Teaching About God's Gift of Forgiveness-Tool 1

About This Resource This resource consists of nine teaching tools on the catechetical theme “Teaching About God’s Gift of Forgiveness.” Each of the nine contains a brief teaching, a single reflection question related to that teaching, and references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, and the Catechetical Framework for Lifelong Faith Formation for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. What follows are three models for how this resource might be used. Parishes are free to adopt or adapt any or all of these models. Model 1 – Use with existing gatherings of adults There are many groups of adults that already gather regularly in parishes. These groups include parish councils, finance councils, fraternal organizations, various social outreach groups, and committees of every shape and size. Parishes could provide the leaders of the various groups with copies of the nine teaching tools with the suggestion that they use them during their regularly scheduled meetings. They could be used as a part of an opening or closing prayer. The brief teaching is designed so that it can be read out loud in about two minutes. Following the reading, a minute could be given to allow each person to reflect individually and personally on the reflection question and then another minute to turn and share with one individual. In this way the use of each tool would take less than five minutes to implement and would not overly burden these groups. Rather, it is hoped that they would find it a useful tool to assist them in their catechetical and spiritual growth. The included references could be used by the leader for his or her own personal preparation or could be shared with the group for those who might wish to do some additional study and reflection on their own. It is suggested that groups use one tool each month so that the catechetical theme is developed in an intentional way throughout the year. This monthly use could correspond to the time period of September through May, traditionally the time of year during which parish organizations are most active. Those groups that meet more frequently might choose to complete the series in less time. Those groups that meet less frequently than monthly could either choose to do a subset of the nine tools or, better yet, use more than one tool at each gathering. Model 2 – Publish in the parish bulletin or newsletters Permission is given freely to parishes to reproduce this resource in parish bulletins or newsletters. For publications that come out at least monthly, the use of one tool each month is suggested. For those publications that come out less frequently, more than one tool may be published at a time. Model 3 - Use as a starting point for a series of adult faith formation gatherings The topics for the nine tools have been developed in a systematic way designed to unfold some aspects of the catechetical theme intentionally throughout the year. Each of the nine aspects could be the topic of an adult faith formation gathering. The teaching tool and reflection question could be an introductory activity at such a gathering and the various references could serve to assist the one preparing the series to gather additional information.