Sandra Norris found herself doing a lot more talking (and listening) than she expected at the annual Faith Formation Day for Catholic school teachers, principals and staff on Oct. 25.
The fifth grade teacher at St. Peter and St. Paul School in Alta Loma noticed that a lot more time was devoted to small group sharing this year, a change that she welcomed.
“You get more ideas,” said Norris, who shared that the discussions will inspire her to take her class to church to pray weekly, outside of the normal school Mass. “You can be more mindful, more intentional about incorporating faith into what we do in the classroom.”
About 500 Catholic school employees attended the Faith Formation Day, which took place at Aquinas High School in San Bernardino with a group also participating remotely from Sacred Heart School in Palm Desert. The day was organized by the Diocesan Office of Catholic Schools and the Ministry Formation Institute (MFI). It was centered around a workshop on the Mission of Catholic Schools developed by the Catechetical Institute at Franciscan University of Steubenville. The Diocese has contracted with the Catechetical Institute to provide online adult faith formation and education programing.
After viewing short video sections of the workshop at one of three gathering areas on campus, the participants were invited to reflect and then share in small groups, or “discipleship quads,” about what they had heard.
“They’re spending most of their time talking to each other,” said MFI Director, Dr. Amanda Alexander, who facilitated the day. “Adults learn best by sharing with each other their own life experiences.”
For Raquel Alexander, transitional kindergarten teacher at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Riverside, the discipleship quad conversations were validating.
“It reinforced for me that what we’re doing with our [School-wide Learning Expectations] – to live and love like Jesus - that we’re on the right track,” she said reflecting with her colleagues at St. Thomas. They wore matching school polos that had the words, “Teach, Believe, Inspire” emblazoned on the back.
The Formation Day concluded with Mass in the Aquinas gymnasium with Bishop Alberto Rojas.