Chrislynn Villena, the religious education director at St. Joseph Parish in Hilo.
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
“Stay with Us: Dynamic Ideas for Family Faith Formation,” is a new series of four webinars hosted by the Office of Religious Education and its director Jayne Ragasa Mondoy.
“Developing strong Catholic families in which parents and children alike learn to give witness to Christ is a priority for our Church,” said Mondoy in an email.
The four webinars, which were recorded between June and August, aim to provide local parishes, schools and parents with practical ideas for family ministry. In each one, a veteran parish ministry leader shared her parish’s vision, planning, and implementation processes.
Dominican Sister Gina Senapilo, the religious education coordinator at Immaculate Conception Parish in Lihue, Kauai, talked about how she has engaged families at her parish by forming a children’s choir, making home visits to families, offering flexible religious formation times, reaching out to parents, and having families take turns helping lead a Mass.
Tonata Lolesio, the director of religious education at Maria Lanakila Parish in Lahaina, Maui, described how the parish’s weekly religious formation includes simultaneous breakout sessions for children and adults, and finishes with combined family faith activities. The parish also offers several religious education clubs including hula and ukulele. There is Children’s Liturgy of the Word at three Masses each weekend and a six-week summer catechesis session for kids.
Laurie Munoz, the youth and family ministry coordinator at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Pearl City, Oahu, focused her talk on the parish’s eight-pronged youth ministry program, which incorporates parents throughout. The parish had vacation Bible school for elementary through high schoolers and a “senior prom” for elderly hosted by youth and young adults among their activities.
Chrislynn Villena, the religious education director at St. Joseph Parish in Hilo, Hawaii, focused on the “original order” change to the age of confirmation now shifting to second grade and how it made her look at ways faith formation could span all ages rather than be segregated by sacrament or grades. Some family activities at the parish have included making family faith banners to hang in the home and Saturday morning confession time for families to reduce a kid’s fear of the sacrament of reconciliation.
“Viewers will be inspired by the way these parishes creatively took up the challenge to go beyond parish boundaries, reach out to families, and immerse them in the life of the Christian discipleship,” Mondoy said. “As a result, their faith formation programs continue to thrive after implementing the ‘original order’ of the sacraments of initiation.”
The webinars can be viewed at catholichawaii.org/familyfaithwebinars.
You can also view locally-produced videos on the sacraments at catholichawaii.org/catholic-essentials/sacrament-videos.
