The Deacon's Page Welcome to all you dedicated deacons out there! We hope you are deeply involved in lifelong faith formation! |
| Dear Deacon, Thank you for your strong service to the parish to which you are assigned. Many of you are in close touch with some of the forgotten and most vulnerable in the community. Many of you preach regularly. Many of you take on ministries for which there is no one else to do them. Thanks for all that! This web site is for YOU. Many of the resources here are free or very inexpensive. To receive them, you must download them directly onto your computer. To do that, you must add what you want to your shopping cart (you can have more than one thing in your cart at a time), proceed through the check-out process, and then click on the icon to download your materials. You will not be charged anything for the resources which are free. But of course, you will be charged a modest fee for those which have a small charge associated with them. If you wish to donate a few dollars to help with the cost of this site, you can also do that. Click here and you will be taken to a donation point. Here are some of the resources available right now, which will be of interest to you: if you'd like to talk to a pastor or parish worker about how to start or sustain lifelong formation in your parish, click here to see a list of willing folks. All you do is send them a note to establish a time to talk, and call at the appointed hour. Lifelong faith formation is centered on helping people have a personal encounter with Christ. That encounter with Christ is the basis of all we do! One thing we know for sure, faith development does not end at primary school. But that's when most of our religious education programs stop. Because it is so new, you may not yet have read Dreams and Visions, the book which explains lifelong faith formation and how to plan for it. To obtain a copy, go here. Every link mentioned in that text is found here. It's no small thing we're doing! Every parish really does need a plan to become more effective in providing lifelong learning. To help you, this web site is loaded with resources. If you're just getting started with pastoral planning as a parish, begin here for a free pastoral planning tool. Or download the FREE resource on the home page to help you plan for the next fiscal year, Parish Vision 2009. So once again, thanks for everything you do for your parish. We're glad you're making use of this support web site, and please let us know if there are other ways in which we can help you! Good wishes for your ministry, Bill Huebsch and the Pastoral Planning Crew |
| Lay people have the obligation to constantly develop a more profound grasp of their Christian faith. Constitution on the Church #37 In the end, the Christian layperson must be to the world what the soul is to the body. Constitution on the Church #38 from Vatican II in Plain English |
| Resources offered on this site |
| Pastoral Planning A step-by-step guide: Dreams & Visions: Pastoral Planning for Lifelong Faith Formation by Bill Huebsch A new book which includes a chapter outlining those all-important Planning Team Meetings. Sold in bundles to save you 20% New Book! Welcome the People! Ways to Gather & Nourish Adult Catholics by Jim Smith A parish team workshop-in-a-book. Helps you create the team you want for lifelong formation. Sold in bundles to save you 20%. New book! Good News Parish Leadership Trust-Building Guidelines, Tools, Ideas by Michael Papesh This rich resource helps you form your parish team with the very same pastoral theology in which we all believe. Sold in bundles to save you 20% Training How to teach your parish about lifelong formation including excellent PowerPoint presentations to download and use, complete with presentation notes. A series of FREE articles Reproduce these to put in your bulletin or to use for team & committee training. They're all in plain English! Into the Fields: Catechist & Ministry Formation Create a "religious community" with formation, prayer, & study right in the midst of your parish. This is the engine of lifelong faith formation, the foundation in your parish. Implementation How to start and sustain faith sharing throughout the parish using the Question of the Week With free prayer sheets and suggestions for training and use. A guide for using Growing Faith A powerful resource for doing adult faith formation in the parish. It's the Catechism in plain English! También es disponible en español. Communal Prayer for Parish Councils & other groups to accompany faith sharing. You can download and use these in 5 minutes! Rooted in the Second Vatican Council. Outlines for adult or intergenerational Faith Gatherings linked to your children's textbook series. Outlines for adult Bible Studies which are in plain English! Download each session and get all you need in one item. Complete plans for Parish Based Retreats in several practical scheduling formats. |