Adult Education

Religious Education for adults

Kelley Brown - 985-626-5671 x 114

At Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic Church we strive to work with ongoing education for all Catholics.  From the many fascinating truths revealed in Sacred Scripture, to the passing along of the Deposit of the Faith, to keeping abreast of the great teachings of the Church, many adults are realizing a great spiritual hunger which can only be filled by Jesus Christ.  "Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee, O God." 

Following the Holy Spirit

As well, it is undeniable that many Catholics growing up in the decades immediately following the Second Vatican Council received very little Catechesis and Christian formation.  Our work is ever before us, and led by the Holy Spirit with Christ as our guide, we have begun to schedule and invite speakers and teachers to help spread the Gospel and to continue forming true disciples in Christ.

 

The Need for Ongoing Adult Catholic Education

The following passage is from Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us:  A Pastoral Plan  for Adult Faith Formation in the United States,  USCCB, 1999.

"At all times and in every age, the Church faces unique opportunities and challenges as it proclaims the Good News of God's reign. Today is no exception. ...We live in a diverse multicultural society that offers us a rich experience of how the faith is lived, expressed, and celebrated in our own time. We see in this society a widespread spiritual hunger—a quest for meaning and for a deeply personal experience of God and of community.

This hunger helps explain the widespread interest today in new religious movements and in New Age spirituality. In this we see opportunity, for "God is opening before the Church the horizons of a humanity more fully prepared for the sowing of the Gospel."   People are ready to gather in groups to read the Scriptures, study the teachings of the Church, and talk about the importance of Christ in their lives. They seek out these opportunities wherever they can find them, whether in their own parishes, in ecclesial movements or associations, in small communities of faith, or with people of other Christian traditions.  ...

"Throughout the centuries the Spirit has guided the Church so that the word would be spread to each generation. Today that Spirit is awakening a new evangelization and a new apologetics. This dynamic movement needs our fullest possible collaboration, so that the Good News of the kingdom of God and the person of Jesus may touch the hearts and minds of all who search for fullness of life. Pope John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Missio and our own national plan for evangelization, Go and Make Disciples, call for such efforts, and their success will require adult believers who are eager and articulate in sharing a faith they understand, embrace, and live.

"We are entering a period of new vitality for the Church, a period in which adult Catholic laity will play a pivotal leadership role in fulfilling the Christian mission of evangelizing and transforming society. For adults to fulfill their roles in this new era of the Church, their faith formation must be lifelong, just as they must continue to learn to keep up in the changing world. ...

"Pope John Paul II's apostolic exhortation on the laity, Christifideles Laici, and our own reflections in Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium envision a laity who are living witnesses to Christ: well-formed in faith, enthusiastic, capable of leadership in the Church and in society, filled with compassion, and working for justice. The power of God's word, regular prayer, a vibrant sacramental life, lay spirituality,12 the support of the Christian community, and the guidance of the Church's social teaching will enrich and sustain this new era of the laity."