Holy Family Institute of Catholic Faith and Life
Dear St. Anne parishioners,
One of the most common areas of need mentioned in our recent parish survey was adult faith formation. This confirms something I have seen consistently in my work as a priest and pastor, and, of course, also confirms the troubling statistics on how few Catholics truly understand and believe what the Church teaches.
I am also firmly convinced that a lack of strong, orthodox formation in the faith is a central cause of the huge numbers of Catholics who have left the Church. In my experience, the overwhelming majority of them left a faith they never really understood, and therefore never fully appreciated or embraced.
Because I feel called to be proactive and intentional in addressing these realities, I decided to launch Holy Family Institute of Catholic Faith and Life, a new faith formation initiative based here at St. Anne. You may have seen some of the announcements already.
My goal for the institute is to provide formation in the Catholic faith in multiple formats, and to make it accessible not only to our parishioners, but to anyone, anywhere. My hope is that, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Holy Family Institute will be a resource that helps Catholics grow in their ability to articulate and defend their Catholic faith with confidence and charity, starting in their own homes and families.
To assist me in this new endeavor I have brought Steve Greene on board as Director of Holy Family Institute of Catholic Faith and Life. Some of you may know him as the former director of Kino Catechetical Institute for the diocese, and from The Catholic Conversation podcast he co-hosts with his wife, Becky. I believe Steve’s formation and experience will be a good fit for helping find innovative ways to bring the faith to the parish, the Church, and the culture.
The first offering is our weekly formation series on Wednesday nights, here at the parish at 6:30 PM. These formation nights are free of charge, open to anyone, and will be live-streamed on St. Anne’s internet channels, as well.
We will be expanding Holy Family Institute’s offerings as we go forward, and will keep the parish updated as we do, so please be on the lookout for those updates.
In the meantime, please keep this initiative in prayer, and feel free to invite friends and family to join us.
In Cordibus Jesu,
Fr. Keith Kenney