On Saturday, Aug. 5, the Catechetical Office will present its second annual Family Catechesis Ministry Professional Day at Fordham University's Duane Library in the Bronx. The theme for the day is 'Forming the Family in the Image and Likeness of Jesus." The price (including morning hospital and lunch) is $25 per person
Family catechesis is a vital part of religious education. It's not enough to send the children for classes after school or on Saturday.  Parents and other family members should be an integral part of a child's formation in the faith. In fact, parents are supposed to be the primary catechists of their children.
To enable this, the archdiocese mandates that parishes should offer at least 50 hours of religious education per year, including five hours dedicated to family catechesis. These five hours are broken into two sessions a year of two and a half hours each. How does a religious education leader fill those sessions? This is where professional ministry training comes in
Oscar Cruz, director of Family Catechesis for the Catechetical Office, offers courses to directors and coordinators of religious education as part of Catechetical Leadership training. However, he also creates special days of enrichment like the one on August 5. The religious programs are mostly on summer hiatus and more people are available at this time
Mr. Cruz also makes the day available to RCIA leader and teams, Family Catechesis team members, pastors, parochial vicars, parish associates, staff members, and any interested adults. There are two tracks—one in English with Kathy Hendricks of Sadlier Publishers, Inc., as the keynoter and the other in Spanish with Sori Govin of RCL-Benziger doing the keynote honors. For more details on the workshops, check out the event web page.
For information on more ways to deepen your faith and that of your loved ones, visit our Catechetical Office website.