Improving adult faith formation will require jettisoning some misconceptions about the spiritual life in order to build vibrant parish communities of committed disciples, says a leading lay catechist.
Tom Zanzig, an adult faith formation publisher's consultant with Silver Burdett Ginn Religion, told a group of religious educators at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in Los Angeles June 22 that no one published program or approach can solve the "huge complex issue" of adult faith formation. However, he asserted, eliminating "problematic presumptions" will definitely help.
One such presumption: the oft-repeated phrase that adults want to "learn more about their faith." In actuality, Zanzig declared, "they want to learn more about how to be a disciple of Jesus."
Also, people's membership in a parish is not based on shared knowledge, he added, but on a desire to be in relationship and dialogue with other disciples.
The theme of discipleship was articulated in the U.S. Catholic bishops' 2000 adult faith formation document, "Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us," but, since it was published, there's been a "disconnect" between vision and reality, stated Zanzig.
"We keep wanting to take the vision and turn it into a program with content," he noted. "The transition I think we need to make is to move from the notion of adult education to spiritual direction."
Zanzig suggested several AFF "timely but tough transitions." They included shifting emphasis:
---from "how do we sustain the community" to "how do we nurture this disciple at this time";
----from communal to personal focus without further divorcing spirituality from religion;
----from "knowledge about" to "relationship with"; from academic enterprise to genuine experience;
---from the parish as provider to parish as center/community of caring companions;
---from understanding for the sake of belonging to action, service, and witness for the sake of justice, peace, ecological survival --- for the Reign of God.
According to Zanzig, everything done in the parish must be anchored in and directed toward spiritual formation. "The life of the total parish, celebrated in liturgy, is the foundational 'curriculum,'" said Zanzig.
The parish environment, he explained, "must suggest and help form a community of disciples, each uniquely called and gifted on a shared journey of faith." The roles of parish leaders would be more like "guides and mentors" rather than "experts."
As far as AFF programs, Zanzig suggested they be short-term, seasonal/situational and easy-in/easy out in consideration of people's hectic schedules. Ongoing programs, such as Bible or prayer groups, should be as much as possible self-directed and self-sustaining. In the interest of shared resources, churches should help support multi- and extra-parish (regional, diocesan, national) opportunities for study and prayer and use technology to promote activities.
Most importantly, said Zanzig, parishes must establish clear leadership responsibility to preserve and deepen the vision; effectively discern needs; and plan, coordinate, evaluate and regularly revise pastoral responses.
Participant Gloria Lee, a bereavement ministry volunteer at St. Bede the Venerable Church in La Caņada, said she appreciated Zanzig's insights. "I found most helpful his refreshing approach. Not that he didn't value the catechism, but that there's just so much more that we can do in meeting the needs of the people in each parish than in staying in the book-learning box," said Lee.
Editor's note: Zanzig will return Nov. 8-9 to Los Angeles for adult faith formation presentations coordinated by the Office of Religious Education. For further information, visit Zanzig's website: www.tomzanzig.com. |