Diocese of
San Diego
Office for Evangelization and Catechetical Ministry
Ways
to Implement Whole Community Catechesis
(If you would like to contribute to this OECMWEBshare topic on Ways to Implement Whole Community Catechesis, email your ideas to ginfantino@diocese-sdiego.org)
Good Shepherd is integrating whole parish assemblies and
lectionary-based faith sharing at most gatherings. Deb Pavelek reports that they are doing
inservices on whole parish catechesis for parish staff, catechetical leaders and
catechists and they soon hope to host groups of English and Spanish-speaking
parents. They are looking forward
to initiating the “50-50 Covenant,” hosting a “Wedding at Cana” assembly and
whole parish movie night.
For further information, Deb Pavelek, (858) 271-0207.
St. Peter, Fallbrook
has been using the “question
of the week” for the last two years.
It is alluded to in the homily, clearly announced at the end of Mass, and
printed in the bulletin. Ideally
the question is reflected on at all gatherings (home, PTG, staff meetings,
catechist meetings, etc). Meg
Long-Eastman reports that after evaluation they decided to move forward and to
expand their efforts and the parish will hold once a month intergenerational
assemblies beginning this year. The
staff is divided into task forces to select speakers, decide on themes, and
gather resources. Meg notes that
this has been HUGE and exhausting but there is a general tone of excitement and
expectation.
For further information, Meg Long-Eastman,
(760) 728-7034.
Mission San Luis Rey
Parish is well on their way
to implementation of the whole community catechesis framework. Bill Bischoff says the following
elements are in place:
1.
Assemblies - a pilot program consisting
of combined duplicate grades with all members of the family and community
invited to participate. We have
begun this in both the English & Spanish Elementary programs. We hope to
begin Jr. High and above in the Spring of next year (05).
2. The 50/50 Contract- is a
simplified 4 point mutual contract that was introduced at parent meetings. This contract is being used as the
starting point of all parental meetings and family faith
development.
3. Using our existing parent ministries for
family faith formation and parenting skills. Leading toward a development of
"Households of Faith."
4. Stewardship- we are still working on a
"children/family stewardship formation process.
5. We are working on introducing and
developing "The Question of the Week" and a "retreat" process within existing
parish structure.
6. We are augmenting our current texts and
resources with various materials that we have found. We have not found a
resource that will cover all our needs in our bi-lingual, multicultural
situation.
Further information, Bill Bischoff, (760)
757-3250, ext. 341.
St. James/St.
Leo conducts four of their
regular Sunday religious education sessions in the parish hall with all
catechists, children and adults gathered for a faith
activity.
Further information, Rob Kidd, (858) 755-2545.
St. Brigid
Parish has just started the
"Question of the Week.” In addition
to the celebrant referring to the "Question" in his homily it is also published
in the bulletin together with the theme of each reading for that Sunday. A personal letter, signed by the pastor,
will be sent to all the leaders of groups that meet at the parish, requesting
them to take seriously this new endeavor to encourage faith-sharing. In the New Year they will begin the
50-50 contract with families.
Further information: Sr. Hilda McDonagh, (858)
483-3032.
St. Margaret Parish,
Oceanside is using parts of
the whole community catechesis framework and Cathy Roldan notes that they have
moved their religious education program to Sundays. They group their children into age
groups rather than grade groups and use Living the Good News Series by Morehouse
Publishing. The parish bulletin
includes articles related to the Sunday readings and adult Bible study is based
on the Sunday readings.
Further information: Cathy Roldan, (760)
941-5560.
Guardian Angels, Santee is implementing whole community catechesis
in “baby steps.” The “Question of the Week” is listed in
the weekly bulletin. Before each
catechetical session catechists/facilitators read the Sunday gospel and share on
the question of the week and then repeat the process with the group they work
with whether it is adults in RCIA, children in CIC or young people in High
School Confirmation or Junior High classes. Sr. Mary Potter further
reports:
1.We have about 15 children on home school
R.E. We meet once a
month as a family group after 11:30 a.m. Mass usually the first Sunday of the
month for about 90 minutes.
The parents love it and so do the children. My hope is to expand this group next
year.
2.We have about 3 Whole Family preparation
sessions (October, January, and March) for First Reconciliation and First
Eucharist where all the families gather for about 2 to 2.5 hours on a Sunday
afternoon. We have been doing this
format for five or six years and families seem to enjoy the
experience.
3.Our Christian Initiation of Children and
Teenagers meet every week. We have
first year parent/guardian session on the first Tuesday of the month while
children are in session and second year parent/guardian session on the second
Tuesday of the month while children are in session. On the last Tuesday of the month we have
whole family night. Each session is
75 minutes.
4.Our Junior High (grades 6, 7, 8) meet for
R.E. class every Wednesday and have whole family about once every 6 or 7
weeks. It's crowded as we have 120
young people and when you add adults to the group it needs to be super
organized!!!! The sessions we
have held have been very well received by the parents who attended - however,
not every parent/guardian attends.
5.High School Confirmation (with about 90
candidates between year one and year two) we do whole group catechesis. There are about 30 adults involved
sharing the catechesis and facilitation of groups. This is our second year with whole group
catechesis and we all seem to enjoy it and benefit from it. We mostly use Power Point presentations
and small group sharing format.
6. In reading and listening to Bill Huebsch
all sounds easy to implement.
