Q: Each parish has been asked to plan their own launch for the Year of Faith. Why is this so? Why not come up with a ‘uniformed’ activity that can be undertaken by all the parishes?
A: We wanted to initiate the launch for the Year of Faith individually at parish-level instead of organising a single centralised launch to enable each and every Catholic in the archdiocese to be a part of the celebration. Due to various reasons, not everyone will be able to attend the launch if it is held at one central location. So instead of just the parish leaders and maybe six to eight thousand people being present, we want the entire community of each parish, right from the children to the elderly to be involved and to experience this great journey of faith which the local Church is embarking on, together with the Universal Church.
At the same time, each parish is being encouraged to organise the launch for the Year of Faith in whichever manner they prefer. There is no standard format for the launch and we leave it to the creativity of each parish. We want this to be the people’s celebration. We want them to be personally involved and take pride in the planning and execution of their programme.
Q: Some of the resource material that is being provided to the parishes comprise DVDs. What do these DVDs contain and are they a local product?
A: As a basic guide in preparing for the Year of Faith, we are providing each parish with a 5 to 7 minute DVD which is to be played during the launch. This DVD which is produced by Cahayasuara Communications explains in a brief and simple manner what the Year of Faith is all about and of the Holy Father’s hopes, aspirations and expectations for the Catholic Church during this period. Each parish will also receive other resource materials including banners, t-shirts, Year of Faith prayer cards and information leaflet.
The Prayer for the Year of Faith is to be prayed at all Masses (at the conclusion of the Prayer of the Faithful), at parish meetings and BEC gatherings. The faithful are also encouraged to recite this as an individual prayer. We also encourage each family to take home a copy of the information leaflets explaining the Year of Faith. Parents can use this for discussion with their children about the importance of knowing our faith. The information leaflets can also be used as a reflection during BEC meetings and gatherings.
Q: What will be the main focus of the Archdiocese during the Year of Faith?
A: The main focus of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur during the Year of Faith is for all Catholics to return to the basic fundamentals of the faith. As we know, the Holy Father had declared that the Year of Faith begins on 11 October 2012 and concludes on 24 November 2013. The starting date of the Year of Faith marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and also the 20th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). In line with this, the Pope has called on Catholics to study and reflect on the documents of Vatican II and the Catechism so that we may deepen our knowledge of the faith.
As such, our activities and programmes are also focused on the Catechism and the spirit of Vatican Council II, which is a renewal of the Church. Since our aim is to encourage everyone to go beyond merely professing the faith verbally, we need to return to our basic foundation which is the Catechism.
However, at the same time, we also realised that the CCC may be too overwhelming for everyone to comprehend. That is why we decided to use the much more appealing Youth Catechism (YOUCAT) which is a simplified version of the CCC, as the basis, so that more people get to read it during the Year of Faith.
Q: Was a special committee set up to plan for the Year of Faith?
A: Yes. The committee consists of members from the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute (API), Archdiocesan Single Adults and Youth Office (ASAYO), Archdiocesan Office for Human Development (AOHD), Archdiocesan Catechetical Commission (ACC), Archdiocesan Ministry of Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Affairs (AMEIA) and the Language Apostolate Groups. Each ministry/component group will look into various aspects of the planned events for the archdiocese.
Q: We understand that specific activities have been chosen for the Year of Faith. What was basis for choosing these activities and programmes?
A: Rather than cramp too many activities into one year and lose the impact and essence of the programmes, we have decided to focus on just a handful of activities that we believe will be beneficial to all during this Year of Faith. We have made reference to Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter, Porta Fidei and our activities and programmes are reflective of the Holy Father’s call to us for the Year of Faith.
To put it in a nutshell, the Pope is stressing on ‘re-evengelisation’ and is calling each one of us to ‘rediscover’ and ‘renew’ our relationship with Christ and the Church through a process of renewal and to rediscover the enthusiasm of our faith. We are being called to say that we are proud to be Catholics, to be followers of Jesus. We hope then that the activities and programmes which we have planned will serve as a catalyst for everyone to take ownership and responsibility for their faith formation not only during this Year of Faith but as a continuous and ongoing formation throughout their lives
Q: The months of November 2012 and January 2013 is dedicated to the YOUCAT Programme. Can you elaborate a little about this?
A: The month of November will see the commencement of the first activity for the archdiocese – the training of facilitators for the YOUCAT programme which will take place at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre over a period of two weekends. We have asked each parish to select and send two leaders who will be trained to facilitate and run the YOUCAT programme and also train other facilitators in the parish as we want the programme to reach out to as many people as possible. We are also encouraging at least one or two youths from each parish to attend these training sessions so that they can conduct the programme for other young people. We will be using a teaching aid from the US which also comprises a short DVD on the different sections of the YOUCAT for easy facilitating.
The parishes will conduct the YOUCAT programme from January to May 2013. These sessions are open to all and we hope that during these four months at least 90 percent of the parish community would have attended these sessions.
