Diocesan Faith Development Objectives

DIOCESAN FAITH DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

Diocesan Objective 1:

The diocese will have a clearly defined vision of evangelisation at the heart of its Diocesan Faith Development Plan.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• The bishop will have an identifiable central role as the chief catechist of the diocese. He will provide for initial proclamation, ongoing catechesis and lifelong faith enrichment processes in the diocese.

• Significant financial resources will be sought and put in place to facilitate an effective and unified support system for faith development within the diocese.

• The bishop will put in place a coordinated team of faith development personnel, working in cooperation and together designated as the Diocesan Faith Development Services. This may be achieved by a number of smaller dioceses establishing such services together.

• This revitalised and flexible manifestation of the diocesan catechetical office4 will seek to encompass and coordinate the diocese’s interest in faith education at all levels, in homes, parishes and schools, for adults, young people and children.

• The team cooperating as Diocesan Faith Development Services will keep an eye to particular areas of concern, such as Catholic schools, special needs, family ministry and youth ministry, justice and social solidarity, liturgical catechesis and, above all, structures to support home, parish and school working in partnership.

• The Faith Development Services team, in collaboration with the bishop and other diocesan officials, will set out and seek to implement a Diocesan Faith Development Plan. Such an initiative will be part of the general Diocesan Plan.

• Support for the ongoing formation and training needs of priests, deacons, Parish Pastoral Councils, Faith Development Coordinators and other pastoral workers, volunteer catechists, members of parish teams and religious educators will be provided.

Diocesan Objective 2:

The diocese will promote a faith development strategy that embraces faith development as lifelong learning.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• The Diocesan Faith Development Services team will be led by an appropriately qualified, experienced and skilled Diocesan Director of Faith Development. The Director will oversee reflection on present needs and provision, as well as identifying and putting in place strategies to provide for future evangelisation, catechetical and religious education challenges facing the diocese, its people, its parishes and its schools.

• The Diocesan Faith Development Services, under the leadership of the Director of Faith Development, will be composed of a number of Diocesan Advisers, depending on the size of the diocese and sometimes in collaboration with other local dioceses, each with their own area of responsibility, such as, for instance: Adult Diocesan Adviser; Primary Diocesan Adviser; Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser.

• This Team will be structured in such a way to provide an Education Office supporting the management of Catholic schools. It will also incorporate Family Ministry, Youth Ministry and Special Needs Faith Support. A unified approach, which prioritises partnership between home, parish and school in the faith development of adults and children, will be sought.

• The Liturgy and Music Office, Pastoral Development Office, Justice and Social Affairs Office and those with responsibility for ecumenical and inter-faith dialogues, will also be significant contributors to the Diocesan Faith Development Services.

• Those appointed to the position of Diocesan Adviser will have previous catechetical and religious education experience in parishes or schools, with adults or with young people, as well as professional qualifications and practical training.

Diocesan Objective 3:

Adult faith development will be clearly visible as the chief form of faith development in the diocese.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• The diocese will have a clearly stated vision of lifelong learning in parishes and deaneries, which promotes adult faith development as the chief form of faith development.

• The diocese will engage in financial planning to secure sufficient resources to provide for adult faith development in the diocese.

• The diocese will have a clearly defined strategy for developing parish adult faith development leaders and teams, including appropriate education and training.

• There will be a particular policy, at diocesan level, for outreach to young adults, parents/guardians and the elderly, among other groups.

• National programmes focused on adult needs, such as marriage education, will be encouraged at local diocesan level.

• The diocese will ensure that each parish has access to trained Faith Development Coordinators.

• The diocese will support third-level evangelisation and catechetical programmes of various kinds and IT initiatives in the whole area of faith development. A diocesan website will have been developed, with priority given to faith development initiatives.

Diocesan Objective 4:

The catechesis and religious education of the young will be given priority in the diocese.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• A strategy for supporting Family Ministry will be in place in the diocese.

• The diocese will have a coordinated approach to Youth Ministry, supporting a variety of faith development initiatives for young people.

