Dear Parents and Faithful of Our Lady of the Lake,

Over the past three years, our parish has been seeking a more effective approach to religious education for our children and families. We moved away from a model that relied primarily on classroom-based instruction to a more family-focused model that invited parents and guardians more deeply into the religious education process as the primary educators of the faith for their children. In this move we sought the home to be treated as a rightful and essential place of handing on the faith. So, in 2023 we began implementing the Pathways program for family faith formation, which employed use of faith-at-home boxes with instruction and activities, along with monthly at-church meetings and semester retreats. The presence of parents on Sundays alongside their children during our formation sessions has been an indispensable benefit.

 

While some families have enjoyed our current programming, at the end of the past three years the overall quality of the program and its reception appears to be mixed. Mend & Nourish for First Reconciliation and First Communion is yielding strong results, and Zeal for Confirmation shows promise but still has room for improvement. Also, parents have also expressed a desire for both more opportunities for community engagement and stronger catechetical content than the Pathways materials alone can provide. Our path for non-sacramental continuing formation years is the area where the greatest growth is needed.

 

In light of this, the parish Faith Formation Team is seeking to make substantial improvements to the religious education program for the next formation year and beyond. Our goal is to preserve what works well while strengthening our overall program to provide a more effective formation in the faith for our students. We are considering two viable approaches to revising the current program while keeping the structure of three main catechetical paths with at-church and at-home sessions as a foundation:

• Approach 1: Enhanced Current Family Faith Formation Model. An upgraded version of our current model with more robust catechetical materials, particularly for the non-sacramental and Confirmation paths; at-church and at-home sessions preserved.
• Approach 2: Hybrid Family Faith Formation Model. A combination of current family-based elements alongside some additional classroom-based instruction each month for students, particularly for the non-sacramental path.

Both options include a complete overhaul of the non-sacramental pathway with the use of a new catechetical curriculum with full multi-year cycles of content with textbooks from an established family faith formation program, of which two possible programs have already been identified. Our Confirmation path will also be refreshed with new catechetical resources and activities.

 

However, we do not want to make these either of the changes without the input and guidance of our families, and there are more details to develop with your help. For this reason, we have created a survey to gather your feedback as we discern the best way forward. The survey comes with two info-graphics providing possible arraignments of both approaches. Your participation in this survey is absolutely crucial in helping us shape a program that better serves your children and supports parents in their role as the primary educators of their faith.

 

To parents and guardians, thank you for the many sacrifices you make to bring your children to Mass, support their religious education, complete lessons at church and at home, and make the faith a part of your family’s daily life. Your commitment matters deeply. Please know of our gratitude and prayers for you all.

 

Sincerely yours in the Risen Christ and in Our Lady of the Lake,

 

Father Austin Gilstrap,
Pastor

Father Justin Farr,
Associate Pastor & Director of Faith Formation