New director focuses on faith

Sister Anna Tantsits, IHM, the new associate director of adult faith formation for the Albany diocesan Office of Religious Education, felt called to work with adults through her work with children.

She began as an elementary school teacher. The first year her parish began to use a religion textbook rather than the Baltimore Catechism to prepare children for First Communion was a turning point in her thinking.

"I saw the change in how we were teaching and I worried about the parents," she said. "That's when I began working with adults."

Teaching adults

For the past six years, she worked at Immaculate Conception parish in Montclair, in the Newark Diocese. There, she worked with adults in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), parent programs and faith formation.

"Adults need ongoing faith formation," she said. "When the Church got serious in the RCIA program, I wondered about other adults baptized as infants who hadn't been receiving formation."

Ongoing faith formation opportunities are just as important for adults as they are for children, she said. The challenge in adult formation is that unlike a school setting, those participating aren't at the same level.

"Adult formation isn't like grade 17," she explained. "Adults are all in different places with their faith."

Cluster support

The Albany Diocese is uniquely poised to meet that challenge, Sister Anna said, noting that parish clusters offer the potential for collaboration on adult faith formation that can meet the needs of adults. "The cluster system can make it easier to meet the varied needs of adults," she said.

Some of those varied needs result from adults' ages, where they are at in their relationship with God and their interests. For example, mature adults had a different type of religious education than young adults; they may have a more difficult time coming to programs held in the evening; and their relationship with God is based on all of the experiences they've had in their past.

On the other hand, young adults are just embarking on life and don't have the same experiences as mature adults; are more mobile; and are often living far away from their family and expect their parish to meet some of the needs extended family used to.

Offering resources

In her new position, Sister Anna sees herself as a resource person for parishes looking to meet adult faith formation needs. After serving in parishes in urban, rural and suburban settings in both the Newark and Scranton dioceses, she has an understanding of the different types of needs parishes face as they try to offer adult catechesis.

In her experience, she has found the most creative programs develop when people work together. By working with clusters, she hopes to spark this creative sharing between parishes.

"The most creative way comes when people come together and plan," she said. "The things I was positive would never work became one of the best programs."

Being creative

Today, more than ever, creative methods of adult catechesis are needed, she said. With free time at a premium for adults, it can become more difficult for parishes to meet the faith formation needs of adults.

While she admits the easiest form of adult formation is to bring in a speaker, that method has drawbacks. "It's easier to get in a speaker, but adults don't learn in lecture. You get more out of it if you're involved," she said.

Some creative ways parishes can meet the faith formation needs of adults include small book discussion groups, having a video library and audio tapes, and utilizing computerized on-line resources. Such resources allow adults to work at their own pace and then have interaction with other adults interested in a similar topic.

(01-30-97)

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