Questions, Inquiries: Contact:
Bette Scaringe, Director of Religious Education
E-mail: scaringeb@gs.ptdiocese.org
Phone: 850-893-1837

Babysitting: available for all sessions; contact Rene, 893-3437

Do you sometimes wonder about aspects of the Catholic faith? Do you have questions about the sacraments and some of the practices of the Church? Are you looking for something that makes understanding our faith a bit easier?

For a quick overview of this fall’s sessions, click here or continue reading for the details behind this new adult faith formation program!

Background:

During the Sharing the Vision workshops last fall, parishioners identified several goals for the parish, and then narrowed those goals down to 3 that would be pursued during 2006 (for more details about the Sharing the Vision process, click here).  One of the goals is:

Deepen the sense of reverence for all the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, through providing authentic Catholic teaching to at least 50% of active parishioners.

During the Sharing the Vision workshops, parishioners developed 3 proposed steps or objectives to achieve this goal:

1. Have a teaching from the pulpit on one of the seven sacraments – at least once a month (weekend Masses) with particular emphasis on the Eucharist.
2. Schedule adult faith formation classes, perhaps using a text like “Catholicism for Dummies”; initially these classes could be 3 topics, 3 classes per topic, with 3 different teachers.
3. Have a leadership team review and implement liturgical practices and norms in order to inspire more reverent behavior in Mass.

Purpose

Catholicism For Ordinary People has been developed in response to the need identified by in the Sharing the Vision process.  The program has been designed by a team of parishioners who volunteered to help to implement the goals from Sharing the Vision.  The intent of this series is to offer ongoing adult faith formation in two steps: first, on a basic level as a kind of refresher on aspects of our faith, beginning with the sacraments; and then, some additional sessions for those who may want to go deeper into the particular topic. 

Catholic tradition.  For those with more time, or more desire to learn at a deeper level, additional sessions will be available.

Schedule

Generally, the sessions in  Catholicism For Ordinary People will be scheduled like this:

• Introductory/basic sessions will be offered on a subject in the fall – we’ll offer the introductory session at 3 different times to make it more accessible to parishioners
• The follow-on sessions intended to go deeper on the topic will be offered in the winter (beginning in January).
• At the same time, introductory sessions on a second topic will be available in January, with the associated follow-on sessions set for the spring.
• And in the spring, a third topic will be introduced, with the follow-on for that topic offered during the summer

We plan to continue this cycle in the future, depending on how successful the program is during 2006.

Fall 2006 Sessions

This fall Catholicism For Ordinary People will kick off with introductory sessions on the Eucharist presented by Deacon Marcus Hepburn. We have scheduled this introductory session at 3 different times:

• Sunday, September 24 at 9:00 AM
• Wednesday, September 27 at 7:00 PM; or
• Sunday, October 10 at 7:30 PM.

If you have questions about this series on the Eucharist, you can contact Deacon Marcus at mhepburn@flacathconf.org.  All sessions will be about 40 minutes long and take place in Room 308.  The follow-up series for those who may want to go deeper into this topic is planned for January. 

Our tentative schedule for the test of the year has the sacrament of Reconciliation as our topic in January, and in March a series on the sacrament of Marriage begins.