Faith Formation Conference - 2010

The Saturday morning multilingual prayer service was presented by Santiago Fernandez, and included readings, music, and his personal reflection and testimony. I really enjoyed one of the songs, This Little Light of Mine, that was sung like a Spiritual and was very upbeat. I remembered this song from my childhood, but I don't remember singing it sinse. It was very inspirational and everyone was on their feet, clapping and singing.

The Keynote Talk entitled, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, was presented by Father Greg Boyle. His premise was that boundless compassion becomes transformative in Christ's abundant love. His talk was very powerful and centered on Kinship, which means, "no us and no them". I really connected with his statement, "If kinship was our goal then we would no longer need justice", and later when he said, "The measure of our compassion is the depth of our relationship with each other". He also said, "Don't hold the bar up and ask people to measure up. Just show up and hold a mirror up." This is an exceptional man doing an exceptional job of being Christ to his community.

The late morning session (5-20) entitled, Beyond Doctrine: How to hand on Catholic Identity in the RCIA, was presented by Nick Wagner. He began with Jesus' statement on the cross, "Today you will be with me in paradise", and pointed out that Jesus may have been talking to the thief next to him but that he was speaking to everyone. His discussion was very informative and outlined various approaches to informing and transforming adults in the RCIA program. Adults can be engaged through question and answer sessions, as well as faith sharing, but it's especially important to listen to what the Catechumen has to say and then to tie it back into the teaching of the Church.

The early afternoon session (6-01) entitled, Engaging People in Ministry: The Power of Positive Leadership, was presented by Leisa Anslinger. My wife found this talk especially interesting, which asked the question, "How has belonging or not belonging changed you or someone you know"? Whereas normal leaders may build teams by recruiting others with similar personalities, a positive leader will build teams by recruiting others with complementary talents. She felt that those who offer their talents and are using their talents positively are more likely to be engaged and stay on the team. Two questions for self evaluation are "How do you use your talents" and "How do you partner with others".

The late afternoon session (7-15) entitled, In the Midst of the Community: An RCIA Job Description for the Whole Church, was presented by Nick Wagner. Here he stressed the importance of engaging the community in the process of encouraging adults in the RCIA program, and that in fact, the RCIA program should influence how the Parish works. Community involvement was the key to preparing and supporting the Catechumens before and after the Easter Vigil. As he said, "Everyone should be involved in the initiation of the faith for Catechumens.