 |
FORMING MINISTERS FOR WHOLE-COMMUNITY FAITH FORMATION
Edited by Janet Miller, Kathleen Truman, and Katy Meister Helen Keating Paper, $29.95 104 pages, 8½" x 11" ISBN 0-89390-647-6 View Table of Contents View Excerpt |
You know forming ministers isn’t over after you’ve given them their “basic training.” Forming ministers is an ongoing process of building a community in service to God and God’s people. This book helps you start to change the parish’s collective mindset about this. Imagine: Whole-community ministry formation brings together lectors and catechists, musicians and visitors to the sick, parish secretaries and ushers. In one large group and in smaller break-out groups, these people participate in experiences that help everybody see themselves as leaders in all aspects of the community’s faith formation, not just in their “specialty.” And they get to explore how their different ministries interact and are enhanced and enriched by the others.
As the editors suggest in the introduction: “What if lectors saw their role as an integral part of the faith formation process in the parish? What if the pastor and homilists participated in the faith sharing of the community on key readings from the upcoming liturgical season? What if the parish council members were in tune with the events and service projects of the youth group?”
Using the sessions in this book will be a giant step toward making collaboration, coordination, and integration among your parish leadership a reality. When all the ministries work in synch, their common mission of nurturing and supporting the sacramental life of the entire faith community will be that much more accomplished.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Directing Integrated Ministry
Formation Sessions
Beginnings and Endings
August or September: Orientation
Incarnation Season
November: Preparing for Advent–Christmas
Paschal Mystery
January or February: Preparing for Lent
Pentecost People
April: Early Easter Season
Appendix I: Formation Session Handouts
Beginnings and
Endings
Breaking Open Scripture Year A: Matthew 16:21-27
Breaking Open Scripture Year B: Mark 7:24-37
Breaking Open Scripture Year C: Luke 15-17
Faith and Ordinary Time
Faith Is
Scripture Sharing Sheet
Enabling Faith-in-Action
Household of Faith
Faith Hand Signs
How Do I Know the Group Experience Is a Success
Incarnation Season
Breaking Open Scripture Year A: Matthew 24:37-44 and Matthew
3:13-17
Breaking Open Scripture Year B: Mark 13:33-37
Breaking Open Scripture Year C: When Jesus Comes Again
Seasons Merge
The Manger Means Justice
Jesse Tree
Advent Wreath
Magi Gifts
Paschal Mystery
Breaking Open Scripture Year A: Matthew 4:1-11
Breaking Open Scripture Year B: Mark 1:12-15
Breaking Open Scripture Year C: Jesus in the Desert
Paschal Mystery Background Information
Conversion: A Church Task
Palm Cross Instructions
Mission Support
The Scrutinies
Stations for Today
Community Reconciliation Service
Pentecost People
Breaking Open Scripture Year A: Gifts of the Spirit
Breaking Open Scripture Year B: Fruits of the Spirit
Breaking Open Scripture Year C: Names for the Holy Spirit
“Welcome” in Various Languages
Pentecost People Background Information
Easter Symbols Mean Justice
An Enactment of Ezekial 37:1-14
Pentecost Eggs
Women of Faith Whom Jesus Knew
Spirit-filled Women of the Early Church
Noisemakers
The Spirit in Scripture
Appendix 2: Ministry Resource Sheets
The Lectionary and the Church Year
Developing Bible Skills
Experience of God
Nurturing Faith
Facilitating Intergenerational Groups
Ways to Build Trust
Shared Space
Intelligence Styles
Creative Expression
Art and Music
Working With Story and Symbol
Guided Meditations
Meditations for Ministers
Prayers with Groups
Liturgy of the Hours
Groups Building Activities / Icebreakers
All Souls Day Prayer
Minister's Prayer
Family Healing Prayer
Bilingual Prayers for Lent and Pentecost
Ongoing Evaluation Form
Introduction
Forming Ministers for Whole-Community Faith Formation is a new kind of ministry manual for a fresh approach to community faith development. Because more adults are seeking formation, the movement is toward integrated ministry. In the past parishes implemented compartmentalized ministries — each having a specific job that rarely interfaced with other ministries. Catechists were here, liturgical ministries were there, community outreach was elsewhere, and the parish administration, support, and pastoral staff were entities unto themselves. Today, integrating ministry shifts the paradigm from isolation to collaboration.
Echoing a call from Vatican Council II for adult-centered faith formation, today’s church leaders are strengthening the resolve to provide life-long formation in discipleship that is liturgically grounded and mission focused. Findings in the recent National Study on Youth and Religion show that the most powerful force affecting the faith lives of youth is the presence of faith-filled adults, adults whose faith practices serve as models and who immerse their families in the culture of a practicing community. More parishes realize that the future of the church is not just in the formation of children but also in the ongoing formation of adults who all — parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, and ministry leaders — take on catechetical roles in the community. This shift requires much more coordination, communication, and shared planning among ministry leaders.
