2024 Catechesis Supplement
Franciscan at Home catechetical resource forms ‘both mind and heart’
This screenshot captures part of the homepage for Franciscan University Catechetical Institute’s “Franciscan at Home” online resource for parish and school catechists, directors of religious education and faith formation, ministry leaders, teachers and more.
By Natalie Hoefer
The responsibilities of parish catechetical leaders run a wide spectrum. Some teach religion and sacramental preparation classes. Some play a higher-level role, coordinating programs and forming the catechists who offer instruction.
Many do all of the above.
In each case—and for other ministries, too—the “Franciscan at Home” initiative of Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Catechetical Institute offers online resources that form “those entrusted with the formation of others in any situation and ministry role,” its website states.
The resource offers short, online video workshops in a variety of tracks designed for specific groups—from catechists and catechetical leaders to those in youth, young adult, marriage and other ministries. There are tracks for Catholic schools, forming adults to be received into the full communion of the Church, pastoral accompaniment, parenting and more. (Related: ‘Franciscan at Home’ tracks)
Two tracks are also available in Spanish—Basic Certification for Catechists and a Special Ministries track. A Certification in Leadership and Pastoral Ministry track will be available in Spanish next year.
Following are comments from four parish catechesis leaders in the archdiocese regarding Franciscan at Home, how they use it and the benefits they’ve seen.
‘I’m witnessing and catechizing better’
One of Matthew Fallon’s main reasons for using Franciscan at Home to train the catechists at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis is simple: “It’s more professional than what I’m able to do.”
There are other reasons, too.
“The videos are short, so they don’t take a long time,” says Fallon, Our Lady of Lourdes’ director of religious education. “They have a reverent, spiritual attitude, but also offer practical things to do.”
He has received positive feedback from the catechists. One told Fallon the workshops gave her “more of a framework of how I should approach topics and things I can do to make it more engaging for the kids. I’m witnessing and catechizing better.”
The workshops help catechists build on the texts the parish uses for religious education classes, says Fallon.
“It helps them put [the material] in a better context,” he says. “It makes a better framework of an overall catechetical effort rather than just going page by page and getting bogged down in smaller activities.”
Benedictine Sister Karen Durliat uses the tracks in Spanish to train her catechists at St. Patrick Parish in Indianapolis.
“I adapt sometimes, but I basically use the videos and handouts for catechist formation,” she says. “It’s an easier way for me to offer formation classes for catechists and gives me something to start with.”
Sister Karen notes that some of the videos are in Spanish while others are English versions dubbed over in Spanish.
Still, she says, Franciscan at Home is “a good resource for people who like to learn on their own, online. You can go at your own pace, and there are a lot of options for how to use it in different ways—anyone in the parish can use it.”
‘Designed to form both mind and heart’
Fallon takes advantage of that latter fact by promoting videos in the parish bulletin.
“There are workshops with different points of interest—for parents, for teachers, for people who want to have an ability to defend their faith when people ask them about it,” he says.
“I tell parents, ‘Your kids are getting sacraments and will probably be talking about this—here’s something you can use to know more and talk about it wisely and help them further their understanding.’ ”
While serving in various catechetical roles at St. Augustine and Most Sacred Heart of Jesus parishes in Jeffersonville, Tim Seman used Franciscan at Home videos to form parents at the same time their children were attending Sunday school class.
“We took a one-hour workshop and broke it into seven 8- to 10-minute pieces,” says Seman, who now serves as director of evangelization and adult faith formation at St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis. “We got through the seven segments in seven weeks, with discussion based on what they watched.”
He has also used Franciscan at Home’s evangelization track both in Jeffersonville and at St. Simon to engage with parish evangelization groups.
Whichever of the tracks is used, Seman calls the content “top notch.”
He can say that with authority: “I worked for [the Franciscan University Catechetical Institute] while I was in grad school, so I was involved while they were making” the Franciscan at Home material.
“The content is accessible, understandable. The workshops are designed in a way that’s meant to help you teach others. And what makes it unique is it’s designed to form both mind and heart.”
‘You really can’t find anything better’
The content can also be used as professional development for leaders of parish catechesis and faith formation.
“I’ve primarily used [Franciscan at Home] to form myself,” Seman admits. His evolving role at the Jeffersonville parishes ran the gamut—from teaching Sunday school classes, to forming catechists, to adult faith formation and many roles in between.
“That was my first full-time job working in a parish,” he says. “The wide variety of different workshops formed me in principles and how to approach those ministries.”
No specific programs are promoted in the workshops. Rather, says Seman, the content focuses on “certain principles that allowed me to be creative and think outside the box and evaluate what we’re currently doing and see how I can make it better and more fruitful.
“I still go back to evangelize myself and see how I can be a better minister.”
Quanah Jeffries lauds Franciscan at Home as “the best online professional development resource I’ve found” for his role as director of faith formation and evangelization at Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis.
Some workshops involve a video followed by questions to answer, he says. Others require “an action step before going on to the next workshop. It demands more of me than I think is typical. I like that.”
But the workshops are still manageable, says Jeffries, with videos “not that long, maybe 7 minutes, maybe 20. There might be some little thing you read, and I mean little, all right there on the webpage.
“For my own professional development, I’m very happy with the results.”
And at $400 for an annual subscription, Franciscan at Home is “a great deal,” Jeffries notes.
The Franciscan at Home website notes that parishes with a school are considered one entity—one subscription provides unlimited content access across the board.
Subscriptions are also $400 for elementary schools and high schools that run independently from a parish.
The value for the price can’t be beat, says Seman: “The workshops for each track are so formative that you really can’t find anything else better, outside of going for a degree.”
(For more information on Franciscan at Home, go to franciscanathome.com. To view a list and description of tracks and workshops offered in each, go to franciscanathome.com/tracks-and-workshops. To register your parish and/or school, go to tinyurl.com/FAHArchIndy and click on “I am a representative of a parish or a school, and I would like to register my institution.” If cost is a barrier, contact the archdiocesan Office of Catechesis at catechesis@archindy.org.) †
