InLight

InLight is an innovative approach to parish-wide faith formation. It offers singles, couples, and families the opportunity to work on faith formation together. We will gather monthly on a Sunday morning in intergenerational groups. Hospitality begins at 9:00 am. The sessions, including hospitality, are under 2 hours in length. The goal of these sessions is to provide a context for participation in and reflection about the event that highlights each month’s theme. Some of our themes are All Saints/All Souls Day, Marian Feasts, Advent, Lent/Easter. Direct instruction, learning materials, reflection opportunities, and resources for home use will be designed to help everyone better understand events in the life of the Church.

In most parishes, Adult Faith Formation has consisted of a Lenten lecture series or a men’s or women’s retreat and the occasional parish mission. It was assumed that the “basics” of faith were learned as preparation for the sacrament of confirmation and that no further formal education was needed. Experience has taught us that this assumption was wrong. Just as we must continually learn and grow to participate in the changing worlds of our work and technology, we must also grow in our understanding and application of our faith. An eighth-grade understanding of our faith is not sufficient to answer the questions we have at 25, 45, or 65. InLight is designed to take advantage of the way adults learn through study, prayer, experience and reflection.

What are the goals of InLight?

• To broaden our understanding of faith formation and help us move from seeing it as simply learning information to understanding that it also consists of participating in the life and ministries of our parish.

• To bring parishioners of all age groups together at the same time.

• To shift the focus of the curriculum from the textbook to the events of Church life.

• To nurture family faith at home as a fundamental building block to the entire faith formation process.

• To help parents gain the confidence and knowledge they need for their role as the primary teachers of faith for their children.

We believe that the InLight program will help us engage in more meaningful participation in church liturgies and events. We hope to encourage everyone to reflect on the significance of these events and to apply Catholic teachings to daily life. We envision strengthened Catholic individuals, families, and community as the outcome of this program.



Here’s what an InLight session is like:

Each session includes:

9:00 a.m.
Hospitality— there is a snack provided so that we can relax, eat together, and socialize with
other parishioners. Childcare is available in the church basement for children ages 1-4.

9:30 a.m.
Opening Experience—an introduction to the theme presented in an intergenerational setting.
This may include prayer, a speaker, activities, or discussion.

• Learning Sessions— each learning session will be designed in the best way to teach that month’s material. Sometimes groups will be broken down by age, sometimes individuals and families will move to different activity centers and sometimes we will all stay together in one large group.

• Whole Group Sharing—different groups will come back together to share what they have learned. Home resources will be distributed with instructions or be available on-line at the parish website.

10:45 a.m.
Dismissal



What is the Schedule?

We have carefully selected the following topics based on the feasts and seasons of the Church year:
September 21 "Builders of the Kingdom" with Fr. Javier Bustos
October 19 Catholics and the Bible
November 16 Pentateuch
December 14 Isaiah and the Prophets
January 18
February 15 The Synoptic Gospels
March 15 Johanine Literature
April 26 The Life and Writings of Paul