1.  How can we think about our message?  We will explore possible frameworks which might help  JP11: our teaching/sharing should be ‘a systematic teaching of doctrine’ and have ‘integrity of content’ Catechesae Tradendae 1979

2.  What do you want to share with other people about your own life of faith?  5 mins

3.  What is MY vision? What do I most want to pass on?  My ‘ecclesial’ role – who / what am I speaking for?  What difference (if any) will that make to what I say?

4.  Eichstatt 1963/4 ish (Warren, 1983, pp23-39)  Groome: 1990s  Dunning: 1990s  A useful tag: the 4 Cs:  Creed, Code, Celebration, Community

5.  4 major elements:  Bible  Church Teaching / Tradition  Witness / Experience  Celebration / Liturgy

6.  Both OT and NT  Commentaries – informing yourself  Breaking the Word – how?

7.  Translations - which one ?  What form? Tatty bits of paper?  Written word or visual?  Helpful alternatives e.g. imaginative prayer  Older people not used to scripture reading

8.  Bible stories  Keeping it fresh  Using the visual - Church windows

9.  Teaching(s) / Tradition  Doctrine: a treasure house of riches  An ‘and / and’ church (not either /or)  How to access this?

10.  Can be found in:  The Catechism of the Catholic Church  Encyclicals  Councils of the Church  Writings of the Church Fathers  Work of theologians  And the CCRS!

11.  The original documents are easily accessed online  Simplified versions exist e.g. the Grail publications  Books such as Bill Huebsch (1997)

12.  Look at the index.  Find an interesting topic  Look it up  Read what is said  Pay attention to the references underneath  To translate the sources look at the table in the beginning  When were these sources written?

13.  My Stories  Our stories – the Christian community  What we do ( more important than what we say -Warren)  How we are Church  What we did: our communities  What they did: our saints

14.  Stories are the basic building blocks of religious belief  God reveals Himself through human experience but this is limited for all of us  Revelation in personal experience may be helpful but it’s dangerous to allow it to be the only source of faith

15.  Celebrating the work of God in our lives  Social - coffee after Mass etc  Religious  Eucharistic  Non-eucharistic

16.  storytelling  questioning  a living community of faith  tradition  conversion  celebration  mission

17.  ‘Praxis’  What is your present story-experience- praxis?  What are your present vision-assumptions behind your praxis?  What is the Christian story-tradition vision?  Dialogue (reflect/share/discuss) between your own experience and the Christian tradition  What will your future story-experience-praxis be?

18.  Why?  How would you feel about putting it into practice?  Any additions you would make?

19.  Balance and emphasis  Choose elements thinking about the aims of the activity  Your aims will depend on your perception of the formational needs

20.  Where are your ‘client group’ in terms of faith formation?  How would you know?  Have a look at the chart ‘Educating disciples’ on the website Is it wrong to judge people in terms of their level of formation?

21.  Instruction – by an expert  Facilitated discussion  Reflection / sharing  Buzz pairs  Story telling  One to one  Group work  Silence

22.  JP11: our teaching/sharing should be ‘a systematic teaching of doctrine’  Not selective but addresses ‘integrity of content’  ‘Hierarchy of Truths’ – some things are more important than others!  Catechechesae Tradendae 1979

23.  Is selecting certain areas of Christian truth permissible?  How can we be ‘systematic’ in our catechesis?  Isn’t that something which belongs to a classroom rather than a parish?

24.  What are the really fundamental truths?  Which truths are most important to YOU?

25.  Do you feel that you speak for the Church?  Do other people see you like that?  Is it intimidating to feel that you are a representative of the Church?  Does the Church acknowledge lay people as credible witnesses to the Christian life?

26.  Who should provide this?  To whom?  When and how?  What challenges might there be?

27.  Take one of the topics you thought about at the beginning and consider how you would devise a session for this.  Which framework would you use?  Make plan!