Cohort embarks on faith formation journey

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Lindsay Steele
A multi-parish team from St. John the Baptist-Houghton, St. James the Less-St. Paul, St. Mary-West Point and St. Boniface-Farmington participates in a Parents and Families at the Center of Faith Formation Project workshop Jan. 18 at St. Patrick Parish in Iowa City.

By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger

The National Com­munity of Catechetical Leaders (NCCL) believes the prevailing model of Catholic parish faith formation for children and adolescents — weekly, age-graded classes or programs at church — is not adequate for the task of faith transmission and formation today. To address declining levels of Catholic participation, parishes must consider the whole family.

NCCL recently developed the Parents and Families at the Center of Faith Formation Project to help parishes develop strategies to encourage, equip, engage, involve and connect parents with the Catholic faith, their children and the parish community. This five-year, grant-funded project will work directly with 200 Catholic parishes in 18 diocesan cohorts across the United States by exploring how to strengthen faith transmission at home in the first two decades of life, and create parish communities that intentionally accompany and support parents and caregivers.

Pullinger

Eight parishes and one cluster are participating in the Diocese of Davenport’s cohort. “This is an important opportunity to develop how we accompany families and caregivers in effective models of catechesis today,” said Trevor Pullinger, diocesan director of Faith For­mation and Cate­chesis coordinator. “In addition, this will help us cultivate best practices in this area as we collaborate not only on the diocesan level but also the national level.”

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Participating parishes have made a three-year commitment (2025-27) to the program and will participate in six workshops during this time, along with monthly cohort meetings on Zoom. Parish project teams will work with NCCL to design and implement a personalized, three-year plan and evaluate its effectiveness. “It’s contextual; there isn’t a program to implement, rather, these are strategies to implement that will be uniquely done at each of the different parishes,” NCCL Executive Director John Roberto said in a video address last year.

The Davenport Diocese’s cohort met for the first workshop Jan. 18 at St. Patrick Parish in Iowa City. NCCL consultant Paulette Chapman of Urbandale, Iowa, is leading the cohort of eight parishes and one cluster: Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. Paul the Apostle Parish, both in Davenport; St. Mary Parish-Pella; St. Joseph Parish-West Liberty; St. Joseph Parish-Columbus Junction; St. Alphonsus Parish-Mount Pleasant; Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace Parish-Clinton; St. Mary Parish-Solon, and the parish cluster of St. John the Baptist-Houghton, St. James the Less-St. Paul, St. Mary-West Point and St. Boniface-Farmington.

Pullinger offered the spots to parishes he believed were best suited for the cohort and representative of a variety of geographical locations. Funding from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. for the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative pays for parishes’ participation.

Lindsay Steele
National Community of Catechetical Leaders consultant Paulette Chapman of Urbandale, Iowa, works with a parish team from Sacred Heart Cathedral-Davenport during a workshop Jan. 18.

Parish teams started the full-day workshop evaluating their current faith formation offerings from birth to high school graduation. “Our goal here is to grow from the great foundation we already have,” Chapman told the group. Teams also spent time considering the characteristics and desires of parish families and identifying priority areas for development in family and parent faith formation. Chapman encouraged parish teams to spend the next few months brainstorming potential programs and solutions. “This is the time to dream,” she said. “We will worry about the details later.”

Brenda Bertram, the Clinton parish’s director of Youth Ministry and Faith Formation, participated in a multi-year program with Roberto about 20 years ago at another parish. She thought the Parents and Families at the Center of Faith Formation Project could help the Clinton community, which has experienced a loss of family involvement in recent years. “It goes back to fewer families attending Mass,” she believes. She hopes to work with her parish team and NCCL to create programming that benefits both heavily involved and marginally involved families.

Hannah Campbell, co-director of Religious Education at the West Liberty parish, thought the cohort would be a good way to cultivate resources for the parish’s “strong team of parents and catechists” who are currently on a journey to involve parents in youth faith formation. “We’re doing a really good job of teaching the youth, but not so much adults.”

The cohort offers an opportunity for parishes to network and share ideas, said Jacqueline Shinn, a parent from the Farmington parish. She looks forward to brainstorming with the four-parish cluster team and seeing what other parishes in the cohort are doing. “Parish leaders want to do more with young parents,” she observes. 

Pullinger hopes participating parishes will eventually share what they’ve learned with other parishes in the diocese.


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