Generations of Faith training offered in diocese

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
January 19, 2006

STORM LAKE - The dates for the Generations of Faith Training have changed. The Diocese of Sioux City teamed with the Center for Ministry Development will offer a Generations of Faith Project, centered on the concept of intergenerational ministry and lifelong faith formation.

There will be three one-day workshops. The first workshop, titled Exploring the Vision and Practice of Lifelong Catechesis for the Whole Parish/School Community, will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 10 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 1507 East Lakeshore Drive, in Storm Lake.

"We are inviting people to come to the first one and then decide if they would like to continue," said Bev Hurni, director of adult and family ministries for the diocese. "They don't need to make a commitment for all three at this point."

The second workshop, titled Developing and Implementing a Lifelong Curriculum in the Parish, will be from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 24 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Storm Lake.

The date and time for the third workshop, Designing Learning Experiences for the Whole Parish Community, will be announced at another date.

The presenter for the workshops will be Mariette Martineau, Generations of Faith project coordinator from the Center for Ministry Development.

"She has been working with Generations of Faith for years," said Hurni. "She has a lot of experience with Generations of Faith - especially helping parishes to implement it. She has lots of energy and excitement for this approach."

Originally, before there was need to reschedule the training, John Roberto, the founder of Generations of Faith was going to come to the diocese to do the training. However, he was not able to reschedule.

"They offer it this way (three workshops) from their expertise," said Linda Anderson, director of catechesis for the diocese. "It is a lot to take in and to try to have everyone absorb everything at one time would be overwhelming. The first one provides a lot of basic stuff. We are encouraging people to come to that knowing that that isn't forcing them to commit to something in the future. Hopefully, once they come to that first one and see all they learn, they will want to come back for more."

The intended audience for the workshops include pastors, pastoral ministers, DREs, youth ministers, liturgists, principals of Catholic schools, religion teachers, faith formation directors, adult formation teams, RCIA coordinators and catechists.

"Parishes/schools are asked to bring a team to the training," said Hurni. "Within the workshop they have an opportunity to begin to say, 'how can this be adapted to our situation?' Mariette will be there to help them with their individual questions."

There is no registration fee at this time. Through the Lilly Endowment Grant, the Generations of Faith Project will provide the following services free to participating parishes/schools:

1. Three Curriculum Development Workshops for parish/school staffs and faith formation leaders to help their parish/school plan, design and implement the faith formation plan.

2. One year of free access to Generations of Faith Online.

3. One copy of the Generations of Faith video for educating the parish/school community.

"The opportunity was just there for us," said Anderson. "John Roberto and the Center for Ministry Development has been given this grant, so we found out about that. He has been in our diocese before and done some Generations of Faith training."

She continued that the diocese is still receiving the benefits of Generations of Faith at no cost. They wanted to bring this approach to ministry to people again and get it going in the diocese.

"It would be foolish not to take advantage of an opportunity to have these well established trainers come into our diocese at no charge," said Anderson. "We are just helping to facilitate that and make it possible in our diocese. I think it would be a missed opportunity if we didn't take advantage of that."

The grant is expiring, Hurni pointed out, so she encourages people who have interest to make it to these workshops. In the future, there will be a charge to offer the workshops.

Hurni noted that offering Generations of Faith is "in response to what parishes are seeing as a need. There is a need for good adult faith formation. Parents feel like they need some assistance to help present the faith to their children. This type of an approach - whole community catechesis - responds to that need."

"Anything that is new, people want to step back and see what is happening first," said Hurni. "Now they are seeing the fruits of it in some of our parishes and other parishes across the country."

While there is no registration fee, parishes/schools will need to purchase the Generations of Faith Resource Manual for the team members. Cost is $25 per manual.

If a parish/school plans to participate, e-mail the estimated number that may attend by Jan. 23, so books may be ordered. According to Hurni, books need to be shipped from three different sources, so early notice is appreciated.

The complete registration form with contact numbers needs to be faxed by Jan. 30 to (712) 233-7598. Parishes who registered for the canceled date will need to register again.

If anyone has questions or requires additional information, contact Hurni at (712) 233-7531 or e-mail at bevh@scdiocese.org or Anderson at (712) 233-7517 or e-mail at lindaa@scdiocese.org.