When the Adult Faith Formation Commission was created about a year ago we decided to keep the definition of our role in the parish as simple and straight-forward as possible. We wrote in March, 2011:
As Catholics we have all been blessed with an intense desire to live close to God – trying hard to accomplish on earth what we were created to do, pursuing lives that reflect the will of God and the message of the gospels. Yet, we all recognize, at least when we stop and really think about it, that our knowledge of our faith is inevitably incomplete and that there is a need, indeed an obligation, to grow in our understanding of all that relates to the essential mission of our lives. Expanding our knowledge of God and appreciating more fully the message of Christianity and the doctrines of the Catholic Church is a never-ending process, something that should be a regular part of “practicing” the faith we have been privileged to receive. The Adult Faith Formation Commission was created with the basic goal of assisting members of the parish in this endeavor. St. John’s has always done well in making available to people a variety of faith formation programs, activities and resources. But clearly there is much more to do and the members of the new commission are committed to working hard and creatively in responding to the needs of every adult in the parish. We see our role as basically one of development, coordination and communication. In each, we can only succeed if can enlist the help of many others, for the challenge is a big one and, as we all know, the days of Catholics sort of sitting back and having all parish activities “delivered” to us are long gone. If we are to be a community of religiously informed men and women, constantly searching for ways to improve our relationship to God, we have to help each other, contributing whatever talents we have to the common effort.
We hope this little “column” in the bulletin each week is helpful, both the notices of programs and events and the suggestions and ideas about ways to enhance our individual spiritual journeys. As always, we would love to hear from you, with your ideas, suggestions, complaints and concerns. And as we approach the most glorious week the year we want to thank you for giving us this golden opportunity to serve the parish we all love so dearly!
St. John’s Adult Faith Formation Commission: Linda Colozzi, Marcia Grondin, Pat Kelleher (chair), Sister Evelyn Ronan (advisor), John Salvati, John Stewart and Anne Wachtmeister
Email: AFFC@stjohnwellesley.org
