Philosophy
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All
of us who work in parish ministry today want to do a better job of
reaching adults, of offering them faith formation. We attend
conferences and read excellent resources. We talk among ourselves
in the hallways and cloak rooms of diocesan meetings. We plan and
study and invite and cajole -- and sometimes even plot – to find
ways to interest adults and help them grow in their faith. |
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For
many Catholics, this is a new and difficult term. It suggests to many
the sort of television-based ministries, which are popular among
evangelical Christians. In Catholic thinking and practice, however, the
term evangelization has
a different meaning than the one these evangelical Christians mean by
it. For us Catholics and many other main line Christians, we believe
that we cannot know Christ without at the same time knowing and being
part of the Body of Christ which is the Church. Christ is the head of
this body, after all! So for us, knowing Christ fits into living our
Catholic lives: being at Mass, celebrating the sacraments, working for
justice and peace, following the precepts of the church, learning from
the pastoral leaders of the church, and developing mature, adult faith
within a community. And yes, it also leads for most people to some form
of actual instruction
in the faith which is where Growing
Faith comes in.
In 1972,
Pope Paul VI gave the church a very important and easy-to-read Apostolic
Exhortation about evangelization, entitled Evangelii
Nuntiandi.
Reading
it is a pleasure; it’s like making a retreat!
The
second half of the process of growing in faith is to study it! As we
just said, to know Christ is to know the church. Because of this,
studying our faith is one of the ways we come to know Christ better.
And,
as we just said, that’s where Growing
Faith comes in. Here at last is a product designed for the
youth, young adults, and adults of all sorts in today’s church. It’s
beautiful in design, easy to use, easy to facilitate, and absolutely
Catholic! People will want the booklets as keepsakes and they will read
and re-read them for many years! They will give them to family members
and friends; they will refer to them when questions arise.
Growing Faith is
designed to support the journey of faith that so many Catholics are on
today. If used from front to back, it provides a systematic and
comprehensive presentation of the Catholic faith. Whether used in groups
or in privately, it presents the beauty and deep meaning of our faith in
language that is common and with illustrations that touch the heart.
Each
component booklet (there are 48 in all) opens up one important dimension
of our faith. Each new insight about your faith, each reflection that
sticks in your mind afterward, each line of the text or memory of the
artwork, is a gift.
Receive
these gifts gratefully.
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