We are also trying to get everyone to start every parish/BEC meeting by reading parts of the CCC and have a brief discussion on it. We will also be using other forms of communication such as the Archdiocesan Facebook page and blog and also the respective parish Facebook, websites and blogs to post questions and answers on the YOUCAT. We also encourage all the parishes to make use of their Facebook page, websites and blogs to share this information. Our aim is to educate and inform as many people as possible on the Catechism and to use whatever resources available to get the lessons across.
Q: What are some of the other activities that have been planned?
A: As mentioned earlier, the year 2013 will commence with the YOUCAT programme in all the parishes. This programme which is open to all parishioners will run for approximately four months. Parishes which require an extended time-frame to run the programmes may do so based on their needs.
The season of Lent will see two main activities taking place in the archdiocese in the months of February and March. The first is the Lenten Campaign by AOHD which will focus on Promoting Life and the second is the Compassion Walk organised by ASAYO to create awareness amongst all peoples on the issues of life and chaste living.
We are focusing on the issue of life during this time because the Catholic Church has always been promoters on the sacredness of life. Part of our faith is to be life-givers and protectors of life. Therefore we will be looking at different issues pertaining to life including abortion, capital punishment, and the dignity of the human person. As we reflect on these issues during Lent, we hope that it will prepare us to celebrate the new life that Jesus gives each one of us through His resurrection at Easter.
The month of May will be dedicated to celebrate the gift of Mary to the Church. Plans are underway to hold a Marian Festival and a gathering of Catholics in the archdiocese. The date and venue will be announced later.
The second half of the year will focus on the training of parish leaders on the New Way of Being Church. These sessions will cover the Aggiornamento, 4 Marks of the Church, Spirituality of Communion and BEC & Dialogue. This formation session will be held from June to October at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre.
Instead of doing an in-depth study on the Vatican Council II documents, we will focus more on the New Way of Being Church as it is also in line with Vatican II which talks about the spirit of renewal in the Church.
Since many of our current parish leaders are new and have not been a part of the 1976 Aggiornamento or the PMPC I, it is important for them to know the foundation of our local Church and how we have moved forward towards building and becoming Christ-centred communities with emphasis on BECs.
The archdiocesan plans have also taken into account the faith formation for children during the Year of Faith. The month of September has been set aside to celebrate the gift of faith with the children. Sunday School ministries can use this opportunity to organise camps and other faith-related activities. The Archdiocesan Catechetical Commission will be providing some practical suggestions.
This will also serve as an opportunity for families to grow in faith together. Parents must not think that their children’s faith formation and prayer life is adequately taken care of at Sunday School. Some people think that they have fulfilled their parental role by ensuring that their child attends Sunday School every week. Parents must take an interest in what their child is learning at Sunday School, engage them in meaningful conversations about the lessons that they have learnt and see how these elements of faith can be applied to their family life.
Other pastoral initiatives during the Year of Faith include encouraging the faithful to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, regularize, when canonically possible, irregular marriages and to seek ways to reach out to families and individuals who have fallen away from the Church.
The Year of Faith is a time to mend broken relationships. As such, we are asking the parishes and BECs to reach out in friendship to those who have left the Church for one reason or other. We need to build bridges and create opportunities for them to return and be reconciled with the Church. We must let them know that they are still very much a part of our community and when we leave the door open and make no judgements, we hope that they will be able to find their way ‘home’ eventually.
Q: The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and Day of Prayer for Peace (Multi-religious gathering) have been included as part of the Archdiocese’s activities for the Year of Faith. Why is this important?
A: One important aspect of the Holy Father’s call during the Year of Faith is for various ecumenism and inter-religious initiatives to be carried out. In line with this, the archdiocese has proposed that all parishes/districts include a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to be held from 18 to 25 January 2013 and a Day of Prayer for Peace (Multi-Religious Gathering) from 1 to 6 October 2013.
The restoration of unity among all Christians has been one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. In fact since his election and throughout his pontificate, Blessed John Paul II has been encouraging the unity of Christians. Now this call is being reiterated by Pope Benedict XVI and we urge all the parishes to make an effort to have a celebration of worship with their Christian brothers and sisters during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
At the same time, we cannot ignore the importance of inter-religious dialogue. We live in a multi-religious society and we engage with people of other faiths, not so much at a theological level but in our everyday life – we work with them, we live in the same neighbourhood, we shop at the same supermarkets, our children study together … the examples are countless. So we’d like to take this opportunity during the Year of Faith to work together in promoting goodwill and harmony with people of other religions by organising a Day of Prayer, and to come together to pray for peace. The Year of Faith is not just about us as Catholics, but also a call for us to reach out to others in friendship and to get to know each other in the ordinariness of life.
Fr Clarence Devadass is the Director of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute
Hello there,
ReplyDeleteI'm Adeleine from Selangor. I would like to know, can I purchase The Year of Faith T-shirt from this site through online payment or something?
Do get back to me. Thank you! :)