Catholic Faith Formation in a Post-Pandemic World – a workshop series for parish leaders in all areas of faith formation: The way we all practice and live out our communal faith life has been affected by this pandemic. As a result, people’s expectations of and commitment to the practice of our faith have been affected, some for the better and some for the worse. Our people have changed; has our faith formation adapted? Are we just returning to what we did pre-pandemic? If we did, how’s that really working out? If we need change, what needs to be different? Can anything stay the same?  The Office of Faith Formation has teamed up with Lifelong Faith Associates to offer this all-important five-part series of in-person and virtual workshops that provides parish faith formation leaders the opportunity to come together and collaboratively assess their present faith formation efforts in light of the disruption of this pandemic and plan for a unified vision and practice for their future faith formation ministry. 

MORNING SESSION: Building Community and Relationships. This pandemic has forever changed us and our ministries, and the path forward is dependent on creating a new sense and practice of hospitality. This session identifies the scriptural and communal foundations of hospitality, and offers tools and resources to assess and design simple, effective and practical ways to create a community of welcome, hospitality and engagement that brings together everyone in the community. If we get this right, all our ministry efforts will be more successful and impactful from the start! AFTERNOON SESSION: Formation for Christian Living in a New World. The pandemic has affected our lives in ways that we have only begun to name. We are searching anew for meaning and purpose and are asking: “How shall we live now?” So what are the approaches, resources, people, and wisdom we need to address this important question? One approach is to focus on forming people in the practices of the Christian way of life, and this session will present the vision and tools for designing formation programs, and give examples of curriculum approaches, program designs, and learning activities, that do just that.

This webinar engages leaders in designing faith formation with children (0-10 years old) and parents that places the primary emphasis on their lives and needs today, and how to best nurture their growth in faith and discipleship. The webinar presents a holistic approach to faith formation with children by incorporating intergenerational, family, and age group experiences; and presents practices and strategies for designing faith formation that reinvents current programming and develops new and innovative approaches to children's faith formation.

This webinar presents effective practices and approaches for faith formation with each season of adulthood - young adults, midlife adults, mature adults, and older adults – and the skills to design faith formation to address their unique life stages. The webinar presents strategies, programs, and activities for faith formation using online, hybrid, and gathered models of programming.

This webinar engages leaders in designing faith formation with younger and older adolescents (middle school and high school) that puts the primary emphasis on their lives and needs today, and how to best nurture their growth in faith and discipleship. This webinar explores the unique life tasks, needs, interests, and spiritual journeys of adolescents today; and presents practices and strategies for designing faith formation in today’s world that reinvents current programming and develops new and innovative approaches to faith formation.

MORNING SESSION: Designing Faith Formation Programming for All Ages in a Hybrid World. The pandemic disrupted our “default” faith formation model of in-person, fixed-time gatherings, programs, and events, and pushed us to experiment with hybrid models integrating in-person gatherings with a online content and experiences. These models balance the importance of in-person relationships and experiences with being responsive to the complexity of people’s lives and their religious-spiritual needs, and allow us to be more strategic about when, where, how, and for what we gather people. This session presents models for developing a hybrid future for lifelong faith formation. AFTERNOON SESSION: Planning for the Future of Faith Formation in Your Parish. This work session guides parish teams in developing a plan for their faith formation that incorporates age groups, family, and intergenerational programming with the new approaches and tools for hybrid faith formation. The goal is to help each parish build a plan, build capacity for implementing the plan (support systems, resources, people, etc.), and develop the strategies for implementing the plan.