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Our Parish’s Family Faith Formation Program Taking an Exciting New Direction
Exciting changes have been underway this summer at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, all to help us grow as disciples of Christ, grounded in our ability to evangelize our Catholic faith.
Effective July 1, we now have Family Faith Formation with Hope Glidewell as the Coordinator. The focus has broadened from Parish School of Religion to Family Faith Formation, with existing ministries brought under the Family Faith Formation hub and a family ministry focus. Meetings have been ongoing all summer to organize all the details, with the cooperative element between St. Anthony of Padua Parish and St. Dominic School playing an important role. Hope’s position will be tying all the pieces of the former Director of Religion’s post to Family Faith Formation.
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“Fr. Tom and I are involved with the parish and the school, and we have different vocations, including our deacon, parents of a school family, as well as a parishioner who has a leadership role coordinating ministries, along with Hope, all working as a team,” says Carol Frericks, St. Dominic Principal.
The new Family Faith Formation will take a modular approach to help organize the ministries and to involve more people, with more taking responsibility.
“There will be other people affected in the change of the Parish School of Religion,” Fr. Tom Donovan says. “We have to get teachers and curriculum and re-format the PSR. We’re looking at reorganizing our PSR with a new vision, drawn from the recent Synod which at the same time called for the restored order of the sacraments. Bishop Paprocki is challenging us to focus on how to help our children live the grace of the sacraments in their young lives, specifically by developing them as Christian Disciples and Stewards in those middle years when they might otherwise just be waiting for Confirmation. This is a time of active faith formation looking out from the experience of the sacraments, rather than simply looking forward for them. Our emphasis on Family Faith Formation is a positive step in that challenge, that invitation. As we continue to develop these plans, we will be in a different place than we are now."
As the changes are being put into place, everything will be done to align with the four Pillars of Catechism — Belief, Celebration, Life in Christ, and Prayer. There will be encouragement to participate in the Eucharist and to bring Christ into all our families.
“Sometimes we have a wall between the Parish School of Religion and the school,” Fr. Tom says. “We also want to try to lower that wall and work in a more holistic way to make all our Christian families living happily and holy.”
“I’m excited for it,” says Hope, who is working on her master’s in Art and Catechetical Evangelization at Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, all the while teaching 8th grade at St. Dominic School. “There needs to be a shift in how we do catechesis, and I want to be part of that.”
As the new Family Faith Formation hub is being put into action, Fr. Tom has one request of us.
“When Hope asks you to step up and do something, please say ‘yes,’” he says.
