State of the Parish Address
Part II – Teaching

By Fr. Dan McKean
St. Patrick Parish, Brighton

A quick review of last week would remind you that as pastor, I am to inform my parishioners the state of the parish and call them to active participation in our vision. This week we begin with the first of the three primary responsibilities of a parish and pastor – Teaching. The very basic ministry of the first disciples and of every Christian community since is teaching the good news of Jesus Christ. We cannot know if we have not been told. We cannot understand if someone has not explained it to us, and we cannot appreciate the meaning of our salvation if we have not been formed in the Gospel.

Over time we come to realize that teaching is not just filling heads with information. That method does not work in any learning institution. Teaching the Gospel involves information, experience and formation. We have also learned that children are not the sole objects of our teaching. For too many years the Catholic Church ignored the faith formation of her adult members. As a result, we have a generation of adult Catholics who either don’t know their faith or have long come to make-up their own answers.

The fact that there are so many fallen-away Catholics who are either not going to church, or now members of other Christian churches is the greatest evidence of the fact that we have failed to teach the faith. If a Mormon missionary comes to your door, or one of those "seek and attack" Seventh Day Adventists, you must begin to defend your faith. Our children are harassed in their schools by some of the leaders of these "Christian" Bible study groups. They are told that they are not Christian. How are we teaching our young people to stand up proudly before these grossly misinformed and disrespectful destructors of the faith? We cannot control them. What we do have responsibility for is ourselves.

Our teaching office includes "faith formation" run by our director of religious education. She also handles sacramental preparation for children and teens. We also have a pastoral associate for adult education who is responsible for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, marriage preparation and the other adult education programs that are offered throughout the year. Another leads our youth programs. Finally, our parish school (1st-8th grades), is under the leadership of our principal.

Each one of these people will tell you that their programs a splitting at the seams. This is great news except for the fact that our capacity to provide from them is severely strained. Each year there is a challenge to both find space for meetings and classrooms, as well as parishioners to come forward as catechists.

I will end by reminding you that parents are the primary educators of our children. We are here to support you and hope you support us in this huge, but joyous task of educating Catholic Christians for discipleship.