In addition to training that provides ministers with mechanical ministry tools, parish ministers also need ongoing spiritual formation. Because the activities of the church are directed toward the liturgy and flow from its powers, the liturgical year is the natural source for faith formation (see Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy #10; from the documents of Vatican II). As we join in the eucharistic celebration and share the communal meal, we are called to become the bread broken and the cup poured out for others. All formation explores the meaning of this mystery on ever-deepening levels.
Spiritual formation — the integration of doctrine, morality, Scripture, sacramental life, mission, and service — is a life-long journey and part of the fiber of a believer’s faith. This new paradigm is sometimes called the “praxis model,” “lectionary-based or liturgical catechesis,” “whole-community formation,” or “life-long catechesis.” It may be structured in a variety of formats: age-group meetings, weekly religion classes, whole-community intergenerational gatherings, youth groups, adult faith-sharing groups, or small Christian communities.
In this new model, the content of faith exploration comes from life experience in dialogue with Scripture, sacramental life, and the community of faith. Doctrinal and historical content meld with active participation in Jesus’ mission of bringing about the reign of God. The sacramental life of the community nourishes and supports this mission as participants journey together through the liturgical year.
In the integrated ministry paradigm, every activity in the faith community provides opportunities for faith growth. Catechesis is not limited to classrooms, but every minister is a guide and facilitator of faith growth for each person touched in ministry. The goal is for the faithful not only to know about God but also to come to know God in very intimate relationships of transformative love. Ministers are codiscoverers on the journey as well as facilitators. Liturgists, presiders, and leaders of outreach and other groups all join with session catechists as faith formation ministers. We designed this ministry formation manual to provide support for all ministers to make the necessary transitions and integrate faith formation with the liturgical year. The four interactive sessions presented in this book are the foundation for well-formed ministers who will in turn implement integrated ministry for your whole-community faith formation.
Why Integrated, Liturgy-based Ministry?
The marriage of liturgy and catechesis can be traced through a number of church documents, starting with On Evangelization in the Modern World (Evangelii Nuntiandi; 1975). The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (1988) is a significant force in recognizing the power of liturgy to catechize and move seekers in hearts and minds along their faith journeys. Two key principles from the General Directory for Catechesis (1997) add to the momentum: first, that adult catechesis is the “axis” around which catechesis for all others revolves (#275), and second, that “catechesis is a responsibility of the entire Christian community” (#220), with the baptismal catechumenate model as the normative approach. In Our Hearts Were Burning within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States (1999), the U.S. bishops called for a new, multifaceted approach to adult formation that integrates catechesis in all areas of parish life, such as liturgy and family- and home-centered activities. Furthermore, Catechism of the Catholic Church #1074 says that liturgy is “the privileged place for catechizing the People of God,” and the National Directory for Catechesis (2005) sums up the integral relationship of catechesis and liturgy by stating that sacramental practices come alive to avoid “hollow ritualism” and “intellectualized catechesis” through liturgy-based formation (#33).
Integrated ministry recognizes that the liturgy, with its cycles of word and sacrament, of being nurtured and sent forth, and of seasons and feasts, grounds life in the faith community. If you already began implementing integrated ministry, you know the excitement and the challenges inherent in this endeavor.
How to Use This Manual
This manual provides both the supporting background information and the practical tools needed to implement the paradigm of ongoing, liturgy-based faith formation and integrated ministry in your community. The practical tools are as follows:
- This Introduction contains information about integrated ministry for presentations to the parish board, pastor, parents, ministry leaders, and/or catechists.
- The “Directing Integrated Ministry” chapter explains the director’s role, providing basics about integrated ministry, recruitment, formation, and support.
- Four fully planned sessions based on liturgical seasons (with options for years A, B, and C) combine theological information and practical implementation to form ministers in the context of the liturgical year. The stimulating experiences will prepare ministers to help facilitate faith formation in a multitude of faith community settings — as directors of spiritual quests, discipleship mentors, and presiders at prayer.
- Appendix 1 contains Formation Session Handouts to copy for use in the sessions. Each session’s Preparation pages list the handouts for selected activities.
- Appendix 2 is a treasury of Ministry Resource Sheets on a variety of ministry topics. You may reproduce them to distribute as needed to whole-community faith formation leaders, catechists, the initiation team, youth leaders, lector trainers, and all other ministers who work with groups to facilitate faith development. Choose the topics that meet your ministers’ needs, and create booklets or make individual copies to distribute as ongoing support. The session plans provide suggestions for using some of these handouts as well. Also find a template for ongoing evaluation; make several copies for each minister to use throughout the year.