Office of Faith Formation director Jayne Mondoy is seen in this file photo from 2015.
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
For a long time, centuries really, it was called the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine — CCD for short. It was the name primarily given to the teaching of religion to elementary and high school students who did not go to Catholic schools. It meant catechism classes for public school kids on Tuesday afternoons, or Saturday or Sunday mornings.
Then, since sometime after the Second Vatican Council, the ministry fell under the more literal, if prosaic, title of “Religious Education.”
No longer. On July 9, Bishop Larry Silva announced a change of name from the diocesan Office of Religious Education to “Office of Faith Formation.”
According to department head Jayne Ragasa Mondoy, whose title is now the “Director of Faith Formation,” the new name more accurately describes a ministry that has become varied and multigenerational.
Religious education programs are meant to “supplement the formation in the Catholic faith already happening in the home,” Mondoy said.
It is traditionally designed to help parents by providing “an extended community of faith, models of discipleship, and systematic catechesis to children of the parish,” she said.
Religious education also includes preparing children to receive the sacraments of Christian initiation — Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist and first Penance.
However, Mondoy said, parents, and often grandparents, “as the first and foremost educators of their children, also seek ways to grow in holiness with their children.”
Over the years, parish catechetical leaders have recognized and responded to this desire of the adults in the family to grow in the faith as a “new generation of Catholics who know and love Jesus and aspire to continually receive God’s grace through the sacraments, especially Eucharist, and commit to a life of Christian discipleship.”
The new title, “Office of Faith Formation,” recognizes the “holistic nature” of this ministry, she said.
“Certain hallmarks of the office remain,” Mondoy said, including “providing catechists with systematic and doctrinally-sound training available through local conferences, national catechetical institutes, retreats, and resources that adhere to diocesan norms and catechetical guidelines.”
“Children learning about the faith with their peers continues to be a valuable and necessary experience,” Mondoy said, but “the family is at the heart of Christian formation.”
The Office of Faith Formation list of upcoming events shows how the office has expanded and diversified beyond “religious education.”
Sept. 3: Catechist Training Day — Reviewing the “Norms for the Sacraments of Initiation and First Penance,” Father Mark Gantley; St. Stephen Diocesan Center, 9-11 a.m. In-person and live-streamed.
Sept. 29: Mass of Healing from Miscarriage — Experience grace, healing and a ritual naming of your pre-born child lost to miscarriage. Co-hosted with the Office of Respect Life. Celebrant Bishop Larry Silva, Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, 6 p.m.
Oct. 9: Marianist Lecture — “Empty Churches: Where Have All the Young People Gone?” Father Jim Heft, SM; Mystical Rose Oratory, 4 p.m. In-person and live-streamed.
Oct. 14: Celebrating the Eucharist — A Family Concert with John Burland; A fun evening of prayer and sing-along for the whole family. Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Nov. 3-5: Hope, Heal, Renew — Catholic Virtual Conference, “Gratefully Rejoicing as the Body of Christ, “ Co-hosted by 12 (arch)dioceses in California, Hawaii and Idaho
Dec. 3: The Art of Witness — Celebrating Jesus in the Eucharist, Talented local artists will creatively immerse us in the beauty of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, Mary, Star of the Sea School, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
