Connections

If Soul Searching had you doing some soul searching about the faith of young people, here is some hopeful news.

The Partnership for Adolescent Catechesis, an effort to address serious lapses in the church’s formation of adolescents, has received two grants to implement a National Initiative on Adolescent Catechesis. The initiative is a seven-year process designed to explore how Catholic teens can more effectively be formed in their faith. The grants include $450,000 from the Lilly Endowment Foundation and $75,000 from an anonymous donor.

There is growing concern throughout the Catholic Church about the effectiveness of current approaches to adolescent faith formation. To begin addressing this, the Partnership will host a National Symposium on Adolescent Catechesis this November in Maryland. The event is designed to create a think tank setting where national, diocesan, parish, and Catholic school leaders and practitioners will gather with bishops, publishers, and academicians to critically examine what is and is not working in adolescent faith formation.

We believe that this cross-pollination of experience and perspective will yield a deep and thoughtful dialogue that will lead the Catholic Church toward a transformation in adolescent catechesis.

The Partnership began in 2003 from a desire to develop a common vision for adolescent catechesis. It has worked to complement the themes and approaches for catechesis with adolescents as presented in the National Directory for Catechesis and the General Directory for Catechesis.

The National Study of Youth and Religion, reported on in the 2005 book Soul Searching, identified serious challenges regarding the ability of Catholic adolescents to articulate their faith and live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. The CARA Report, digesting the NSYR research, reinforced among Catholic leaders the growing need for parish and school leaders to rethink the church’s pastoral ministry and educational outreach with young people. Uppermost on the minds of pastoral and educational leaders is the quality and quantity of resources, including trained leaders who are dedicated to responding to the religious and spiritual hungers of young people.

The National Initiative is a response to these concerns. The Initiative is developed by the Partnership for Adolescent Catechesis, a national Catholic collaborative focused on promoting a comprehensive and contemporary vision of adolescent catechesis. The partners include NFCYM, the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership, and the National Catholic Educational Association.

The Partnership has hired Elzbieta “Ela” Milewska, a doctoral student in catechetics at The Catholic University of America, to serve as project coordinator for the National Initiative.