CHARLOTTE — The growing popularity of online learning is changing the way the Diocese of Charlotte delivers adult faith education, with more programming going virtual to give people easy access to resources that will help them more fully live their faith.
While the diocese continues to offer in-person faith education opportunities, it also plans to enhance online courses so more people can engage at their convenience.
“People are increasingly comfortable using online learning platforms, particularly as a result of the pandemic,” said Father Roger Arnsparger, vicar of education for catechetical formation. “We’ll continue to offer in-person education for faith formation, community building, networking and discussion – and at the same time, we’ll extend our reach online.”
Online programs offer high-quality, comprehensive training that is available on demand, he said. “They offer a wide array of opportunities and methods for parishioners to study the faith in preparation for serving the Church.”
Many Catholic universities are also offering online programs of formation for the laity, such as Franciscan University, the University of Dayton, and the University of Notre Dame.
Digital natives in particular are accustomed to exploring online offerings that teach in a variety of ways, through elements such as video, graphics and different lecture and writing styles, diocesan officials said.
Online learning is a complement to more traditional educational outreach, Father Arnsparger said, such as the diocese’s catechetical conference, where adults from across the diocese come together for a day of prayer, continuing education and collaboration. The last conference drew 550 participants.
The shift in programming meant the recent closure of the diocese’s Lay Ministry Program, which graduated 119 people in 2020 but saw enrollment in the current program drop to an unsustainable 66 participants, Father Arnsparger said. The diocese hopes to build on the program’s 31-year legacy with online content that provides in-depth lessons delivered wherever participants are, on any device.
“Some of this diocese’s most devoted lay leaders have come through the Lay Ministry Program over the years, and we want to use technology to continue – and elevate – that tradition,” said Monsignor Patrick Winslow, the diocese’s vicar general and chancellor. “Digital programming helps us meet parishioners where they are and enable them to deepen their education at their own pace.”
Current participants in the two-year Lay Ministry Program have been offered the option to continue their second year of learning free through the diocese’s online catechist certification program. The diocese’s Faith Formation Office is planning to accompany the students with online assistance and in-person group meetings.
Candidates seeking to become permanent deacons have already moved to this program as part of their formation process.
Donna Schronce, a parishioner at St. Dorothy Church in Lincolnton, is among current Lay Ministry participants who said she will shift to the online offerings. While Schronce enjoyed her local class in Lenoir, she looks forward to deepening her knowledge of Catholicism through the online format, to help in her new role as altar guild director at her parish.
“I want to learn more about the Catholic faith, and the online program (format) doesn’t bother me,” said Schronce, who converted to Catholicism three years ago. “If I’m going to be more involved in a leadership position, I really want to deepen my understanding of the faith.”
Lay Ministry student Jesse Boeckermann said he too will complete the program online. He’s the director of Catholic Charities’ Western Regional Office. “The knowledge that I’ve gained from the Lay Ministry Program has added to my ability to be a better parishioner, volunteer and member of the Knights of Columbus and other parish ministries.”
Established in 1990, the diocese’s Lay Ministry Program trained 1,287 laypeople for service in their parishes and communities. Until last year, it was a prerequisite in the diocese’s permanent deacon formation program.
The online catechist certification program is free to registrants thanks to funding from the annual Diocesan Support Appeal. It is produced by the Catholic Education Center, a privately-owned initiative based in the Diocese of Arlington, Va.
“We’d like to make this program and many others available to all adults interested in learning more about the faith,” Father Arnsparger said. “One thing we learned from COVID is that good digital content can reach significant numbers of people and can play a key role in our efforts to bring people to Our Lord.”
— Catholic News Herald
‘A light to others’
(From left) Charlotte seminarians and St. Joseph Workers Ronan Ostendorf, Gabriel Lugo and Carson Cannon clean up the area surrounding the Marian grotto next to the rectory at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte July 12. (Photo provided by James Sarkis)MOUNT HOLLY — Men from St. Joseph College Seminary have become “St. Joseph Workers” this summer, spending their time out of school to do yardwork, refinish floors, build a fire pit, and more.
While not a formal aspect of their seminary formation, this work for people and parishes around the diocese aims to help build the seminarians spiritually and socially – another aspect of St. Joseph College Seminary’s holistic approach to priestly formation, seminary leaders say.
“We started the St. Joseph Workers back in the summer of 2018 as a means of providing college seminarians with continuity in their formation by allowing them to stay at the seminary, giving them access to the sacraments and communal prayer, as well as continuing to build their fraternity through sharing a common life and work,” explains Father Matthew Buettner, the seminary’s house spiritual director.
One of the workers’ projects has been at St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte, where they have cleaned out and freshened up the area around the Marian grotto near the rectory.
Father Christopher Roux, pastor and rector, says the workers have been incredibly helpful. “It’s terrific to have the young men here. Not only are we able to get a few extra projects completed, but they are meeting folks who come to the church and office, and this allows them to be known in person.”
Seminarian Peter Townsend, who attends St. Ann Parish in Charlotte, is one of this year’s St. Joseph Workers.
“The St. Joseph Workers program is a great opportunity to continue living the life of a seminarian while on summer vacation,” Townsend says. “It can be difficult, especially after becoming accustomed to seminary life and its daily schedule, to going back to a more relaxed routine.
“However, with the St. Joseph Workers program, I am able to maintain our prayer schedule, remain in community, and live with the Blessed Sacrament, all while traveling to different locations throughout the diocese to serve the people of God.”
Seminarians want to participate in the program, he adds, so they can remain connected to prayer, brotherhood and the Holy Eucharist during the summer break.
“I hope that our witness will allow people to get to know us on a more personal level – we aren’t just faces on a card! – and will let them know that we are willing to serve them,” Townsend says, referring to the seminarian posters and prayer cards found in every parish throughout the diocese.
“I think that a man’s character is revealed in how he treats his work and responsibilities,” he also says. “As a result, the seminarians with the St. Joseph Workers program are hoping that by working well, being a light to others and by putting all of our effort into any project, the people of the diocese will know that we will work just as hard as their pastors and priests.
“There are good and hard-working men with the program this year, and I’m proud to work alongside them wherever we go and whatever we do.”
The St. Joseph Workers program benefits parishes and families who hire them by having contact with the men, getting to know them and contributing to their formation, as well as supporting vocations generally.
“One man who spent time with the seminarians told me, ‘They are amazing young men. They work hard, fast and smart,’” Father Buettner says. “Another man who worked with them reported, ‘The young men you sent did a fabulous job. I was very impressed by the knowledge they already had, how well they quickly grasped the scope of the project, and how well they took direction.’”
He says the program has grown so well in its short history that for the first time this summer, the workers didn’t have to look for work to do. “Requests for the St. Joseph Workers extended beyond what the workers could accomplish in a summer,” he notes.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
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