NEW YORK – About two-years-ago, the convergence of a number of factors – the U.S. bishops’ new Institute on the Catechism, the Synod on Synodality, and feedback from local parishes among them – led the Archdiocese of Newark to discern how to modernize its catechetical office.

Effective Sept. 1, the archdiocese did just that, renaming its catechetical office the “Office for Lifelong Faith Formation” and simultaneously expanding its mission to focus on the faith formation of adults and full families, in addition to youth as has traditionally been the case.

Patricia Rodriguez, the director of the office, said in a statement when the changes were announced on Sept. 6 that the archdiocese wants its faith formation programs to “ignite a passion that reaches Catholics young and old in every aspect of their daily lives.”

“The renaming reflects a comprehensive approach to educating and nurturing a lifetime of vibrant faith,” Rodriguez said. “It also highlights the full scope of our ministry, which is dedicated to helping and inspiring people of all ages to grow spiritually.”

In a recent conversation with Crux, Rodriguez highlighted the Church’s historical emphasis on the need for community, and how faith formation as a community endeavor is at the core of the office’s mission.

“While the parents are the first and primary educators of the children and the witness of that lived faith … but we know also that can’t happen in a vacuum so we need a community of faithful missionary disciples where everyone is called by baptism to contribute to the development of faith,” Rodriguez said.

“And we pass on the faith to the next generation of children, but we also help one another to grow in the faith, even as adults,” she continued. “So it’s not only aimed at the children for this transmission of faith, but also in terms of our own growth and unity to encourage one another to share our faith stories.”

The expansion of the office, according to the archdiocese, includes enhanced initiatives for adult faith formation, family-centered catechesis, and meaningful engagement of and with youth and young adults. It will also introduce new opportunities for professional development of parish catechetical leaders, parish catechists, and Catholic school teachers, the archdiocese said.

Within that professional development, the archdiocese added, are newly designed courses for catechists and teachers, and closer work with pastors, parish administrators and their staff “to help parishes meet the lifelong faith needs of their communities.”

The changes made in the Archdiocese of Newark come at a time when both the Vatican and episcopal leaders in the United States recognize that catechetical changes are needed.

In 2020, the Vatican published the General Directory for Catechesis, which is essentially a modern how-to guide for catechesis. And in 2022, the U.S. Bishops launched the Institute on the Catechism, which builds on the Vatican document with a specific focus on the United States.

David Spesia, executive director of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference Subcommittee on the Catechism, said he considers the 2020 Vatican directory a “mini-Magna Carta” for the times. Speaking to Crux, he specifically highlighted the document’s guidelines for catechists and pastors in the role of evangelization, and how that informs what the U.S. Bishops’ Conference wants to instill nationwide.

“One of the initiatives of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis and the Subcommittee on Catechesis is to help promote engagement with the Directory for the Catechesis, but also to promote an understanding of and a living out of an evangelizing catechesis for everyone who’s in leadership roles, and in catechesis, and ultimately for those who are working in parishes as volunteers,” Spesia explained.

As part of those efforts, Spesia said, an expansion of catechetical formation that goes beyond teaching young people in a classroom setting, and instead focuses also on adult formation, and family formation is “absolutely essential.” In part, it’s because of the rise of disaffiliation. But from a more positive perspective, because “we are in a golden age of resources” to do so.

“It’s absolutely essential. [Catechesis] literally doesn’t work otherwise,” Spesia said of family faith formation. “The only thing that has the potential to mitigate disaffiliation of youth, young adults, is the faith witness of the family and the practice of faith within the family, so that’s absolutely essential.”

On adult faith formation, Spesia echoed the General Directory for Catechesis that highlights the primary role it has to play to meet people where they are, help them along, and equip them to become witnesses of the faith in their respective families and communities.

Rodriguez acknowledged that disaffiliation in the Archdiocese of Newark is on par with the national landscape. She referenced the words of Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella in the press conference when the 2020 General Directory for Catechesis was published, where he highlighted the urgent need for a pastoral conversion in catechetical ministry.

Fisichella is an Italian prelate and current Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, who led the 2020 revisions to the General Directory for Catechesis. The first version of the directory was published in 1971. It was then updated in 1997, and then again in 2020.

“[Fisichella] used strong language in terms of the urgency, and that’s what we’ve been discerning here,” Rodriguez said. “The kind of pastoral conversion so that we can kind of restore catechetical ministry in some sense to the fullness that it can be, and through that, the primary mission is evangelization.”

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