Mission Statement
The mission of Religious Education and Faith Formation is to provide a variety of
opportunities to grow in knowledge and love of God, His Church, and the community
in which we worship.
Vision Statement
We believe that the call of the Gospel is to bring about the Kingdom of God here
and now. Religious Education and Faith Formation is the development and application
of a strong faith in, and personal relationship with, Jesus Christ as a living God
who loves each individual and desires to free us from fears and anxieties. All religious
education endeavors in our parish shall support and strengthen formation by building
on the Traditions of our Catholic faith and an ever-deepening understanding of the
Gospel. We will nurture and foster a sense of spiritual vitality in the parish at
all age levels. We will facilitate belonging and believing in a unified community
of Christian values and a lived experience of God. We will educate for wisdom and
for personal and social transformation.
Faith Formation Objectives:
- Provide education/formation for parish staff and all parishioners, preschool through
adult.
- Provide personalized education for children and adolescents through small groups
concerned with catechesis, spiritual life and apprenticeship in Christian life (service).
- Work for family-centered religious education from baptismal catechesis through high
school.
- Strengthen the centrality of our Sunday liturgy in the everyday life of our parishioners
by using Scripture, the Sunday lectionary and the Catholic Catechism as the foundation
for religious formation.
- Continue to emphasize the process of Christian Initiation for all levels, helping
the community to become an initiating parish through expansion of the Catechumenate
for adults, teens, children.
- Continue to nurture the spiritual development and faith formation of our catechists
by training parents and adults to teach the faith to their own children, youth and
to other adults.
- Expansion of adult education opportunities in a variety of settings, methods, and
on a variety of topics.
- Establish, nurture, and keep alive the concept of Small Church Communities as a
continuing way of living Church.
- Continue to create a climate of openness and support to Catholic education (Parish
School).
EDIFYING WEBSITES:
www.wordonfire.org
Word On Fire offers daily blogs, articles, commentaries, and over ten years of weekly
sermon podcasts with Father Barron, the first priest to have a national show on
a secular television network since the 1950s. Father Robert Barron is an acclaimed
author, speaker, and theologian. He is the Francis Cardinal George Professor of
Faith and Culture at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago and also is the founder of
Word on Fire.
www.anamchara.com
Carl McColman is the author of twelve books on a variety of spiritual topics. His
works include The Big Book of Christian Mysticism, The Lion, the Mouse and the Dawn
Treader, 366 Celt: A Year and a Day of Celtic Wisdom and Lore, Spirituality: A Postmodern
and Interfaith Approach to Cultivating a Relationship with God, and The Aspiring
Mystic. He created the “Website of Unknowing” as he called it in 1996
(he has owned the www.anamchara.com domain name since December of that year) and
has been blogging since 2003. His writing has also appeared at the Huffington Post,
Beliefnet, Patheos, and in print publications like PanGaia and Evolve.
Carl is a sought-after speaker, teacher, and retreat leader on topics such as Christian
mysticism, the contemplative life, monasticism, writing as a sacred practice, Celtic
wisdom, and interfaith spirituality.
www.gratefulness.org
A Network for Grateful Living (ANG*L) provides education and support for the practice
of grateful living as a global ethic, based on the teachings of Br. David Steindl-Rast
and colleagues. Gratefulness – the full response to a given moment and all
it contains – is a universal spiritual practice that inspires personal transformation,
cross-cultural understanding, interfaith dialogue, intergenerational respect, nonviolent
conflict resolution, and ecological sustainability.
www.abbeyofthearts.com
The Abbey is a virtual monastery – existing as an online community through
classes, reflections, and resources which integrate contemplative practice and creative
expression. Christine Valters Paintner is a writer, artist, spiritual director,
retreat facilitator, and teacher. She earned her PhD in Christian Spirituality from
the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and her professional status as Registered
Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator (REACE) from the International Expressive
Arts Therapy Association (IEATA.org). She lives out her commitment as a Benedictine
Oblate in the heart of Seattle.
www.macrinawiederkehr.com
Macrina Weiderkehr is a Benedictine sister, author, spiritual guide, seeker of Truth,
and lover of the spiritual journey. In her blog, Under the Sycamore Tree, she inspires
with her journal writing and photography. “Journaling is an important spiritual
practice for me. Almost (but not every) morning I sit under my sycamore tree and
journal…... In this journaling section I hope to share selections from my
daily journal. Happy Journaling to all who come to my blog for you, too, must have
hearts full of things that must be held in reflection.”
www.cacradicalgrace.org
The Center for Action and Contemplation, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was
founded in 1987 by Franciscan Father Richard Rohr. The Center’s purpose would
be to serve not only as a forum for peaceful, non-violent social change but also
as a radical voice for renewal and encouragement. Envisioned as a faith alternative
to the dominant consciousness, offering hope, inspiration and challenge to a despairing
world, the CAC today attracts people from around the world—those who seek
peaceful, positive alternatives and solutions to the difficult challenges of our
often materialistic, irrational and violent world. These people share the CAC vision
and understand the constructive message of the Gospel that crosses boundaries of
religion, ethnicity, social class and gender.
www.pray-as-you-go.org
The Jesuits of Britain provide a virtual experience of prayer, meditation, music
and inspiring thoughts for each day for your mp3 player.
www.speakingoffaith.org
On Being is a spacious conversation — and an evolving media space —
about the big questions at the center of human life, from the boldest new science
of the human brain to the most ancient traditions of the human spirit. The program
began as an occasional series on Minnesota Public Radio in 1999, then became a monthly
national program in September 2001, and launched as a weekly program titled Speaking
of Faith in the summer of 2003 with host Krista Tippett.
www.ronrolheiser.com
Ronald Rolheiser, a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Missionary Oblates of
Mary Immaculate, is president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas.
He is a community-builder, lecturer and writer. His books are popular throughout
the English-speaking world and his weekly column is carried by more than seventy
newspapers worldwide.
www.joycerupp.com
Joyce Rupp is well known for her work as a writer, a spiritual "midwife,"
and retreat and conference speaker. She has led retreats throughout North America,
as well as in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Joyce has a B.A.
in English, a M.R.E. in Religious Education, and a M.A. in Transpersonal Psychology.
She is a member of the Servites (Servants of Mary) community and a volunteer for
Hospice. She currently resides in Des Moines, Iowa.
www.contemplativeoutreach.org
Contemplative Outreach is a spiritual network of individuals and small faith communities
committed to living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel. The common desire
for Divine transformation, primarily expressed through a commitment to a daily Centering
Prayer practice, unites this international, interdenominational community.
