St. Patrick Religious Education is about Lifelong Faith Formation through Whole Community Catechesis.  Well, that’s a mouthful!  So, what does it mean?  How will we do it?  When does it happen?  Who is involved?
   Over the next weeks Whole Community Catechesis will be the focus of a series of bulletin articles.

17. What new approach to religious education does whole community catechesis offer?
1. Several features taken together compose this new approach.

• Conversion, the turning of our hearts to Christ, must become an essential part of every religious education process.
• Households, however comprised, play an integral role in all that we do, and families must become involved at the everyday level.
• The RCIA is our model: breaking open the Word is the approach that helps lead folks to ongoing conversion, love of Scripture, a heart for the materially poor, and a deeper commitment to the Eucharist and community life.
• Adult education must become the norm, not the sideline.  Catechesis is for adults as much as for children: in short, catechesis is the work of the whole community.
• Catechists are called to a genuine vocation. Discover the gift of teaching and allow the Spirit to work in each and everyone of us.
• We must take care to teach precisely what the Church teaches, as outlined for us in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Catechesis is the time to pass on faithfully what the Church has handed on to us.
• Finally, those who are in lifelong faith formation should see themselves as Disciples of Christ on a lifelong journey of faith, not merely as temporary students completing a program that ends with graduation.

   Whole Community Catechesis brings all these features into a single way of thinking, a single philosophy, and a single focus for the parish.  It has the power to renew the whole community of St. Patrick and to generate great enthusiasm for the Gospel.

Please Mark Your Calendars:

• Registration for all religious education programs, youth through adult, begins on August 22 after all Masses, and continues through September 3.
• Orientations for Sacrament Preparation programs and School of Faith programs September 11 and 12.
• Four Parish Events to prepare for: Feast of St. Francis on October 1-4, Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 3, 4, & 12, Lenten Seder Meal February 26 & March 5, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi preparation May 6 and 7.
• Scripture Study begins the week of September 12.
• Family Festivals on Sundays after the 9:00 AM Mass September 26, October 24, November 21, January 30, February 27 & April 24.
• RCIA, Re-Membering Church and Children’s Catechumenate Tuesday evenings beginning September 14.

   For further information about the many faith formation preparation programs under the umbrella of Whole Community Catechesis contact Jackie Mallory at (813) 839-5337 Ext. 131, email jmallory@stpatricktampa.org, or Kerry Mayo at Ext. 143, kmayo@stpatricktampa.org.

   Check the Calendar on the Religious Education page for dates and times of the Religious Education Programs.