However, in order to do Whole Community Catechesis well it takes
education, preparation, organization, prayer and time. It is also difficult to implement
with large groups and limited space.
Our plan is to implement in "baby steps".
For further information, contact Sr. Mary
Potter, (619) 448-1213.
Holy Spirit Parish is working toward incorporating the entire
whole community catechesis framework as outlined by Bill
Huebsch--eventually. Dennis Gorsich
reports that they have put in place the “Questions of the Week” for adults and
children relative to the Sunday Gospel, and we are endeavoring to get every
parish organization to use them at the beginning of each meeting, practice, and
get-together. The questions are published in the weekly bulletin and are made
available on a separate page with opening and closing prayer suggestions. These
pages can be picked up at the parish offices by anyone who wants to use
them. They have also begun a series
of Parish Retreats using the outlines in Bill's Handbook. The first retreat last
August was extremely successful.
They charged a modest $20 per person to cover food costs. The Men's Group
paid for copies of the New American Bible which were given away. The custodial
staff helped rearrange and divide the parish hall into two areas, one for
meeting and the other for meals. For $200 they have a supply of reusable wall
decorations and linen tablecloths that made the hall less institutional looking
and more inviting. A team of parishioners gave the talks using the outlines but
interweaving their own faith experiences. The deacon opened each session with a
special blessing (of African origin) and a Scripture reading that led into each
of the talks. The kitchen crew
cooked two great dinners and a Saturday brunch that helped make all the
participants feel special.
Because the church calendar was already full
for most of 2004, their next retreat in English is scheduled for late January
2005. But the next two, in April and May, will be conducted in Spanish and
Vietnamese, respectively. Then they
will have another one in English. All of 2005 and 2006 have been booked for
Parish Retreats about every 8 weeks depending on the season and large group
assemblies will begin for Lent 2005.
The family-parish 50-50 contract is slowly
being formed. Right now, all families with children in the Religious Education
programmed fill out the parish registration form which helps get them into the
parish data system. In this way it
is easier to send home letters, keep the parents informed of what's happening
around the parish, and just keep communication open. There will be a more formal "contract"
for next school year. (By the way,
the finance council decided to drop all fees for Religious Education for
registered parishioners.)
In the family formation aspect, the pastor
conducted two "Parent and Pastor" meetings in the Rectory with about 50 families
represented each time—this is about half of our Religious Education
families. Since he is bi-lingual he
was able to get home the point of the necessity for them to get actively
involved in their children's faith formation, particularly by bringing them to
Mass on Sunday. He was also able to
talk with many of them about getting their marriages
convalidated.
For further information, contact Dennis
Gorsich, (619) 263-9307.
Our Mother of
Confidence is using
the Question for the Week as an aid in business and social meetings at the
Parish during the week. Ian
Mascarenhas reports that they had their first Parent meeting for Sacramental
preparation and scheduled it immediately following the family Mass. A program was set up for the children
also. That meeting was very well
attended, and they appreciated that it was conveniently around a Mass time. Although that Meeting wasn't directly
connected with the Whole Parish Catechesis format, it is encouraging that the
parents liked the timing.
Further
information: Ian Mascarenhas, (858)
453-3554.
St. Patrick, San Diego has whole family catechesis on the first
Sunday of each month. Bethany Clay
says that all parishioners are welcome to this program which involves small
group discussions and a “hands on” project that the families can take home. At the half-way mark, children are
excused, but children and adults use the same topic. All seem to enjoy this one and one half
hour program which uses a theme, speakers, videos, crafts and a variety of
resources.
Further information, contact Bethany Clay, (619) 295-2157.
St Luke, El Cajon has been scheduling adult enrichment sessions once a month during
our children's class times for our traditional program. The topics so far have related mostly to
the liturgical seasons and to the sacraments. Maureen Sterk reports that at these
sessions, they begin with gathering the children and adults, reading the Sunday
Gospel and then presenting a question to discuss during a brief sharing
time. Children are then dismissed
to their classes and adults have their session. This month, they kept adults and
children together for a family activity making gift boxes for a local retirement
center. They began with an
introduction to the liturgical season and a reading of the gospel with a sharing
question which tied in to the day's activities. In addition to these sessions for
adults, the parish offers our parish traditions which involve the whole
community. Many of these events are
not necessarily on catechesis, but are full of the experiential and are great
community builders. These include blessing the animals for the feast of St.
Francis, St. Nicholas cookies on his feast, Las Posadas (done this year for the
first time- it was wonderful!), Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's day dinner and bingo,
outdoor Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, Pentecost gifts and fruits. This year, they will also have a May
procession and living rosary on May 1 (which may become a tradition). Their hope
is to have an adult/child session on the rosary during the children's classes
the week before this event.
For further
information: Maureen Sterk or
Joanie Maitilasso, (619) 442-2515.
Most Precious Blood, Chula Vista, is using the “Question of the Week” and
is also changing the classroom set ups so that they look more like church than
school. Sr. Camille Crabbe reports
that they hope to plan a weekend retreat for parents.
Further information, Sr. Camille Crabbe, (619) 422-2159.
St. Therese of Carmel is implementing a small piece of whole
community catechesis. Laura Perkins
notes that they have a group of 5 families doing multi-level home catechesis,
using Faith First Materials from Resources for Christian Living.
Information, Laura Perkins, (858)
481-4061 or Judy Zinger-Weiss, (858) 481-3232.