From Sue Tait, Diocesan Librarian:
Question: It is hard to know even what to ask about the future and what might be needed. Do you have any materials?
Sue says: There are wonderful Faith Formation links available on our diocesan website. Click here and scroll down to the Faith Formation section. New articles and suggestions are frequently added to the Building Faith website from the Virginia Theological Seminary. For instance, they present a Lifelong Learning monthly webinar, and the topic on May 21 addresses “Choosing and Adjusting Curriculum.”
As you know, Cathedral Day in May has been cancelled, and diocesan confirmations are now scheduled at Saint Mark’s Cathedral on November 21. So, it might be helpful to highlight some of the titles we have that can be used in preparation of youth and adults. What you choose will depend on the age of the candidates of course, but also what questions they have and what you want them to know before they are confirmed. Do you want them to delve more deeply into the promises of the Baptismal Covenant and how they are confirming their intent to live by and into those promises? Do you want them to have a grasp of basic principles of what we believe and how that impels us to live? Do you want them to know how to speak Episcopalian? All of those things? We have books for that.
Popular, maybe the most popular books, are the two written by Jenifer Gamber. My Faith, My Life: A Teen’s Guide to the Episcopal Church (283.73 Gam) also has a leaders’ guide available. This book proved so popular that she wrote another for adults – Your Faith, Your Life: An Invitation to the Episcopal Church (283.73 Gam). Mary Lee Wiles wrote, I Will with God’s Help: Episcopal Confirmation for Youth and Adults (CUR 265.8 Wil), and there are many books for newcomers that could be used as recommended reading and resources. To find them, search under “Episcopal Church” in our Online Catalog. Some months ago, I highlighted the new title Walk in Love: Episcopal Beliefs & Practices, by Scott Gunn and Melody Wilson Shobe (283.78 Gun).
Some preparing for confirmation may already have the basics pretty well in hand and want more. Once they have decided what the “more” is, we can provide books.
Interested in Creation Care as a spiritual discipline? Check out the material on line at The Episcopal Church website and click on the “Way of love” tab, but also look in our catalog and search under the words “creation.”
Interested in racial reconciliation as an ongoing call on our lives? Again, you will find materials at the Episcopal Church website, but also a great many books in our collection (search under “race” and you will find titles on race and also those including the word “racial”).
Interested in knowing more about liturgy? The “Welcome” series of books are written for newcomers, but Professor Louis Weil looks more deeply into the subject in Liturgical Theology, and a very new book by Juan Oliver, A House of Meanings, looks at the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter as the center of our faith, as well as baptism and confirmation, encouraging people to reflect on their own experiences and questions.
Whatever you present, give the confirmands tools to continue the journey as they grow in faith, for this mature commitment of faith will reshape their lives, if they allow it. These are only a few examples of what is available, so please let me know how the Resource Center can help you.
If you see something you would like, I will be glad to send the material to you as soon as possible.
