Religious Ed office has its work cut out for it

By JEFF GRAHAM

If one thing has become clear for the Office of Religious Education and its director, Chuck Luttrell, it’s that the recent archdiocesan synod is going to bring about big changes.
The office is responsible for carrying out nine of the 50 synod recommendations.

Special to The B.C. Catholic Helping adults and children in public high schools become better Catholics are top priorities for the Office of Religious Education. The office is now mandated to help provide adult faith formation and to extend the Parish Religious Education Program to Grade 12.

Fulfilling all nine, Luttrell said, will be a challenge involving some restructuring and support from pastors.

“As an office we’re using the synod as a time for soul searching,” said Luttrell. “This isn’t so much about what we are currently doing, but in light of the synod, it’s about asking what we are not doing.”

The synod recommendations were ranked according to priority, and three of the nine recommendations to be carried out by the Office of Religious Education were in the top six: establishing an adult faith formation strategy was ranked third; assisting parents as primary educators of their children was ranked fourth, and extending the Parish Religious Education Program (PREP) to Grade 12 was ranked sixth.

All eyes will be on the Office of Religious Education to see how it carries out what the synod is calling for.

“During the synod it almost became a standing joke that the Office of Religious Education should take something on whenever suggestions came up,” he said. “It was a wonderful compliment, but now all of those recommendations pose an enormous challenge to our office.”

Adult faith formation came through loud and clear

While Luttrell knows he has eight other recommendations to tackle, he knows his first and most immediate priority is establishing an adult faith strategy, which he is already working on.

“The synod was pretty clear that adult faith formation is needed, and I don’t think there is any doubt there is a need,” said Luttrell. Taking on adult faith formation programs will result in changing job descriptions, re-evaluating priorities, and asking themselves difficult questions about how to meet the ever changing and expanding needs of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, he said.

“In the archbishop’s pastoral letter on the synod, he called for us to do some realignment,” he said, “and so I’ve gone through the synod documents very finely and am in the process of giving recommendations to the archbishop.”

To be the most effective, Luttrell believes his staff will need to become exemplary teachers of teachers and exemplary catechists to catechists. He said the focus will be on assisting others to run successful faith-formation initiatives in their parishes.

“Our job is to assist parishes to create effective teams for adult faith formation,” said Luttrell. “It’s not so much what we do ourselves, but what we do to help others do and teach. Our job is to train the trainers.”

Luttrell thinks adult faith formation will be welcomed in the archdiocese. He pointed to the recent response to Father John Horgan’s upcoming lecture, on Jan. 27 at the Winter Institute. Father Horgan will talk on Specialized Questions in Moral Theology at St. Monica’s Church in Richmond.

“An indication of the thirst is the response we have to our course on Jan. 27,” he said. “People respond and they want to hear these things, and he’s going to be talking about questions that were not even around in the 1950s!”

Luttrell feels that when adults attend events like the Winter Institute and become educated, they will in turn educate their children and grandchildren. When that happens, Luttrell will know his office has been successful.

“What will make our office the most effective is when parents say, ‘I know more about my faith.’ Those parents will teach their children, and the time when that teaching takes place is where it all takes form.”

“We are not out to create mini-theologians. We are out to form Catholics so that they have answers for those water-cooler conversations, and answers for their children.”

“The whole concept of a synod is to take a look at the Church in light of the signs of the times. During a synod we ask ourselves, are we current, and are we meeting needs?”

“When I think of adult faith formation I recall my high school teachers, the Jesuits, telling us that they were training tomorrow’s Catholic leaders and that they were doing that by making sure we had the answers to the questions we would face as adults.

“Well, it sounds impressive, but when you consider that it was the 1950s you realize they didn’t even have some of the questions we face today. Therefore, the knowledge of the faith that served the Catholic adult of the 1950s doesn’t provide the answers to some of today’s questions. This is especially true when we look at issues like genetic engineering.”

Programs and strategies aside, however, the Office of Religious Education will be powered by prayer and the intercession of the late Pope John Paul II, who Luttrell said continues to guide him. The late Pope had much to say on parents and their role in educating their children.

“‘Adult faith formation is regarded as the principal form of catechesis,’” said Luttrell, quoting Pope John Paul II. “‘It is addressed to persons who have the greatest responsibilities and the capacity to live the Christian message in its fully developed form.’”