Diocese to offer Generations of Faith training workshops

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
November 10, 2005

The Diocese of Sioux City has teamed up with the Center for Ministry Development to offer a Generations of Faith Project, centered on the concept of intergenerational ministry and lifelong faith formation.

According to Bev Hurni, director of adult and family ministries, this project consists of three workshops where parish leaders will be guided in creating intergenerational learning programs for people of all ages that will fit their particular parish or cluster.

These workshops will be offered at no charge to the people of the diocese thanks to a grant from the Lilly Endowment that is intended to help parishes in developing lifelong catechesis for the whole parish community. Along with funding the three workshops, the grant provides participating parishes with one year of free access to Generations of Faith Online and a copy of the Generations of Faith video program for educating the parish community.

The first workshop is titled Exploring the Vision and Practice of Lifelong Catechesis for the Whole Parish Community and will be offered Jan. 19 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake.

"People could attend to learn more about Generations of Faith and then decide later if they wanted to offer it," said Hurni. "We would encourage people to attend if they have an interest. This is a good opportunity."

The presenter of the first workshop is John Roberto, founder of the Center for Ministry Development and the creator of the Generations of Faith approach to whole community catechesis. He has presented Generations of Faith workshops across North America.

Linda Anderson, diocesan director of catechesis, said, "He is a pioneer with intergenerational ministry - developing Generations of Faith, creating a wonderful training and a wealth of materials to use with it. This is such a wonderful opportunity for parish leaders to come and learn more directly from John Roberto."

Hurni mentioned people are encouraged to sign up as a team rather than as an individual because it takes a team effort to successfully offer these intergenerational faith formation opportunities at the parish or cluster level.

Based on the response of participation in the first workshop, these two women, along with Father Ed Girres of the Webster County Team Parishes, will determine the best way to present the second and third workshops. They may opt to go out to parishes or deaneries rather than bring all participants together at one location.

The second workshop will look at developing and implementing a lifelong curriculum in the parish. It will address such things as scheduling, budgeting and promotion of the events.

The third workshop will focus on designing learning experiences for the whole parish community - both the intergenerational catechetical programs and faith-sharing activities to use in the home.

Parish leaders will have the option to select the model that they would like to use in their parish. The primary model is one where intergenerational learning events are the main source of faith formation in the parish. With the blended model, the parish continues with traditional religious education classes for grade and high school students, but then holds anywhere from two to five Generations of Faith intergenerational faith formation activities in addition to regular classes.

The Webster County Team Parishes use the primary model of Generations of Faith and several other parishes or clusters in the diocese use the blended approach. They mentioned that there is a growing interest in intergenerational ministry.

"The U.S. bishops have stressed the importance of faith formation for adults," noted Anderson. "It is our responsibility to help provide faith formation and this is a wonderful way to do that. If people are open to it and start taking a look at it - they will begin to see the possibilities and see it as a natural way to go with faith formation."

She pointed out that Generations of Faith is one particular approach to whole community catechesis or intergenerational ministry. Anderson added that some parishes have offered whole community catechesis events that they developed on their own.

The Center for Ministry Development with its Generations of Faith approach is currently working with over 1,500 parishes in 70 dioceses in the United States and Canada, including the Diocese of Sioux City.

This is the second time that Generations of Faith training has been offered in the diocese.

If people wish to learn more about Generations of Faith before signing up for the workshops, a video about this ministry process is available on loan from the Office of Adult and Family Ministries Office. Call Sandi at (712) 233-7530.

The deadline to sign up for the Jan. 19 workshop is Dec. 16. For more information about Generations of Faith contact Linda Anderson at (712) 233-7517 or lindaa@scdiocese.org or Bev Hurni at (712) 233-7531 or bevh@scdiocese.org.