What is this “Essentials” Course I’ve been hearing about?
There are three major challenges with our Adult Formation, including our Confirmation Preparation:
First, we have people wanting to become Catholic in the middle of winter. Traditionally they would have to wait until September for the RCIA process to begin. That's a long wait. And some are not available Sunday mornings.
Second, our Confirmation teens really have it going on. They are busy and this is good! Some are training to become superstar athletes; others are very committed to their academic goals. Who among us would not support our young people in this important time of self-discovery and youthful engagement? A handful of our Confirmation teens are genuinely interested in spiritual formation, but, for most at this time in their young lives, we, as church are a peripheral concern….like it or lump it. We don't want to make things overly difficult or frustrating for busy families. Rather, we want to offer more choice and options for our teens to engage in timely and meaningful faith formation.
Third, most of us - even the cradle Catholics among us - find it difficult to articulate the best of our theology. We have a hard time putting into words the essential core theological beliefs that make us who we are. How many of us have found ourselves in discussion with someone and knew at a gut level that they were deeply misrepresenting our tradition but yet didn’t feel confident to respond?
So here's the pitch. Pope Francis is calling us to return to the “Essentials.” He says “we are not to be obsessed with the disjointed transmission of a multitude of doctrines to be insistently imposed….the message has to concentrate on the ESSENTIALS, on what is most beautiful, most grand, most appealing and at the same time most necessary. The message is simplified, while losing none of its depth and truth, and thus becomes all the more forceful and convincing.”
So our idea is to offer 10 “Essential” topics on what it means to be a Catholic Christian – the big central ideas that are at the very core of our faith, i.e.: Prayer, Incarnation, Sacraments, Grace, Eucharist, Scripture, Church, Trinity, Suffering, Mercy and Forgiveness.
Our goal is to identify 15 of the best adult catechists from our community (not necessarily schooled theologians, but good communicators and leaders of prayer). We would provide all the resources needed to put together an hour of instruction in the context of prayer on each of these “Essential” topics and to facilitate a subsequent 30-minute potentially intergenerational round-table discussion.
Here’s the UNIQUE PART: These 15 catechists would offer one or two classes each month on the topic of their choice at the time and day of their choice. For some of our catechists maybe 10:30AM on Friday mornings is best for them, or Tuesdays at 3PM. Odds are that their weird day and time would be good for someone else in our community too!
With 15 catechists, this model could offer up to 30 “Essential” topics EACH MONTH at all different times and days which would form the backbone of both our Confirmation Prep and RCIA program. This model would allow our Confirmation teens to begin their formation early and take two years to finish if they like OR they could kick out the lion’s share in as little as three months if they needed to. Our RCIA folks could begin anytime ….the very week that they inquire! The wider community could connect anytime.
So, that’s the idea. Interested in getting involved? Shoot me an email! And/or send your "Crazy Catholic Questions" to dre@ctredeemer.org
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