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St. Clare’s Mustard Seed Initiative
We all know how difficult it is to raise children these days. Now more than ever parents and families are critically important in passing on the story of God’s love, ever ancient and ever new. Long before they come to our school or religious education program they will have absorbed the heart of the Gospel in the love they have learned from their parents and families.
This is why Cardinal Egan has challenged all of us to look for ways to support parents that will help them grow in their faith and commitment to the Gospel life.
More than a year ago I asked the members of our pastoral staff to begin to design a program of Adult Faith Formation that will assist our parents in this important work. Flight attendants tell airline passengers that, in the event of cabin difficulties, adults must put their oxygen masks on first before they try to help their children. In the same way, parents need to look critically at their own faith lives before they begin to help their children.
The result of this work is our new Mustard Seed Initiative. The goal of this initiative is to help adults more fully understand and live their faith. The expectation of this plan is that parents of each family in our school and religious education program will be involved in at least five hours of adult faith formation and family catechesis during the calendar year from September, 2006 through August, 2007. This hourly expectation is meant to apply per family regardless of the number of children in the family.
Many of the opportunities for prayer, spiritual growth and service which you already undertake are included in our list of offering and will complete our expectation of a five hour commitment.
I will be visiting all the parent meetings for our school and religious education program to explain more about this initiative. Mustard Seed Initiative activities are highlighted on the parish calendar—available on our website and in our weekly bulletin—and a booklet explaining those activities will be forthcoming.
Some of you may remember that in my homily on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of my ordination I said that “as long as I am the pastor of this parish I am going to challenge you to assume the rights and responsibilities that the Second Vatican Council clearly enunciated.” The Mustard Seed Initiative marks one further step in our journey together in faith.
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