Trips give Ogorek impressions of faith formation in parishes

By Sean Gallagher

Kenneth Ogorek’s visit to Enochsburg came on the heels of the completion of some trips to what he called the “four corners” of the archdiocese.

“I wanted to get out there and get a sense from various folks of how the catechetical effort was going,” said Ogorek, the archdiocese’s director of catechesis. “So I got a map out and I basically picked what seemed like the four corners.”

To experience the width and breadth of the archdiocese, Ogorek visited St. Paul Parish in Tell City, St. Lawrence Parish in Lawrenceburg, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Cambridge City and St. Joseph Parish in Rockville.

He came away from these and the other parish visits he has made thus far with some definite impressions.

First, he clearly noticed the dedication of the archdiocese’s priests to the ministry of catechesis.

“These guys are certainly busy,” Ogorek said. “Yet amidst all their activity, they are making catechesis a priority in their own work.”

Second, he was impressed by the willingness of the lay faithful to help priests in handing on the faith in parish programs.

“That didn’t surprise me,” Ogorek said. “When an adult deepens his or her faith, oftentimes there is a desire to share that faith. And people do that in various aspects of their lives.”

Finally, Ogorek said that he has seen in parishes across the archdiocese how busy adults are and how sometimes their life of faith gets lost in the shuffle.

“Our catechetical leaders sense that adults need to treat themselves better spiritually,” he said. “They see families that are so busy. And oftentimes, parents think they don’t have time to make growth in faith a priority in their lives. And that’s a concern, a pastoral concern.”

As a result, Ogorek said that many adults who volunteer in parish faith formation programs are finding it hard to dedicate time to ongoing catechist formation.

“They’re giving of themselves to teach the faith,” he said. “They know they need ongoing catechist formation. Many of them, though, struggle to put that all together and fit it all in.

“That tells me that we have to continue to seek ways to make catechist formation as accessible to as many folks as we can.” †