Our parish evangelizing formation embraces all ages to promote a lived faith using the tools of the times.

In the past, the Catholic culture was immersed into our lives through the family, parish, community neighborhoods, school (Catholic & Public) and the media—Catholic culture permeated our lives.  Immersed in the Catholic faith with these systems in place, weekly classroom catechesis (known then as CCD) could provide all that was needed.
 
Today, this is far from true.  These systems are no longer present; families have changed, many communities are no longer geographic, public schools separate themselves from prayer and faith, and the media powerfully portrays an assortment of values and beliefs that may be contradictory to our faith.  In our current society, our support system has to be different.  We also live in a time of rapid social and cultural transformation, nationally and globally.  We live in an experienced-based, interactive, image-driven and digitally connected culture.
 
Looking at these signs of the times, this is why lifelong faith formation is critical not just in the education of the faith, but also, of the formation and integration into our daily lives and that of our families.  It’s no secret that parents and key adults play a crucial role in the faith lives of children and teens.  The most important factor in determining a child’s faith future is the family’s own intentional way of going about it.  When parents and families deliberately discuss issues of faith, belief, spirituality, and worship, it shows their children and teens that faith is a priority, and it makes a real  difference in the ways they live their lives.  Indeed “the family is a domestic church.” Lumen Gentium, 11.  The National Directory for Catechesis teaches that, “…the family provides a unique locus for catechesis. It is a place where the Word of God is received and from which it is extended….all the members make up the family, and each can make a unique contribution to creating the basic environment in which a sense of God’s loving presence is awakened and faith in Jesus Christ is confessed, encouraged and lived.” (NDC p. 101)
 
An integrated faith formation program that engages the parish and the family is crucial.  This calls us to a paradigm shift from the reliance of the child-centered school model to a vibrant faith formation for the whole parish community. This is supported in the quoted an excerpt in the NDC from Catechesi Tradendae, “The catechesis of adults…is the principal form of catechesis, because it is addressed to persons who have the greatest responsibilities and the capacity to live the Christian message in its fully developed form.” (NDC p. 187 quoting CT no. 43). 

Our parish evangelizing formation embraces all ages to promote a lived faith using the tools of the times.