{"id":2853,"date":"2011-09-12T22:52:08","date_gmt":"2011-09-13T04:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/?p=2853"},"modified":"2011-09-19T20:43:17","modified_gmt":"2011-09-20T02:43:17","slug":"the-problem-with-adult-catechesis-and-how-to-fix-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/12\/the-problem-with-adult-catechesis-and-how-to-fix-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Problem with Adult Catechesis (And How to Fix It)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Why aren't they showing up?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My friend Jonathan Sullivan is asking some good questions about adult catechesis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a post last week, he hit on something I’ve been thinking about as well.<\/p>\n

Why don’t more people show up at catechetical programs?<\/p>\n

Why don’t adults want to learn\u00a0about their faith?<\/p>\n

What I’m wondering and what Jonathan alludes to is, maybe the problem isn’t\u00a0with them.<\/p>\n

Maybe the problem is with you and me–the\u00a0people doing the catechizing.
\n<\/p>\n

Is your catechesis filling a need?<\/h2>\n

Across the board, parishes have a hard time geting adults to catechesis classes.\u00a0Nobody shows up<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Jonathan writes:<\/p>\n

“Yet we\u2019ve seen an explosion in recent years of Catholic blogs and podcasts seeking to promote and explain the Catholic viewpoint on a variety of issues. While I doubt that many of these bloggers would claim the label \u201ccatechist,\u201d that is exactly what they are \u2014 they are, in their own way, evangelizing and catechizing to their readers and listeners.<\/p>\n

These blogs and podcasts are obviously filling a need that our catechetical programs do not. Convenience may be one explanation \u2014 it\u2019s\u00a0certainly\u00a0easier to read a blog post than get to the parish center for an evening \u2014 but I\u2019m not sure that explains it all. I also wonder if bloggers and podcasters aren\u2019t better at targeting the specific needs and questions of the faithful.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Getting people to buy<\/h2>\n

There’s an rule in business–make a product people want to\u00a0buy.\u00a0If no one wants your product but you, there’s a problem.<\/p>\n

If you make a product that fills a legitimate need, you’ll sell it.<\/p>\n

Some people try to make what they want with the idea of creating a desire for it.\u00a0You can’t create desire. You can only fill an existing desire.<\/p>\n

Really brilliant\u00a0people fill existing needs in new and completely innovative ways.\u00a0That’s what Steve Jobs<\/a> does. He also makes products that fill\u00a0a need\u00a0people didn’t even know they had. That’s genius!<\/p>\n

How to draw in a wider audience<\/h2>\n

I\u00a0think a lot of catechetical programming is geared toward the theology geeks and old regulars. It centers on teaching doctrines or other aspects of the faith. But to draw in a wider audience, it needs to tell\u00a0people how to solve real problems.<\/p>\n

I’m not saying that catechesis isn’t important (except if it’s boring). I’m saying that often it’s not perceived as important by the average person in the parish. That’s because it’s\u00a0not filling a need.<\/p>\n

If you take a look at what you’re offering, it might be the case\u00a0that you’re selling what only you want to buy!<\/p>\n

People are busy. If they don’t see a real value in your class, they won’t go. It doesn’t matter if it’s free. The currency they’re spending is time. They only have so much of it, and if you’re not giving them enough value, they’re not going to spend their time on you.<\/p>\n

Catechetical takeaway<\/h2>\n

If you’re a catechetical leader, start evaluating how you’re approaching adult faith formation. I know I will.<\/p>\n

Are you offering courses that fill a legitimate need in parishioner’s faith lives? Or, only what you think they want to hear?<\/p>\n

Perhaps you need to do less talking and more listening to find out about those needs.<\/p>\n

If you want to be brilliant, you’ll start figuring out how to fill\u00a0the existing needs of your parishioners in new and innovative ways.<\/p>\n

If you want to be genius (and who doesn’t), you’ll fill a need your\u00a0people didn’t even know they had. Now that’s evangelization<\/a>!<\/p>\n

What do you think? What are some ways we can fill\u00a0the needs of our parishioners?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Image Credit: Stephen Grebinski<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s a problem with adult catechesis, you can’t get people to do it! Why don’t adults want to learn? Maybe the problem isn’t with them. Maybe it’s with you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catechesis","category-evangelization-2","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Problem with Adult Catechesis (And How to Fix It) - Marc Cardaronella<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/12\/the-problem-with-adult-catechesis-and-how-to-fix-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Problem with Adult Catechesis (And How to Fix It) - Marc Cardaronella\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There's a problem with adult catechesis, you can't get people to do it! 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