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In September of 2005, Bishop Saltarelli issued his pastoral letter on catechesis, Go and Teach: Facing the Challenges of Catechesis Today. He said, “Effective Adult Faith Formation is essential to our parishes.” In the plan for implementing the vision of the pastoral letter, he call for all parishes to “establish adult faith formation committees in every parish to successfully implement Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us.”
While this does not become a priority goal for the Office for Religious Education until 2007, adult faith formation has been a major emphasis of the office since the bishops issued their pastoral plan for adult faith formation in 1999. There have been several major initiatives from the office including a pilot program (2000-2003) to develop adult faith formation committees in ten parishes. The effort included development of a parish survey form that was completed by more than 2000 adults.
Some of the findings of the report included in the executive summary were:
* 87% of the respondents had some or a great interest in Adult Formation.
* 27% said they would be interested in almost any topic.
* More females were interested in Adult Formation than males.
* The 18-35 segment had the most interest. 30% of this group were interested in almost any topic.
* Bible Study was the topic with the highest interest.
* Respondents under 55 were more interested in Bible Studies than those over 55. The over 55 group had more interest in Prayer and Spirituality than those under 55.
* When asked how frequently they participated in activities that were listed, the most common answer was for “quiet devotionals/prayer/meditations” given by 63% of the respondents. Ministry activities in the parish at 29% and reading scripture at 27% were the next highest.
* The Sunday Homily was identified as the primary way of getting information about the Catholic faith by 90% of the respondents.
* Almost all adults prefer to get their information about the faith from the Sunday homily.
* The greatest obstacle to participation in Adult Formation was the lack of time (59% listed this!).
* The principle ways that the adults nourish their spirit are: listening to music (50%), taking a walk (48%), visiting a church (45%) and talking with a friend (45%).
* The faith issue of greatest concern to the respondents was the “Church teachings and procedures. This held true for all respondents regardless of age cohort.
* 69% of the respondents had internet access at home and 9% expected to have it in the near future.
* 85% of the respondents attend mass once a week.
Parishes have been using the results of the survey to shape the adult faith formation offerings in the parish. Moving adult faith formation to the center of the catechetical ministries so that it becomes the “axis around which revolves the catechesis of childhood and adolescence as well as that of old age.” (GDC, no. 275) will not be an easy task. It will be accomplished by taking small steps and by parishes implementing the vision of the National Directory for Catechesis.
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