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Sunday Morning Faith Formation Classes
For many who have grown up in the Church, after years of Catholic school or religious education classes, Confirmation may unfortunately be regarded a “graduation” of sorts, at least when it comes to actively learning about our beliefs and teachings. For many “cradle Catholics,” our practice of the faith may easily slip into being more of a routine or habit, rather than a deep and meaningful relationship with Christ and His Church.
However, as Catholics, we believe that our journey of faith is one that lasts our entire lives, with each day being an opportunity to grow closer to God and deepen our understanding of the faith that He has given us. With this in mind, here at St. John Before the Latin Gate, we hope to encourage our adult parishioners to continue to strengthen their faith, especially by learning more about it.
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For the past 30 years, parishioner Hank Hankinson has worked tirelessly to help his fellow parishioners come to understand the riches of Catholic teaching and Church history. Raised in Protestant churches, Hank and his wife, Lyla became Catholic in 1975, after discovering the beauty of the faith, and there has been no turning back. Although his background and career is in engineering, Hank’s love of reading turned to a love of learning about the Church and sharing his discoveries with others. Taking various forms over the years, Hank has offered many classes to fellow Catholics wanting to go deeper in their understanding of the faith.
“I’ve always enjoyed doing it because I felt it was really important for people to have a broad background of the faith,” Hank says.
In recent years, the classes have been offered on Sundays, from 9:15-10:15 a.m., in between Masses. They have covered a variety of topics, from the early Church, to the Crusades, to Christology and Scripture, and much more. Hank’s criteria for the classes, which typically run in 10-to-12-session series, is that they are topics that people have requested to learn about. They consist of short video presentations with time for discussion and questions, and there is always plenty of coffee!
“I believe that with any kind of learning, you have to ingest it into your heart and mind — it can’t just be given to you, you memorize it and walk away,” Hank says. “People have questions and I think it’s often the unanswered questions that drive people from the Church.
“The Church offers good answers to almost any question, but not if people don’t ask them,” he says. “I hate the idea of someone sitting in their home and steaming about something they see in the paper, and then dropping out of the Church. I think in any educational situation, you have to give people a chance to think, to question, to discuss. Those are very important criteria.”
Hank hopes to provide an opportunity for Catholics who may not have received a vigorous education in Catholic theology and history to learn about the teachings of the Church, as well as for those who love their faith to go deeper in their understanding. He hopes that inviting people to deeper knowledge of Christ and His Church will lead them to greater devotion.
“I would hate for the Catholic Church to just become a cultural activity and not a belief activity,” Hank says. “You see where 65 percent of Catholics do not believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist — that’s a travesty.
“But it’s not their fault,” he adds, “They were never taught that, they never heard the stories. I can’t change to world, but I can hopefully change the world around me by instilling in people a love of the Church, the Church’s theology, the Church’s history.”
Although the Sunday morning faith formation classes are currently on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hank hopes that they will be able to return in the future, as he’d like to offer his final series before “retirement,” featuring the work of his patron saint, St. Thomas Aquinas.
“Things are winding down, but I wanted to go out, talking about my patron saint,” Hank says with a smile.
“I love the Catholic Church,” he adds. “And I realize more and more every year, that if I had not become Catholic in 1975, I would not be a Christian today.”
