Mission Statement
Spanish
FORWARD IN FAITH
ITS MISSION AND VISION
Forward in Faith, the new initiative for adult faith formation of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, is rooted in three major formative moments for the Catholic Church during the past fifty years: the Second Vatican Council, the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the call of Pope Benedict for a “New Evangelization”.
The most recent of these moments is found in the challenge of Pope Benedict XVI for all Catholics to participate in a “new evangelization”. This evangelization requires a renewed encounter with the historical person of Jesus and his teachings as they have been handed on in the Gospels and the life of the Church. The “new evangelization” recognizes that we live as people of faith in an increasingly secularized world, and that evangelization means bringing to that world the vision of the Gospel, but beginning first with the renewal of our own faith and “the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community itself.” Men and women who have wandered from the faith or who long to understand more deeply what faith in Jesus Christ and the Church can mean or who have questions about the life and teachings of the Church, are all called through this new evangelization to undertake a deep interior renewal of our adult religious life. Forward in Faith is an invitation to just such a renewal.
The second foundation for Forward in Faith is the momentous event of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Benedict has characterized the Council as a “fundamental yes to the modern era” that provided needed and genuine reforms in the areas of Scripture, religious freedom, the relationship of faith and science, and ecumenism. The reforms of the Second Vatican Council were not sudden ruptures with the history and identity of the Church, but rather a moment of doctrinal development which better reflects that history and identity in the modern era. The beautiful image of the pilgrim people of God which emerged from the Council is an embodiment of the Church’s constant call to reform amidst continuity. It is also an image that speaks to the renewed appreciation for the role of the laity in the life of the Church that was so central to the Council. Pope John Paul II wrote that the greatest accomplishment of the Second Vatican Council was “to show the strength and beauty of the doctrine of the faith” to the modern world. Forward in Faith seeks to communicate that strength and beauty in order to assist the men and women who must live in that modern world with the same dedication that characterized the Council.
In 1992, thirty years after the opening of the Council, John Paul II promulgated a universal catechism to provide an authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine and for every believer “who asks us to give an account of the hope that is in us and who wants to know what the Catholic Church believes.” Forward in Faith is rooted in the conviction that there is a deep need within our local Church of San Francisco to understand more fully the conceptual content of Catholic faith. This program seeks to address that need so that participants may grasp deeply the salvation that has come to us in Christ and can truly give an account of the hope that is in us all.
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