Advocacy
Statement of the Issue:
The task group identified the desired outcomes of advocacy as:
- To develop momentum for adolescent catechesis in the Church among all pastoral ministry leaders at the parish, school and diocesan level;
- To create environments and structured opportunities that foster robust, honest and direct conversations about the challenging issues facing those entrusted with visioning and implementing a comprehensive approach to faith formation in young people.
- To provide an advocacy with and for parents in their role as the primary faith formators of their children.
Further, the primary tasks for advocacy include:
- Investing in the ministerial stakeholders at the parish, school and diocesan levels of Church.
- Crafting the soundbytes: what do we need to say to these ministerial stakeholders about adolescents, adolescent catechesis and faith formation experiences that we expect Catholic youth to have (Confirmation, service, retreats, conferences).
- Creating collaborative partnerships between ministries, ministers, and ministry settings.
- Identifying the arenas where we can have impact, working in our circle of influence.
- Responding to the three publics: mystical, political, and intellectual arenas of Church.
As the work of NIAC continues, the Advocacy Initiatives work group will be developing ideas and techniques that parishes, schools, dioceses, families, and individuals can use to continue to advocate for quality adolescent catechesis.
To read the entire Advocacy Initiatives White Paper with proposed strategies for PAC, click here.