Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts reflects the wisdom catechists have acquired in more than 2,000 years
of the Church's history about sharing the message of who Jesus
Christ is and how he is calling us in the Holy Spirit to God our Father.
The program is formed upon the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the General Directory for Catechesis, and other significant Church documents on catechesis. It was also created to reflect the principles of personal and spiritual development that are basic to Ignatian spirituality. We believe that this powerful combination of teaching and
methodology makes a positive contribution to meet the ever-shifting challenges of faith formation in the contemporary world.
Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts draws from the wisdom and learning acquired through more than 2,000 years of Church history of catechizing its members. The program resource, Serving the Catechetical Mission of the Church, is an 85-page book that traces the development of religious education from Jesus' time to the present day, looks at recent Church documents on catechesis as we enter the 21st century, and places the Finding God program within these contexts. To request a free copy of this resource, please call our Customer Service Department at 800-621-1008 or e-mail customerservice@loyolapress.com.
The Second Vatican Council met from 1962 to 1965. This council initiated a series of remarkable documents on the meaning and mission of catechesis that are shaping the way in which faith formation will be done in our new century, in particular the recent Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) and the General Directory for Catechesis (1997).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church is an essential summary of Catholic teaching on faith and morals. It is a point of reference for national and diocesan catechisms. In order to carry out their duty as teachers of the faith, the bishops of the United States established the Office of the Catechism and set up a voluntary review process of all catechetical materials to assess whether they are written in conformity with the Catechism.
Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts is an authentic expression of the Catholic faith. The Ad Hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has found this catechetical series, copyright 2005, to be in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It also has an Imprimatur from the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Another important catechetical document of the Church, the General Directory for Catechesis, serves as a complement to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The GDC reminds us that catechesis is "the process of transmitting the Gospel, as the Christian community has
 received it, understands it, celebrates it, lives it, and communicates it in many ways" (GDC 105). Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts provides a process for transmitting the Gospel that is supported by the principles of the GDC.
In developing Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts, Loyola Press listened carefully to catechetical leaders from all over the country who expressed a desire for religious education and faith formation materials that would enable catechists to bring the Catholic faith alive for those they teach.
Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts is based on authentic faith formation and the belief that effective catechesis
- reflects the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
- is centered on the person of Jesus Christ and his proclamation of the Kingdom of God
- proclaims the liberating good news of salvation through Jesus Christ
- leads the Christian into the world in mission and action, in service to the kingdom
- addresses the needs of the culture in which it is presented
- invites individuals to reflect on personal experience in light of their growing relationship with God
- leads to full, conscious, and active participation in the liturgical life of the Church
- is permeated by a climate of prayer and nurtures a faith that is translated into prayer
The title, Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts, reflects the inspiration of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and describes what Catholic faith formation calls us to do: recognize the presence of God in the sacraments and in our communities of faith and realize the presence of God in our experiences of God's creation and in our lives as people for others.
People these days live in a confusion of rapid communication and cultural diversity. The situation of the Church today is in many ways similar to the church Saint Ignatius of Loyola faced in the 16th century, another time of great social and communication revolution.
Ignatius of Loyola's vision for helping people in confusing times was to give them the method and support they needed to form an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. He emphasized the beauty and goodness of creation as God's gift to us. He taught people to use their imaginations in contemplation and prayer. He was adamant in teaching that service to God is expressed in service to others. These are the values that are developed in Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts.
Ignatius was convinced that we experience the presence of God in the midst of the world. Serving God meant serving God's creation—people and the world around them. He urged everyone to pray for the grace to reflect deeply on one's life and for the gratitude to be thankful for these blessings. Ignatian spirituality—because it is based on this insight and the Spiritual Exercises—is grounded in intense gratitude and reverence. It begins with and continually reverts to the awareness of the presence, power, and love of God everywhere, for everyone, at all times.
Ignatian spirituality ultimately leads participants to serve the Kingdom of God. The grace we receive from God empowers us to follow his will. This means to serve in ways God wants us to serve—using and developing the gifts and talents he has given each one of us.
In the spirit of Saint Ignatius, Loyola Press has developed Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts as a faith formation series to meet the needs of today's Catholics and to serve as the foundation for total parish catechesis.
Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts reflects the insights of recent catechetical documents, integrates Scripture and Tradition into every session, reflects the value of Catholic Social Teaching, and shows the links between catechesis and liturgy. Finding God also clearly presents Catholic moral teaching and helps the participants to pray from within the truths they are learning.
The program is carefully crafted to introduce participants to the Christian way of life. It is designed to help people grow in a relationship with Jesus Christ as he leads us to the Father. Christians are called to participate with the Church in service to the Kingdom of God, service that is expressed in caring for the world.
Christians of every generation have responded in ever-deepening ways to sharing the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts presents much of this wisdom through the lens of Ignatian spirituality. The ultimate goal of this program is to help people grow in relationship with God and with one another.
Each session of every Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts Children's Book creates an environment in which children can recognize God's gifts to them and encourages a response that arises from a deep sense of gratitude. Thoughtfully written words and extraordinary fine art, folk art, illustrations, and photographs
were sought and selected to represent the rich diversity of the Church, to connect children to our Catholic identity,
to articulate our Catholic heritage, and to develop Catholic literacy.
All sessions follow the same organizational structure, based on the catechetical model employed in the program.
A Four-Step Catechetical Process
Faith formation is most effective when the concepts being presented connect with the life of the learner. The program's catechetical model is a four-step process that helps make this connection between the life of the child and the teachings of the Catholic Church. In Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts, these four steps are Engage, Explore, Reflect, and Respond.
| God's Invitation |
| | Step 1: Engage | This introductory step engages children in discussion or activities that relate the session theme to their lives. This step serves as a way to gather the children and provide them with a transition into their special time together. |
| | Step 2: Explore | This step explores the teachings of the Church through Scripture, stories, and activities. It reveals God's constant, loving invitation to us. |
| Our Response |
| | Step 3: Reflect | To help children internalize what they are learning, this step allows them to reflect prayerfully on God's invitation and their response. |
| | Step 4: Respond | After reflection the children identify how they can respond to God's invitation as they live each day. This last step provides opportunities for closure to the session. |
Each session of Finding God incorporates these four steps to lead us and the children, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to an increased awareness of God's invitation to love him and one another.
In Go and Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Evangelization in the United States the U.S. bishops outlined goals, objectives, and strategies for proclaiming the
gospel message and for inviting Catholics to join in the mission of evangelization. Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts implements the strategies that the bishops call for. To read a correlation of the Finding God program to the Bishops' cited goals and points, click here.
Loyola Press is an apostolate of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). We embrace the Jesuit passion for helping people of all ages to find God in all things. In the 16th century the visionary yet always practical Saint Ignatius Loyola reminded the Jesuit theologians advising bishops at the Council of Trent to also spend time in the city streets teaching the Catholic faith to children.
In the 21st century Finding God: Our Response to God's Gifts is born from that same Ignatian desire to help everyone discover God's love and care for them. Children, their catechists, and parents are the immediate focus of this program, consciously designed as a foundation for total parish catechesis.
|
Go Back to Main Page
