Directing Family Catechesis
For DIRECTORS: how to lead, coordinate, and administer a strong family catechesis program.
This course is designed for directors of parish or school family catechesis programs. It will take about two hours, but each lesson ranges from only 5-15 minutes, and you can do a little bit at a time. Even if you have attended a training through our grant initiative, this MasterClass goes much deeper for leaders.
ACCESS FOR FREELessons
7 minute video
Planning Your Gathering Space
Decide where to gather for your family sessions:
- What do you need from your space?
- Where can you meet?
- What if the families can't all fit?
9 minute video
Setting the Environment
Create the best possible environment in the space you choose:
- How does environment affect us?
- What do we need from our faith formation environment?
- Nine ways to optimize your environment
9 minute video
Ministering to All Ages
Understand how to gather and form different age ranges:
- Intergenerational faith formation terms and models
- Grouping by age
- Multiple ages per family or event
6 minute video
Addressing Languages
Meet the different language needs of your families:
- Language needs of families
- Resource language editions
- Facilitating sessions across languages
11 minute video
Scheduling Sacramental Preparation
Big picture factors that go into scheduling a two-year, extended sacramental preparation process:
- What do families need to be prepared?
- How many sessions do you need?
- How long should sessions be?
- When should you meet?
- How should you schedule your sessions?
9 minute video
Calendaring Sacramental Preparation
Create a calendar of sessions for a two-year, extended sacramental preparation process:
- Key factors and strategies for developing a calendar
- Sample calendars with 11 sessions per year
- Sample calendars with 18 sessions per year
12 minute video
Hospitality & Welcome
Bring radical hospitality and welcome into your faith formation program:
- Who is coming: the familiar, unfamiliar, and those on the margins
- Twelve ways to be welcoming
- Who you represent?
10 minute video
Making It Fun & Engaging
Offer an engaging experience through fun, relevance, and real personal connection:
- What is our ultimate goal in family catechesis?
- What is evangelizing catechesis?
- Twelve tips for fun and engagement
10 minute video
How to Motivate Parents (and get them in the room)
Motivate parents to attend family catechesis and embrace their role as primary catechists of their children:
- What do we want parents to do?
- Approaches: the carrot and the stick
- Why don't parents want to come?
- Twelve tips for attracting parents
12 minute video
How to Invite Parents
Extend an invitation to parents for family catechesis, setting firm expectations, and remaining positive:
- How to frame the invitation
- What if parents really can't attend?
- The problem with trying to force parents
14 minute video
How to Accompany Families
An overview of pastoral accompaniment and how to bring it into your faith formation process:
- What is accompaniment?
- Helping parents parent
- Special needs in catechesis
- Examples of accompaniment opportunities
- The art of accompaniment: incorporating into your program
10 minute video
Gathering & Forming Your Team
How a team can help you offer a strong family catechesis program:
- What roles will your team members play?
- How many coaches do you need?
- Where can you find team members?
- Getting your team ready
Access the Class
This MasterClass is absolutely free on our Pastoral Center Community website (with more on the way). Here is how to access it:
1. Join the Community Site.
Our online community will also connect you with other leaders, give you a forum to ask questions, and provide additional opportunities for training and support. It's free!
- If your diocese is participating in our grant program, go to your diocese's page and join the online leader community from there. This will put you in a group with other leaders from your are.
- Otherwise, join the general Family Catechesis plan
2. Join the MasterClass
On the Community Site, find the "Family Catechesis" section in the left menu. Click on the "Directing Family Catechesis MasterClass" link and then click "Join."
