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September 10, 2023Dear Parishioners,
This weekend we are bringing all our Catechists from the parish together on Saturday morning for our beginning of the year retreat. There are over 50 of them! I’m very excited about all the various men and women who have stepped forward to help. I can’t think of a more important thing to be dedicating our time and effort to than handing on our faith to the next generation.
We’ll also be meeting with those involved in presenting Sequitur this coming week. The goal of Sequitur is to build up a strong knowledge and awareness of the Catholic faith among our parishioners so that we can be more and more capable of handing it on. This is not a boxed program: I have put the Sequitur course structure and content together in consultation with others knowledgeable in the faith specifically to serve our community. The 34 topics that will be presented are as follows:
The Deposit of Faith: Scripture and Tradition
God, Man & Creation
Abraham, Our Father in Faith
Moses, The Law, and the Kingdom of Israel
The Wisdom of the Psalms
The Prophetic and Apocalyptic Books
The Ministry and Teaching of Christ
The Paschal Mystery
Acts and the Early Church
The Epistles
From Apostles to Bishops
The Triune God
Childhood and Adolescent Development
Hospitality and Safe Environment
Lesson Planning & Presentation Techniques
Small Group Mechanics
The Liturgy
Baptism and Confirmation
The Eucharist
The Sacrament of Penance
Anointing of the Sick and Funerals
Holy Orders, Religious Life and the Laity
The Sacrament of Marriage
The Morally Responsible Person
The Virtues and Vices
The Dignity of Human Life & Social Teaching
The Church and Society
The Four Last Things
The Liturgical Calendar
Catholic Sacred Music
Catholic Sacred Art & Architecture
Personal Prayer and Spiritual Growth
Marian Theology and Devotion
Learning from Christ the Teacher
The goal of our course is to explore these topics thoroughly and at an adult level, systematically progressing through a comprehensive overview of the Catholic faith and the skills required to hand it on.
Readings in preparation for each week will be sent out as a pdf in advance to participants so that they can be well prepared to tackle the topic. This first year is going to be an immense amount of work for Abrey and I, but I think it will also be a very rewarding effort, as we love to learn about the faith.
Sequitur presentations are Wednesday evenings from 6-7:30PM, which we prefer that participants attend in person, although they will be able to watch these presentations online if they cannot make it. Following each presentation, there will be a 1 hour discussion seminar led by an instructor. We know that some people are going to have a hard time staying out until 8:30PM, so are looking to also have discussion seminars at other times during the week to accommodate various schedules. The goal is to make this program accessible and helpful to as many parishioners as possible. I’m sure there will be some hiccups and challenges in this first year (there always are), but we’ll work together on it, and hopefully this will grow into a more and more effective effort in the years to come. Please call Abrey Feliccia with any questions. You can still register online, though the deadline is approaching, as our first email with reading material will go out on Wednesday the 13th in preparation for our initial September 20th presentation.
Have a wonderful week!
