JAYNE MONDOY

Parish assessment of faith formation

As part of the Road Map annual report, Catholic schools superintendent Carmen Himenes reported on a tool used to assess the religious education progress of students attending Hawaii’s Catholic schools. In this article, Jayne Mondoy, the director of the Diocesan Office of Religious Education and chair of the Road Map Task Force on Faith Formation, provides guidance for the assessment of faith formation at the parish level.

Your parish has identified faith formation as one of its top three Road Map priorities. The pastor has appointed a faith formation leader, an intergenerational team is assembled, and everyone is ready to begin. Now what?

The Parish Catechetical Assessment may be of help. This assessment tool is user-friendly and aids discussion, prioritization and action. Each section addresses a specific component of parish faith formation, including, for example: overall parish focus; catechesis, formation and evangelization; and catechesis and formation of adults, youth, children, families, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and the marginalized.

The parish assessment process involves a parish team that focuses on the vision of catechesis and faith formation contained in the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC) and the National Directory for Catechesis (NDC) and discusses over a two-hour period how current parish practices match up with this vision. To illustrate how the assessment process works, vision statements taken from these two publications are provided below, followed by the assessment questions to be discussed by the parish team.

Catechesis and evangelization

“Catechesis is so central to the Church’s mission of evangelization that, if evangelization were to fail to integrate catechesis, initial faith aroused by the original proclamation of the Gospel would not mature, education in the faith through a deeper knowledge of the person and message of Jesus Christ would not transpire, and discipleship in Christ through genuine apostolic witness would not be fostered.” (NDC #22)

n   How does our parish understand evangelization and what are the concrete forms?

n   How does our parish invite/welcome people to deepen their faith?

Primacy of adult catechesis and formation

“Catechesis for adults, since it deals with persons who are capable of an adherence that is fully responsible, must be considered the chief form of catechesis. All the other forms, which are indeed always necessary, are in some way oriented to it.” (GDC #59)

n   What are the goals for adult catechesis and formation in our parish?

n   How are adult catechesis and formation planned and who is designated to lead it?

n   How is ongoing systematic catechesis and formation made available to adults in our parish? How can this become more of a reality?

Youth catechesis and formation

“The most effective catechetical programs for adolescents are integrated into a comprehensive program of pastoral ministry for youth that includes catechesis, community life, evangelization, justice and service, leadership development, pastoral care, prayer and worship.” (NDC #48-D)

n   How are youth invited to explore and grow in their faith? How does our parish reach out to all youth?

n   How are adolescents engaged in a way that is age-appropriate, systematic, and intentional, while maintaining the integrity of the Gospel message?

n   Who is responsible for leadership? What are their qualifications? Are youth included in planning and evaluating programs?

Catechesis and formation for persons with disabilities

“The love of the Father for the weakest of his children and the continuous presence of Jesus and His Spirit give assurance that every person, however limited, is capable of growth in holiness.” (GDC #189)

n   What does our parish do to identify the persons with disabilities in our parish and to determine their catechetical and formational needs? Does our parish have a representative who advocates for their needs?

n   Are persons with disabilities mainstreamed into our parish’s catechetical programs where possible? And where specialized catechetical programs are needed, what is our parish doing to provide access to them?

n   What efforts are being made to include persons with disabilities in the prayer, liturgical, and social life of the parish community?

A number of our diocesan parishes, including the faith formation teams at St. John Apostle and Evangelist in Mililani and at St. Michael in Waialua, have found this assessment process to be a helpful way to recognize, prioritize, and, most importantly, put into motion exciting, concrete responses to their unique faith formation needs. Perhaps this approach might be helpful to your parish, too!

The Parish Catechetical Assessment is available at www.CatholicHawaii.org under the Road Map tab. Contact the Office of Religious Education at (808) 203-6747 for more information.