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Rural Catechesis Gathering, NCCL 2007 Panel Presentation Questions
1. Describe the area you serve geographically and the Catholic population, economy of parishes, educational level of people, and leadership situation in parishes. My parish is situated in a small-to-medium-sized farming community on the Cumberland Plateau. We have characteristics of both East and Middle Tennessee. Crossville is growing rapidly, and more transplants are moving in everyday, especially with the addition of two international ceramic tile companies.
The Catholic population is a minority, but the two parishes in Cumberland County both boast around 600 families each, considerably larger than most of the small, family, fundamentalist churches in Crossville. The vast majority of Catholics in Crossville are transplants, with a majority of those being retirees from the north who live in one of two large retirement communities here. Our diocese composes all of East Tennessee, and we are less than two percent Catholic throughout.
The economy of our parish is middle-class. Having a large number of retired engineers and business people combined with families moving here with the new industries means that our parish is fairly well funded. Overall in our diocese, parish economies run the gamut from extremely wealthy to extremely poor.
The educational level of this community of Crossville is very low. Most residents graduate high school, and some have community college experience. Very few have advanced degrees from four-year colleges or universities. Within our parish, however, nearly all parishioners have advanced degrees of some kind, many in engineering and medicine.
The leadership in most parishes in this diocese is one priest as pastor. Only in a few very large urban parishes do we have more than one priest. We do not have any parishes that are without a priest, although we do still have several mission and quasi-parishes. These are usually combined and served by one priest. We have a handful of pastoral associates in some of these parishes. My parish has always only had one priest as pastor, although at various times has also been served by a deacon.
The population of my parish does not resemble the overall population of Crossville/Cumberland County.
2. Describe the models of catechesis in your rural areas. We use the traditional classroom model of catechesis in all areas of the diocese, and the focus is primarily on religious education of children. Different parishes follow different formats, with smaller parishes combining ages to make one class, but all use the traditional model. Many parishes, mine included, are making headway into whole community catechesis and/or adult faith formation, but even these opportunities are most often carried out using the traditional model. In DRE group discussions, there is recognition that this is not the most effective method, and that more needs to be done in the areas of whole community catechesis and adult faith formation.
3. Considering the challenges that you face in rural catechesis, describe some ways you are addressing these in the areas of catechist formation, adult faith formation, etc. Our diocese sponsors a catechist formation program that consists of twelve seminars based on the pillars of the Catechism and the tasks of catechesis. These seminars are prepared and presented by “experts” within the diocese: priests, pastoral associates, and lay ministers. Catechists receive ascending levels of certification based on the number of seminars they have completed. This program has worked very well as each seminar is offered in each deanery at least one time, sometimes more. Catechists find it easy to travel a short distance to attend the seminars. This formation program also provides unity and comprehension to our catechist training, ensuring that all catechists are receiving the same information. We have even offered several seminars in one-day “Super Saturday” sessions. This program is funded by diocesan capital campaign money.
Adult faith formation is great in some parishes and non-existent in others. In my parish, we do have some adult faith formation opportunities, but they are sporadic and poorly attended. We are currently preparing for participation in our diocese’s RENEW: Why Catholic? series which launches this summer. This will be a great opportunity to strengthen adult faith formation in my parish, and throughout the diocese. This program will also be funded using diocesan capital campaign money.
4. Describe the areas in which you feel USCCB, NCCL, Catholic publishing companies, and Catholic foundations could be of assistance in providing resources for rural catechesis. Perhaps the largest area in which rural parishes in my diocese could benefit is in relationships with the Protestant churches. Our young people want information on apologetics and evangelization. They want skills to be able to converse with and teach their confused, and often prejudiced, classmates. Our families need information and skills on dealing with mixed-faith marriages: what is the wedding ceremony like? Do you attend two services each Sunday, one for the husband and another for the wife? How do you raise your children in the faith if there are two different denominations in the family? Etc. Parishes as a whole need more suggestions and resources for building good working relationships with their fellow Protestant congregations. Parishes also need information and resources about outreach and education about the Catholic church to the community.
These may not be issues in other rural sections of the country, but they are huge issues in the South, the Bible Belt.