Todays Parish

It takes a parish to initiate

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

You have likely heard the ancient African Proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” As an active member of a parish leadership team, I have come to a deep and profound appreciation of how “it takes a parish to i...

Plan for year-round adult faith formation

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:00:00 GMT

In the popular culture of American Catholicism, most parishes close down in the summer and don’t resume activities until school starts in the fall. No children, no meetings, no faith formation. Liturgies continue, but otherwise the paris...

Forming adults for changes in the liturgy

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 05:00:00 GMT

The way we pray the liturgy is about to change, and with these changes will undoubtedly come questions, comments, complaints, and approvals from the people in the pews.

Many parishes have spent a lot of time and energy preparin...

Help parishioners discover their gifts

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Not long ago, I was conducting a discernment interview with a 65-year-old woman. In a discernment interview, a trained interviewer helps a person look objectively at the ways God has used them. The interviewer assists the person by pointing out di...

12 ways in which the parish is the curriculum

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Where do we find the curriculum for adult faith formation? The parish is the curriculum! The whole life of the parish is the course of study, the course to be run. Here are some ways in which the parishioners are formed by the life of the parish:&...

Seven secrets to adult faith formation

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

1. Be a contextualist. Every parish is different. Every context is different no matter what the setting. Spend time getting to know the people in your parish. Talk to parishioners about the history of the community, the parish...

Building adult formation: layer by layer

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Stop for a moment and consider the many different audiences who are there to receive your message. There are some topics that will appeal to certain age groups and others that different groups could be encouraged to attend.

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Getting in Touch With Your “Inner Missionary”

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Mission work and your own ministry of adult faith formation have much in common because they both spring from the same source: our Christian life. “Mission experience” is not primarily the exotic but what is essentially Christi...

Six Missionary Insights for Adult Formation

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Here are a handful of things that I have learned from my cross-cultural ministry, whether in West Africa and parts of the Pacific, or in Southern England and Uptown Chicago.

1. Learn to listen. This is a f...

How can we connect better with Jesus?

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

A pastor I once worked with, Father Joe Colligan, never forgot a name. When he met new folks after Mass, he was always extending a handshake, intently asking their names and where they were from. Then he would turn to a parishioner and introduce t...

Best practices for supporting adults’ faith

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Catechesis finds new energy whenever adults are placed in the scene. Let’s take a look at several pastoral scenes from parishes and schools around the United States where adult faith formation is linked to the formation of children and y...

Growing faith in today’s parish

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

The U.S. bishops are calling for strong, complete, and systematic catechesis for all parish and diocesan community members (see Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith ...

Effective formation

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Establish your structures

“Structures” are all those ways in which time, space, and resources are used in service to the vision an...

Hosting a guest speaker

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Communicating
Once, when waiting to speak at a large suburban parish, I discovered a flier on a bulletin board that said I was going to present a different topic than the one I had prepared. I managed to do ...

Five basic appreciative inquiry questions

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

1. Beginnings
To start, I’d like to learn about your beginnings in our parish / organization / ministry / community.

a. What first attracted you to our parish / organization ...

A new model for ministry

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

For several years, our parish staff studied models of catechesis that could improve our faith formation efforts. We dialogued with the various groups within the parish, and we experimented.

We had several eye-opening experie...