Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / There are many opportunities for involving adults in faith formation
There are many opportunities for involving adults in faith formation
by Sr. Janet Schaeffler special to The Michigan Catholic
Published May 8, 2009
One of the laments of parish staff and parish committees ministering in adult faith formation is that people don't come to the programs planned at the parish/vicariate. (This is only one way to offer adult faith formation, but it is a very important one, so it is a crucial concern.)
Perhaps the questions that need to be looked at: What are we offering? Are we meeting their needs, offering opportunities pertinent to people's everyday life? Research shows that among adults engaged in learning, 83 percent do so because of life changes and 56 percent are drawn to topics related to career. Another 16 percent study family issues, while 13 percent focus on leisure. Then there is a significant falling off of percentages, to where art, health and religion garner 5 percent, 5 percent, and 4 percent respectively, of the adult learners. Issues of citizenship only attract 1 percent of the adult learning population (Robert M. Smith, "Learning How to Learn: Applied Theory for Adults," Follett Publishing Co.).
There are frequent reports on TV today that when most businesses/organizations are showing a decline in customers/respondents, the one institution that is thriving, with a surge in its enrollment, is the community college. The reason: they are responding to today's need. They are offering discounted or free tuition to people currently unemployed so that they might learn new skills to find a different type of job.
Are we doing all we can? Are we who are engaged in adult faith formation at in our parishes and vicariates seeing this as an opportunity to respond to people's needs? The U.S. bishops' pastoral plan, "Our Hearts Were Burning within Us," says that responsibility belongs to all of us, not just the one staff person who has been designated.
How are we responding to the needs of those who are unemployed?
Many of our parishes/vicariates are doing an unbelievable job!
- There are job fairs that match employers with people searching for jobs.
- There are parish Web site pages with speakers/help/reflection for this difficult time.
- There are on-site speakers concerning various issues to help people deal with the reality, the implications of these economic times.
Have we tried these possibilities?
- Rather than sitting at home, people who are unemployed might appreciate a place to gather at their own parish. Create a coffee house atmosphere. Invite people for given hours each day to drop in for coffee, prayer, discussion: a time to just be with other people.
- Outreach projects. This might be the ideal time to organize more volunteer projects of people helping others. Invite people who are unemployed to take a leadership role. Don't forget reflection times to give people a chance to talk about what is happening to them during these times.
- When was the last time your adult faith formation program/process explored prayer? What about the many ways, forms and methods in which we pray? Prayer, of course, is always a part of our lives, but, at crisis times people have a tendency to turn to prayer. This might provide the opportunity to explore our rich tradition of prayer and deepen people's awareness of all we have.
- Open the church, the chapel, once a day or once a week. Encourage your parishioners to take time for stillness/quiet for prayer. You might offer different forms of prayer on different days: quiet time, Liturgy of the Hours, Taize prayer, centering prayer, Lectio Divina, etc.
- Many TV news shows are giving tips for saving, for cutting costs. Host a conversational swap meet. Invite people to bring their best ideas of how they've changed their lives, simplified their lives - what's working, what's not.
- Have we ever explored the role of leisure in our lives in our programs? During unemployment, this, of course, is not leisure that has been chosen, but people find themselves in a new situation. When we live in a world that glorifies work, puts all our identity in work, we don't know how to live the Sabbath / participate in leisure. Perhaps this is a time we can all learn anew (or for the first time).
- What flows from this, of course, is self-identity and self esteem. If people define themselves by their work, that influences all their relationships - family, friends, neighbors, parish, God. Exploring that would be crucial in a faith context. Jesus said, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Jesus was calling each of us to be our best selves. How do we do that?
- Support groups. Bringing people together (in face-to-face groups, through online discussion groups, etc.) to share their feelings, struggles, joys and hopes can be supportive and faith-filled. Begin groups for those who are unemployed, the families of the unemployed, the employers who have had to let people go.
- Invite people to book clubs that discuss books that touch upon today's reality and what we might do about it. One you might try: "Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth" by David C. Korten (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009).
- Explore living simply and life style changes through Just Living at http://pastoralplanning.com. All the materials you need are right there, for free.
Reminder: this is a "to-do" for all parish/vicariate adult faith formation events, but especially for these. Publicize much further than your own parish: local newspapers, posters in neighborhood stores, local cable channels. Reach out to all in your parish, to all in your community.
Sr. Janet Schaeffler, OP, is the archdiocesan associate director for adult faith formation for the Office for Faith Formation/Catechetics.
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