Adult Faith Formation: an Ongoing Process

  The mission of the AFF team of St. Mary Parish is to advocate for ongoing faith formation and work to educate, encourage and support all efforts in the parish to build the Kingdom of God on earth.  The St. Mary Adult Faith Formation team works to make the vision of the US Catholic Bishops, as laid out in their statement “Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us,” a reality. The team is working to create a comprehensive plan that will meet the needs and availability of adult parishioners. As the team begins to plan events, parishioner input is welcome. Contact Mary Anne Bressler at the parish office or through the "Contact Us" portion of this website if you have any ideas for the AFF team to consider.

Below are some of the programs that the team is sponsoring:

Lenten Series: Each Saturday of Lent a different speaker will address a topic of interest to adult Catholics. The talks will take place in the Undercroft at 8:00 a.m. and conclude in time for those interested to attend Mass afterwards. Coffee & doughnuts are served at 7:30. See the Documents section of this page for a complete list of speakers and topics.

Lessons & Libations Twice a year, in the spring and fall, parishioners are invited to Robisch Hall for fellowship and formation. Participants bring an appetizer to share and a speaker brings some stimulating topic of conversation. Past speakers have talked about liturgy, films, "Faithful Citizenship" and St. Paul.

Little Books The Diocese of Saginaw, Michigan, began publishing their "Little Book" series several years ago, and they have become a very popular way for Catholics to pray and reflect during the seasons of Advent,  Lent and Easter. These books have been made available to parishioners at no cost. They provide a very easy way to spend a few moments in prayer and reflection each day of the liturgical seasons.

There are many excellent Catholic websites offering opportunities for prayer and study. Below are links to a few of them.

St. Louis University provides reflections on the Sunday readings. Visit SLU 

Sacred Space, created by Irish Jesuits, is a short daily meditation: Sacred

Creighton University has online retreats, daily prayer and other features: Center for Collaborative Ministry

Universalis has the liturgy of the hours, the prayers that have been prayed at specific times during the day for centuries: Universalis

Oremus provides many prayer resources, including daily prayer, liturgy and hymns: Oremus

The Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops has many helpful resources, including bishops' statements, the text of the Catechism, daily readings, the New American Bible, and an online store. USCCB

The Vatican also has a website, which has virtual tours, papal statements and documents and various other news about the universal Church. Vatican