Above is a photo from one of our four Faith Festivals scheduled for this week. For the past several years we've had a whole parish-intergenerational model for faith formation in the parish. Beginning in September '07, we returned to a classroom model but have included three intergenerational events on the year's calendar.
In January our topic is Am I A Catholic: What Do I Have to Believe? In the photo above you see our adults and high school students in group discussion of three questions: 1) What are the three most important beliefs in my life? 2) In whose truth/what truth do I most firmly believe? 3) What do I find most difficult to believe?
Those questions are not as easy as they may seem at first glance!
For readers who are local, we have one more Faith Festival this week: Sunday, January 13, beginning at 4:30 p.m. The Festival includes a light meal, opening prayer and catechesis in age-appropriate groups. The Festival concludes around 7:00 p.m. and is held in Monument Hall, on the green, in Concord center. Please join us!
You are right that the questions are not as easy to answer as they may seem. A teenager in my group answered to one question, "I find it difficult to believe in God." I found that mind boggling and very troubling, particularly, in the setting of a Catholic intergenerational faith gathering. I have since been told by much older Catholics than this teenager that this is not as unusual as I may think. I hope that all those who find it difficult to believe in God will someday come to believe. Belief in a loving, merciful God is such a source of comfort to me.
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