Adult Faith Formation Strengthens Our Future

When it comes to faith formation, the Church in the United States has focused primarily on children, too often neglecting the needs of adults. In the hope of changing that, the U.S. bishops published Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us: A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States in 1999. For an institution like the Catholic Church, changing course can be a mighty undertaking. Many compare it to trying to change the course of an ocean liner, but we all know what happened to the Titanic: by the time the crew noticed the iceberg, it was too late. I am confident that it is not too late for the Church to change, and I am inspired by the work of V Encuentro to facilitate transformation and strengthen our future. Many issues influence change, including the following:

• Change happens much more easily in smaller, more nimble organizations. The Catholic Church is neither small nor nimble.

• Newer organizations are more flexible and capable of change. The Catholic Church is not new.

• The world around us has become accustomed to rapid change. The Catholic Church is not accustomed to moving quickly.

Meanwhile, there are icebergs lurking everywhere, threatening our ability to stay afloat. Perhaps the most serious threat is the reality that we are not doing a good job of forming adults into disciples of Christ. However, by making adult faith formation a real priority, we can become a stronger Church filled with missionary disciples. Among the objectives of

V Encuentro

is to “stimulate a new wave of faith formation and leadership development initiatives that prepare Hispanic Catholics to share and celebrate the Good News of Jesus Christ and to become leaven for the Reign of God in society.”

V Encuentro

recognizes that this work will take the efforts of adults. This is not “kid stuff”! Adult faith formation is not accomplished via a single program or even a series of events. Rather, it is stimulated by a wide variety of approaches that ultimately lead to a change of climate in the parish—one in which adult faith formation is fostered at every turn. One powerful way to bring about this “climate change” is through the formation of small faith-sharing groups around the Word of God—a format that resonates with the Hispanic/Latino experience. The

Six Weeks with the Bible

series from Loyola Press is a helpful resource for this type of faith sharing because it invites people to join in conversation around the Word of God to help one another find God in everyday living. Each guide is divided into six concise 90-minute segments that introduce one book of the Bible in a user-friendly manner that requires no prior knowledge of Scripture. All biblical texts are printed in the guides, which means no additional study aids are required. For more information, click here. We at Loyola Press pray that

V Encuentro

will indeed stimulate a new wave of faith formation for adults, not only in the Hispanic/Latino community, but in the entire Church!