With Covid-19 safety precautions in place for parish Masses and activities, adults are encouraged to deepen their faith at home, in small groups, and in virtual gatherings. Some resources that might be helpful to you include:
Diocese of Dallas
Best Practices during the Pandemic
Lectio Divina
The Latin phrase "lectio divina" means divine reading. It is a particular practice of prayerful meditative reading that the monastics developed in the early church. This is a great process for breaking open the Sunday Gospel at home by yourself or with your family.
Lectio Divina process for adults Spanish
Boost your daily prayer and meditation with one of these free online Catholic services
Resources for Faith Formation Leaders
A Pandemic alphabet: Applying the spiritual alphabet of practices to pandemic concerns and activities
Spiritual resources for Covid-19 Pandemic
Conversation cards on Democracy, Freedom, Equality, and the Common Good
Small faith community Resources
Forming Small Christian Communities
Small Community Leader Training
Lectionary-based Faith Sharing
- Commentaries on the Sunday Readings
- Exploring the Sunday Readings/para meditar las Lecturas Dominicales (Alice Camille, Twenty-Third Publications) A monthly publication which makes a spiritual connection between Scripture and daily life. Each issue gives you opening and closing prayers to guide your meditations, easy-to-understand explanations that go straight to the heart of the readings, short commentaries on each reading, and practical questions for reflection.
- Sunday by Sunday (Good Ground Press) - a four-page weekly publication that invites adults to reflect on the Sunday Gospel and Old Testament readings.
Small Group Studies
Small Group Studies for Women
Theme-based Faith Sharing
Catholic Social Teaching
- Faith in Action (Paulist Evangelization Ministries) - Discussion and sharing material for six sessions —all of them focused on the social teachings of the Church.
Ecology, Environment, Stewardship of the Earth, Laudato Si’
Faithful Citizenship
Family Faith Sharing
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
- The Spirit of Faith (Paulist Evangelization Ministries) – Discussion and sharing material for seven sessions—all of them focused on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Sacraments
- Deepening Faith (Paulist Evangelization Ministries) - Discussion and sharing material for six sessions—all of them focused on the sacraments.
Virtues
- Empowering Faith (Paulist Evangelization Ministries) – Discussion and sharing material for seven sessions—concentrating on the three theological virtues and four cardinal virtues.
Year of Mercy, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Mercy, Justice
Video-based sharing (includes videos and suggested reflection questions), see Digital Faith Formation
Family Faith Formation
Online Adult Faith Formation Resources
Bible Studies
Faith Formation through Mission
Presentations on mission to parish or diocesan groups, e.g., what is mission, and why is it important? These can be 45 minutes to two days in duration. For the longer programs, I can bring in people from our other offices.
Presentations on Catholic Social Teaching, usually about an hour long. I could also do one of these at an AFF Gathering.
Formation for parish groups going on short-term mission trips. These ideally consist of a four-hour session before the group embarks and a two-hour session after they return.
Downloadable Resources
Publishing Companies
Research and Creative Engagement for Adult Faith Formation
Sample Job and Role Descriptions for Leaders
For more information, please contact:
Marie Zavala
Associate Director, Evangelization, Catechesis and Family Life
(214) 379-2878
Alicia Saucedo
Coordinator of Marriage Ministry
(214) 379-2881