When Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St. Paul was a child, the way the Church helped families prepare young people with appropriate catechesis was called CCD, “confraternity of Christian doctrine.”
“It was very much focused on the intellectual encounter with the teachings of the Church,” the archbishop said. Today’s term, faith formation, is much broader because it is not focused solely on the intellect, but also ensures that young people encounter Christ, learn to pray and are immersed in the sacramental life of the Church, he said.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda
“It really is forming the young person to be a disciple of Jesus,” the archbishop said. Faith formation describes “how we teach our young people the truths of our faith, what it is that we can find in Scripture and tradition and the magisterium, but it’s … broader than that too,” he said.
Maria Wiering, editor-in-chief of The Catholic Spirit, interviewed Archbishop Hebda about faith formation for the “Practicing Catholic” show that debuts 9 p.m. Aug. 19 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. The show also is repeated at 1 p.m. Aug 20 and 2 p.m. Aug. 21.
The archbishop said that similar to Catholic schools, parish-based faith formation programs assist the parents, who are the primary educators. “We have to be able to really make sure that our parents are able to engage in that work of formation,” even as it is an important work of the Church, as well, he said.
Close to 27,000 young people and nearly 2,700 catechists are involved in faith formation in the archdiocese, with about 108 parishes offering programs, some in collaboration, Archbishop Hebda said. Some parishes use more traditional programs and others use a family formation model, with parents and children learning together, he said.
The idea of approaching faith formation more broadly, as an ongoing undertaking for all Catholics, also is critically important, and it is a perspective and “hunger” that was heard during the recent Archdiocesan Synod, Archbishop Hebda said.
“It’s a golden age for ongoing faith formation because we have resources that are available to us now at our fingertips,” he said, as near as a smartphone, podcast, Relevant Radio program or the Archbishop Harry Flynn Catechetical Institute in St. Paul. “One of the things that really impresses me the most is that it places within the hearts of our faithful a desire to learn more,” he said. “They’re hungering to learn more about what Christ teaches us about his Church.”
Catechists, parish core teams, small group leaders and parents are invited to learn more about faith formation during a special St. Paul Discipleship Formation Day Sept. 17, at NET Ministries’ site in West St. Paul. To learn more, visit archspm.org/events.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest “Practicing Catholic” show also includes an interview with Meggie Langlois, a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd teacher and trainer and a faculty member at St. Agnes in St. Paul. Langlois describes how the catechesis program draws children into the faith. And there is a reprised interview from September 2021 with Emily Abe, who describes her conversion to the Catholic faith and how digital media and graphic design can serve the new evangelization.
Listen to their interviews after they have aired at:
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