• The diocese will support a programme organised at parish level to enable parents/guardians to participate fully in the sacramental initiation of their children. This programme will involve a partnership between home, parish and primary school.

• The diocese will promote opportunities for parents/guardians to support them and help them reflect on the ongoing catechesis and religious education of their children beyond sacramental initiation.

• The diocese will have in place an Award Scheme to encourage young people at senior cycle level to become involved in activities associated with faith development and commitment to service in the Church.

Diocesan Objective 5:

There will be strong diocesan-wide collaboration with religious congregations in providing for faith development initiatives at a variety of levels.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• Close attention will be paid at diocesan level to faith development partnerships with local religious congregations.

• The diocese will be in discussion with religious congregations and their Trustee bodies in developing new models of Catholic second-level schooling in the diocese and in establishing appropriate networks and strategies for the upskilling of school management and staff.

• Religious who have worked in other parts of the world and have come home to live in Ireland will be acknowledged as a particularly rich resource in the diocese.

These objectives are taken from Share the Good News: National Directory for Catechesis in Ireland §137-141.

Themed Presentations

As we celebrate all the many efforts being made in Ireland to share our faith with renewed purpose, the Implementation Committee for Share the Good News: National Directory for Catechesis in Ireland has recently 'sent to press' seven thematic presentations of the Directory to be used across the country.  They are intended as aides to reading the Directory itself and are available in the set of seven or individually.

The themes are:

•          Catholic Schools: building community

•          Adults Learning and Teaching Faith

•          Encountering God: prayer in Christian life

•          Evangelise: witness to God's love

•          Family Catechesis

•          In the Parish

•          Youth and Young Adult Faith Development

The presentations are available from Veritas or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Parish Faith Development Objectives

PARISH FAITH DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

Parish Objective 1:

Each parish will place the faith development of all its members at the centre of its stated mission and goals, promoting the parish’s Faith Development Plan at every opportunity.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• The parish will have a graduated Faith Development Plan to be realised step by step over a set period of time. The Parish Priest will ensure that personal and community catechesis is kept to the fore in the parish and in the minds of parishioners.

• Prayerful reflection on the Gospel will form the basis upon which the parish engages in catechetical and other forms of faith development planning.

• The Parish Priest will see that a professionally qualified and experienced person is appointed as Faith Development Coordinator for the parish, possibly in conjunction with neighbouring parishes.

• Suitably trained volunteer parishioners, working as part of various parish teams, chosen according to the particular needs of the parish, will fulfil, as catechists, a mentoring role with adults and young parishioners who are growing in their faith.

• The Parish Priest will identify faith development goals specific to the particular requirements and resources of parish members.

• The parish will collaborate with other parishes, the deanery and diocese in initiating and overseeing local catechetical and other faith development projects.

• The parish will strive to meet the faith development needs of everybody within its remit, particularly those who might not have a strong voice.

Parish Objective 2:

The priest in the parish will demonstrate a clear commitment to the evangelising and catechetical nature of his ministry, and strive, with the support of parishioners, to give the various levels of faith development due priority.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• The Parish Priest and those who collaborate with him will demonstrate a commitment to support and encourage one another and those volunteers who have been given particular faith development roles in the parish.

• The parish will encourage the priest in the particular role he plays in its evangelisation. It will provide practical support, especially in his celebration of the sacraments, his delivery of homilies and his other catechetical inputs in the parish.

• The priest as presider at the celebration of the liturgy will ensure that catechetical opportunities intrinsic to the liturgy are used appropriately.

• The parish as a community will seek to nourish and support the priest, personally and spiritually, helping him to grow with them in faith.

Parish Objective 3:

Adult faith development will be at the centre of parish life, helping the community to grow vigorous in its conversion to Jesus Christ.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• The Parish Priest and those who assist him will demonstrate a clear commitment to lifelong education in Christian faith, highlighting continuing adult education in the parish’s Faith Development Plan and in their day-to-day work.

