Catholics hear the word ‘formation’ bandied about as though the very future of the Church is at stake if they don’t get enough of it.
According to the Plenary Council’s Instrumentum Laboris, that’s not far from the truth.
In the face of “the onslaught of secularism, individualism, relativism, materialism, the rise of new technologies, the sexual abuse crisis and the influence of mass media” the Church is in crucial need of formation in “Catholic belief, sacraments, the Church and Christian living”.
These problems are among the most serious issues confronting modern Catholicism.
According to the Instrumentum Laboris, these external pressures have led to “a decline in acceptance of the Church’s teaching and in [the] practice of the faith”.
In the words of the Plenary Council, formation can provide a buttress against a popular culture that is all too often “alien or inimical to Catholic beliefs, doctrines and practices”.
But what does formation mean? What is it and how do we implement it?
Is it merely through catechesis? Is it by committing the principles of the faith to memory by rote?
According to Centre of Faith Enrichment lecturer Natalie Thomas, formation is about much more.
It is about learning to understand the God in whom we trust and what it means to be a follower of Christ.
“Really, if I was to think about formation and being formed into a follower of Christ or belonging to Christ, at the heart of formation is coming to understand this God who I trust in and what implications does it have for my life,” she said.
“Taking from the wisdom of thousands of years of Judeo-Christian experience of this God and asking what they have said of this God and of the implication of this God in my life.”
Ms Thomas said a well-formed Church would have many people who would be able to explain of their faith.
“If someone was to ask Christians, in particular Catholics, at this point in human history — who is this God that you believe in, that you trust in, what implications does this God have for your life? Would we be able to answer this question?” she said.
Gionata Pagani, who is preparing for ordination at Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Morley, said for him, formation is about building a strong faith so it could be a bridge to Jesus Christ for others.
“For me personally, formation as it occurs in the seminary is about coming to an encounter with the person of Christ, to grow as a Christian that I may be a bridge for other people to also have an encounter with Jesus Christ,” he said.
“That means we need to know what the lives of the people are like that we may be bridges for them to come to an encounter with the person of Christ, who is the one that has come to save us from our sins, who’s come to give us faith in the midst of the sufferings that we have.”
As for formation as a basis to protect our faith from the more negative aspects of the wider culture, Ms Thomas said we should look to the Early Church as an example of strong formation.
“When you look at the early Church and the mission that Christ have them and gives us, it’s to go out to all the world and tell them the Good News and the real crux of that is that they experienced Christ,” she said.
“They knew that he was God, and they knew what that then meant for them and so that’s why they were able to take Christ to the world and be really courageous in doing that.
“This is why when they went to their martyrdoms, they did it knowing they were true to themselves because they were true to their God and that’s what mattered to them.”
Ms Thomas said being able to stand in the public square to contend with the culture (if our mission demands it) and say, “this is why we believe what we believe” flows naturally because of good formation.
“If I was really living and moving in that relationship with Christ, it’s something that would be connatural to me,” she said.
Mr Pagani said formation allowed the Church to be a missionary church, to fulfil the need to “go out to the people to be amongst them”.
“Formation can go wrong if you’re not amongst the people,” he said.
“Pope Francis, at the beginning of his pontificate, put a lot of emphasis on this, that a shepherd needs to have the smell of his own sheep.”
Only then can the Church fulfil its mission, by being the bridge between the world and Jesus Christ.
