Passing on the Faith

What does it mean to pass on faith in God within a family? What are the respective roles and responsibilities (and rights!) of homes, schools and parishes? How can parents and grandparents best be supported in their vocation?

Following a successful national conversation about home, school and parish roles in December 2009, the Passing on the Faith Working Group are now collaborating with the dioceses of Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Plymouth to develop and pilot materials to assist local homes, schools and parishes to identify and explore their complementary roles, rights and responsibilities.

“As parents, teachers, priests, parish catechists or youth workers ... Our roles in the settings of home, parish, school and other centres are complementary yet distinct. We are partners in a shared task. We help the young to grow and develop but we do so in different ways. We need to be clear about our different roles if we are to perform them with confidence. At times we have false expectations of what we can do and we make unrealistic demands of others.” Gallagher, J., 1986. Guidelines. Living and Sharing Our Faith: A National Project of Catechesis and Religious Education. London: Collins. p25.

On July 5^th 2010 a meeting of the home-school-parish leadership teams from the pilot dioceses will take place at Liverpool Archdiocese Conference Centre, to introduce the pilot scheme, consider how it might unfold within each diocese according to local gifts, wisdom, experience and priorities, and to identify the national support required in order for pilots to flourish and the outcomes to be shared more widely.

In developing this pilot the Passing on the Faith Working Group are seeking to foster consultation with homes, schools and parishes to clarify

· How does each partner describe their role in passing on faith in God?

· What support therefore does each partner need from the others?

· How does each partner describe the other partners’ roles in passing on faith in God?

· What support therefore can each partner offer the others?

It is envisaged that each pilot will have three stages

· Consultation within each community and collation of core findings

· Bringing the findings together to see where there is agreement, difference or ambiguity around any of the roles and support needs

· Bringing the communities together to reflect on how these findings might impact their current and future practices

We intend to publish progress reports on this website as the pilots unfold. If you would like to take part in the pilot its not too late. Just contact the Project Office. You will need to be able to gather a diocesan team comprising leaders in home, school and parish catechesis eg diocesan family ministry coordinator, parish catechetical coordinator or adviser, schools or religious education adviser. If you cant gather such a team or would like to replicate the pilot on a parish scale, just look out for the materials to be posted here as they develop. We'd be grateful for any data you can gather.