• Where there are adults preparing for initiation into the family of the Church, priority will be given in the parish to the RCIA process. All those who minister in the parish will be educated in the principles underlying, and implications of, the RCIA.

• The Faith Development Coordinator, involved personally in ongoing faith education, will assume responsibility for overseeing a ministry of adult faith development in the parish.

• Opportunities for members of the parish to participate in theological reflection will be encouraged. Ongoing conversation will be entered into with local third-level colleges offering theology, philosophy and pastoral ministry modules, with a view to encouraging participation by interested adults from the parish.

• The parish will strive to proclaim the Gospel to adults who are alienated or who have drifted into religious indifference.

• At regular intervals, the parish will initiate adult programmes to accommodate specific groups, such as young adults, parents/guardians, those who are single, the elderly and people on the margins of the community, inviting them to partake in an adult conversation about faith in their lives.

• Marriage education, including preparation for marriage and ongoing marriage enrichment, will be given particular support by the parish community.

• Regular in-service will be provided for priests, deacons, religious and those who collaborate with the Parish Priest, seeking to support them spiritually, affectively and intellectually in their own faith commitment, and encourage them to develop further their pastoral skills.

Parish Objective 4:

The catechetical and religious education needs of young people will be given high priority in the life of the parish.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• The parish will have an established support system for family catechesis, helping parents/guardians, grandparents and young people to speak and pray together in the light of their everyday experience.

• A Family Mass ministry in the parish will encourage families to participate in parish liturgy and community-building, as well as in reaching out to those in need.

• The parish, facilitated by the Faith Development Coordinator, will provide parish preparation for the sacraments of initiation, in conjunction with parents and with the local schools. Parish volunteers will receive training to become members of parish Baptismal, Confirmation and First Communion Teams.

• A designated priest of the parish and the Faith Development Coordinator will visit the parish primary schools, working in co-operation with the school Principal, Religious Education Co-ordinator, and teachers of students preparing for the sacraments.

• The parish will develop a youth initiative to support, in a variety of ways, the faith development needs of adolescents. Priests and Faith Development Coordinators will be in touch with local post-primary schools. The parish will facilitate the commitment to service in Church award scheme for the senior cycle age-group, mentioned in Chapter 5 above.

Parish Objective 5:

The parish Faith Development Plan will be inclusive, giving significant attention to those who have specific needs in relation to faith development.

Some Indicators of Achievement

• Those who are experiencing family, financial or other difficulties will find support in their faith community.

• There will be easy access to the parish church, parish centre and school buildings, such that those with special physical needs feel welcome.

• Those with special learning needs will be integrated into the parish, including its liturgical rituals and community events.

• Migrants and other newcomers, as well as Travellers, when present as part of the local worshipping community, will experience the hospitality of the faith community, and contribute to its growth.

• Ecumenical, intercultural and inter-religious outreach will be considered an essential part of parish life.

• Those who are living with illness will receive special attention from the parish. Their contribution to the parish’s sense of care, community and prayer life will be cherished.

These objectives are taken from Share the Good News: National Directory for Catechesis in Ireland §131-135.

Share The Good News

Share the Good News: National Directory for Catechesis in Ireland (SGN) published by the Episcopal Conference in December 2010, now provides an invaluable charter for our work.  The Directory envisages the appointment of faith development personnel at all levels.

• While the bishop will have an identifiable central role as the chief catechist of the diocese he will ‘put in place a coordinated team of faith development personnel, working in co-operation and together designated as the Diocesan Faith Development Services’ (§ 137).
• Of course, this is also the work of all parishes and the parish priest will ‘see that a professionally qualified and experienced person is appointed as Faith Development Coordinator for the parish, possibly in conjunction with neighbouring parishes’ (§ 131).
• All of this work will be supported by ‘the National Faith Development Team…encouraging a nationally agreed  approach to initial proclamation, Christian initiation, catechesis, religious education, new evangelisation and theological reflection in dioceses throughout Ireland, listening, supporting and encouraging all those who collaborate in these forms of ministry’ (§ 144).

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