St. Ignatius Faith Formation Director's Guidelines
Faith Formation at St. Ignatius is understood as a three-tiered relationship of family, faith
formation and liturgy. What children and parents experience in their daily lives as a family
influences and directs their lives. What children and parents experience and learn in our Faith
Formation programs expands and deepens their relationship with God, and Jesus, and
hopefully also influences and directs their lives. They bring both of those experiences to our
weekly liturgy, Family Mass, where we deepen our sense of God, and Jesus, in our communal
awareness of the sacredness of our daily lives through the celebration of the Eucharist.
As director, my desire is for the Faith Formation Team to function as a collaborative,
communicative group focused on the mission of serving the faith formation needs of our families
(children and parents) by supporting all three tiers of their faith experience.
The Faith Formation program operates as a spiraling continuum with the goal of lifelong faith
formation. No one program is more critical than other; no one liturgy is more important than
another; no one family is more important than another. Each are parts of a whole; each are
valued and critical to the mission.
As director, I believe that all individuals bring with them unique hopes, aspirations, and
experiences. In addition, because St. Ignatius is blessed to be an intentional community, we
welcome a range of non-traditional families and families of mixed faith. We strive to respond to
these differences by creating an open and welcoming environment for all; by offering a variety of
approaches to faith formation to fit a broad range of needs expressed by members of our
community; and by drawing on our broader community, including that of Boston College, to
resource our programs.
Each member has a specific focus within that mission to fulfill to the best of their ability, utilizing
their unique gifts and talents. Though each team member may focus on one individual program
or function within the program, they, and their role, remain an integral part of the whole program.
What is happening for one member effects the whole team, and the program. What is
happening in one program also effects the whole team, and the program. Therefore,
collaboration and communication is vital to the overall mission of the program. This collaboration
and communication is fostered and enlivened through four means:
Weekly Faith Formation Team meetings are an important component and vehicle for our
collaboration and communication. It is where we share our experiences, our desires, our hopes,
where we have been and where we hope to go with our program. It is where the individual parts
come together as a whole.
Weekly Staff Meetings are an important component of the overall mission of the pastoral staff. It
is where we collaborate and communicate with the pastoral and administrative staff on where
we have been and where we are headed in our parish mission to spread the joy of the gospel to
others.
Monthly Faith Formation Commission meetings are an important component on the specifics of
our Faith Formation Program and how it is received and perceived by our families and
participants. Monthly meetings focused on individual components of the program with a view
toward how each interacts and supports the whole. Commission members are comprised of
representatives of our different Faith Formation programs with the hope of having “all voices at
the table.”
Periodic Parish Pastoral Council meetings and retreats are an important component of the
overall parish as it relates to the hopes, dreams and desires of the voices of those called forth to
represent the parish as a whole as it tries to live out the mission of the parish and the larger
Church. These hopes, dreams and desires of the parish as a whole cycle back to inform, and
potentially transform, our Faith Formation Program.
The most important component of our Faith Formation Program is its participants. If we are not
meeting their needs, desires, hopes and dreams, we need to make any necessary adjustments
to do so. We are here to serve you, our parishioners, our families, and our children. If you ever
feel we are not fulfilling our mission of service, kindly make us aware of any issues or concerns
you may have.