The Office of Catechetical Ministry of the Diocese of San Jose puts adults at the center of its faith formation efforts. It is our commitment to promote the vision of USCCB document: “Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us,” A Pastoral Plan for Adult Faith Formation in the United States. It is our endeavor to offer trainings and deliver formation processes and resources to parish ministerial leaders to deepen the ongoing conversion of adults to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Scripts

Audio

English

Spanish

Vietnamese

PowerPoint Presentation

An address to catechetical and youth ministry leadership May 12.

English

Adults at the Center Info Kit:

Adults at the Center Roadmap of Strategies, Tools and Resources

Adults at the Center Goals and Key Actions

Resources for Adult Spirituality and Faith Formation

Recommended Websites:

Click here for a list of recommended resources for Adult Faith Formation

Janet Schaeffler, OP – Faith Formation Matters

GEMS – Great Endeavors Mined & Shared

These newsletters are brought to you by a small group of people who have been involved in ministry, especially adult faith formation ministry, for years. The convener/facilitator of this group and principal author of the newsletters, Janet Schaeffler, OP, has been deeply involved in adult faith formation since 1971 as a coordinator in parishes and as an archdiocesan director of adult faith formation, as well as author, national presenter, facilitator, consultant and one of the authors of the Leader’s Guide of Our
Hearts Were Burning Within Us. The members of the committee are longstanding pastoral ministers and experts in adult faith formation in parishes, universities, and business.

Adult Spirituality and Faith Formation Publicity Plan and Marketing Strategies

Here are some strategies recommended by the Adult Spirituality and Faith Formation Focus Group and the diocesan Department of Communication:

  • Target your audiences for publicity, it is important to discern who the workshop or gathering is for.
  • Parents will come for their children, provide Adult Spiritual and Faith Formation that helps parents pass on their faith to their children.
  • Put the Valley Catholic banner on your parish website, so parishioners can easily access the Valley Catholic for Adult Faith Formation
  • Encourage collaboration between parish school and parish by advertising in school newsletter the parish AFF opportunities
  • Choose common experiences for the Adult Spiritual and Faith Formation opportunities: for example: Mom’s Ministry
  • The elderly prefer an afternoon or morning rather than evening for AFF.
  • Family movements like Focolare and Communion and Liberation have engaged participants
  • Provide hospitality (food)
  • Annual events should use the same logo, don’t need to depend upon a lot of text, people will recognize the event by the logo
  • Suggested timetable for marketing: 2-3 months in advance- Save the date, with registration available online
  • One month ahead- add to upcoming events, 2 weeks ahead- reminder to register
  • Fan page on Facebook, create account, create fan page under accounts, link with DSJ fan pages to parish website, especially for youth and young adults, email contacts link