it’s on the diocesan web
site. Several of the people in this room are actually instructors at Spring
Enrichment. Sister Anne, for example, is doing two courses. Father Tom
is doing two. Rosemary is doing one. And there are others. It’s
a great program, it’s a diocesan program, and we’re encouraging
people to take a look at it if you haven’t ever thought of it before. SISTER ANNE: May I remind you that next month we meet on Wednesday, May
2, at Our Lady of Assumption. The next four meetings will be at Assumption.
And then the following four will be at Pius X. So, we met four times here,
and then we’re moving now to Assumption. So, Our Lady of Assumption
at 7:00 o’clock on Wednesday, May 2. (The meeting concluded with “A Promise to Our Children”.)
CALLED TO BE CHURCH
LOCAL PLANNING GROUP MEETING
APRIL 10, 2007
• what will this planning group, not individual parishes, develop
to meet these needs?
• what can or will we do immediately to promote the faith formation
of this age group?
None of this seems to be stressed in the current way information is shared.
And myself, I had been a religion teacher about fifteen years ago, and
there does seem to be this de-emphasis. And I don’t understand why.
And maybe churches rather than parishes—when you get these books
from wherever you buy them from, who says you have to go specifically
with what they say. If they’re deficient and they don’t put
an emphasis where you as a community believe that emphasis should be,
then by all means go ahead and flush it out as long as we would have proper
guidance.
SISTER ANNE: The next question that’s on your piece of paper is
to look at what are the preliminary recommendations that you might want
to bring to the deanery and subsequently submit to Bishop Hubbard. Now,
that’s kind of based on what you all just said. So, does anyone
want to say something to kind of pull that question together? Please?
I’ve been a lector ever since I have been married at 20 years old
so. I’ve been a religion teacher. My wife puts into practice Jesus’
commands and examples far better than I do. So, we tried the best we can,
and for whatever reason they took off. So, we’re missing something.
I haven’t got the slightest idea what it is, how to get it. Maybe,
you know, just walking up to them and asking them straight out might be
the best thing involved. But it’s very simple and very easy to presume
that the parents aren’t involved with their children’s lives,
and obviously that’s why they’re not here, and that isn’t
necessarily the case.
SISTER ANNE: As you’re listening to all of this, what do you want
us to say from this group to the deanery, which will then go to Bishop
Hubbard as recommendations? What do you want to say?
SISTER ANNE: Sister James?
So, here’s the task. I’m going to ask you— this is what
you’re supposed to do—you’re supposed to now look at
current activities. And I think you all have on your piece of paper—what
do we have in place to support the faith development of children and youth
for each grade level? So, what you’re going to do is brainstorm.
Do you remember what brainstorming is? It says that you just throw out
everything. So, what do we already have in place? And I’m going
to give a piece of paper to each group. We’re going to brainstorm.
That question should be on your paper: What do we have in place to support
the faith development of children and youth for each grade level? I’m
going to give you about five minutes to brainstorm as a table.
GROUP 1
• childrens’ liturgy
• summer bible school
• generations of faith
• religious ed. programs
• sacramental programs
• underclass retreats
• childrens’ choirs
• seasonal parties
• and CYO/athletics
• religious ed.
• a gift program
• first communion
• first reconciliation
• vacation bible school
• childrens’ liturgy
• intergenerational faith models
• parents’ sacramental meetings
• parent-child retreats
• component youth ministry
• Life Teen and Style program
• lectionary-based program
• intergenerational discussion program
• sacramental prep., which is confirmation, kind of a ritual and
rules base
• elementary classrooms
• work to the crowd working with the age group that you have
• Catholic schools
• There was an interactive youth ministry model.
• There was Life Teen and an observation that a benefit may be to
have more religion in the classrooms.
• the retreats every once in awhile—teen retreats.
• CYO basketball.
• Celebrating the Lectionary, which is a bible study class
• Service projects
• Confirmation retreats
• Mentor Program
• Confirmation preparation
• Catholic schools
• And most of the kids, if they’re at vacation bible school,
are there as helpers.
• What do you recall about your faith development?
• In light of our present culture and realities, what is needed
to nurture the faith development of this age level and their families?
• How does the parish community celebrate milestones at this level?
• What do families with children of this age group need from the
faith community?
PARTICIPANT: We’ll try to just give you the main points here. There
were both positive and negative experiences about our faith development
that we remember. In the past there was a lot of structure, you had to
go to church or you would go to hell. A lot of it was fear-based. Not
everybody, by the way, was nurtured by their parents—that was interesting
input at our table. A lot of us said that some people didn’t have
that experience.
• what aspects are not currently met that we wish to add or develop?
For added development, we want post-Confirmation faith formation to be
made there. We don’t have it.
And an old-fashioned door to door census—and I didn’t say
this part and I have to embellish here— by the pastor. I didn’t
put that in there, so don’t shoot me.
And incorporate an ongoing planning process with action steps, evaluation.
The process has to be defined and refined so that we can continually evaluate
what we’re talking about, and see if it’s working and maybe
revamp it on an ongoing basis.
Now, as we all listen to this, the task has to be to move to the four
questions that are at the bottom. Now, you have to pay attention to the
priorities that we just heard. That’s why we listened to each other.
But:
• what do we wish to develop?
• what will we immediately do as a local planning group?
• and what will be our preliminary recommendations for the future?
PARTICIPANT: Small sharing groups.
PARTICIPANT: Strong church.
PARTICIPANT: Post-Confirmation program.
PARTICIPANT: It just occurred to me that maybe we need more competition,
competition between the various parts of the community. So, maybe if we
have our youth compete against each other in different kinds of activities,
whether its sports or whatever, that might be—people like to compete,
at least some people.
SISTER ANNE: Yes? I know it’s 9:00 o’clock. Let us close with
a prayer and know how grateful all of us are to each other in this room
for struggling. And you know what, frustrations aren’t bad. It helps
us grow; it helps us look at things. Thank God we are struggling, because
otherwise we’re never going to move. You can’t move and see
other things if we’re very content and just stay stuck.