Diocese of Toledo, Ohio

Browsing From the Pastor

The Role of Vital Avenues of Support for Our Faith Life

   Even though we are still in the summer season with the many activities that go with it, now that we are in August, many of us start to think of the Fall Season. School resumes for many of our children during this month. During August, parents whose children attend public schools are invited to register their children for the programs of religious formation that are offered in each of our respective parishes.

   I use the term, “formation,” because growing in the Faith of the Catholic Church means much more than is suggested by the words, “religious education” or “religious instruction.” Our Faith is a Way of Living that is initiated by the Lord. Apart from our deserving, the Lord reaches out to every person with His unconditional love in Jesus. We are valued because we are loved by the Lord. In Baptism, the Lord ushers us into a Faith Community in which we are called to nurture one another in the faith life that He offers us. We belong to the Lord as members of the faith community that we call the Church.

   Within the Church, the Lord works in distinctive ways to strengthen and to build up the faith life that we received when we were baptized. Our faith life challenges us to extend what we receive. We are invited to experience a growing awareness of what the Lord offers us every day and to appreciate how we might relate our faith to all facets or aspects of living in this world.

   This is the setting for appreciating the role and value of Christian formation. Our own faith remains vibrant as we discover how our friendship with the Lord has implications for how we relate to ourselves, to others, to the gift of our sexuality, to our abilities and skills, to money, to advances in science and technology, to the use of leisure time, in short, to all facets of our lives. Hopefully, I am whetting the spiritual appetites of all of us, beginning with myself, to appreciate the need for on-going formation in the Catholic Christian way of living in this world.

   As parents, you want the very best for your children. Many of the blessings that the Lord offers us in and through our parents are passing in nature. They are fad-like.

What greater gift can we offer to those entrusted to our care in their formative years than that of the treasure of our Faith? As adults, including parents, we first and foremost work to transmit the Faith of the Church to those entrusted to our care as we allow the Faith to change and to transform ourselves.

   As we look back to our own experience of growing up, we tend to become excited about that which thrills our parents. As we sense that growing in our faith life means a lot to our parents, we will most likely want to develop in this way ourselves.

   It is in this setting that a Catholic school and a program of religious formation can most effectively aid and support parents. As we grow up, our parents are the first and foremost transmitters of the Faith of the Church to us. The best Catholic school and the finest program of religious formation can in no way take the place of the role of our parents in handing on the opportunity to grow in our faith life.

   We are all in the on-going process of Christian formation together. In developing as children and as youth, as we sense that growing as the Lord’s disciples means more to our parents than does anything else, we will want to participate in the religious formation program that is offered, whether in a Catholic school, in home schooling sessions or in a process of religious formation that is offered for children who attend public schools. As parents, hopefully, you will be grateful for these opportunities that are offered.

Whether we have children or not, perhaps we will want to become involved in the process of assisting parents to transmit the Faith of the Church to those who will follow in our footsteps.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Nelson Beaver – Pastor  

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