'Faith on Fire' is a new missionary and creative initiative at the service of Adult Faith Development in parishes around Ireland. It is a new organisation taking a novel approach to parish based adult faith development, and is asking for experienced and enthusiastic ‘evangelisers’ / catechists to get in touch. FAITH ON FIRE will gather and support a team of people who already have experience in faith development or a related area: “we’re looking for people passionate about the Catholic faith and passionate about sharing it with others” said Petra Conroy, the new initiative’s director and founder. “The team of catechists we’re gathering now will be available to work in partnership with Catholic parishes around Ireland, offering them a flexible and affordable way of providing lively and engaging adult faith development in their parish community. We’ve had to delay slightly because of lockdown but we’re eager to push ahead if possible: our pilot in parishes will now begin early in 2021.” The Faith on Fire team of catechists will be available to parishes to deliver anything from a single talk to a year round programme of faith development. “We want to work with parishes to help them offer the men and women in their communities real opportunities to grow in friendship with Christ in an enjoyable and accessible way.” “Our model is flexible for our catechists /evangelisers too: each catechist invited to join our team will serve parishes within their geographical area, and will be asked to say what hours they can commit to the work of Faith on Fire, though we’ll ask all our team members to engage with our ongoing Catechist Support and Formation Programme,” said Petra. Petra explained that this exciting new initiative will have a particular interest in supporting the faith development of parents. “But we’re also interested in working with those already involved in parish ministry, offering them opportunities to go deeper in their own faith, and so carry out their mission even more effectively. We’ll use some of the excellent programmes and resources already available, adapting or supplementing them to match the needs and contexts of parishes who work with us.” While the coordinating team is mainly lay, the new organisation has received support and encouragement from priests and bishops around Ireland. Those helping to launch Faith on Fire come from a range of backgrounds: some have experience in youth ministry, others are primary or secondary teachers, some have worked in evangelisation, or social justice initiatives at a parish or diocesan level while others have been involved in some of the energetic Catholic lay organisations, such as Youth 2000, which are doing so much good work around Ireland. The deadline for applications to join the catechist panel is 17th July 2020 and interviews will be held in September 2020 for those shortlisted. “We’ve already had quite a bit of interest: and it looks like we’ll have to turn down some excellent applications as we will begin with just a small group of evangelisers for the pilot phase. We’ll be looking for a range of skills, levels of experience, age and geographical location, but if, God willing, the pilot phase goes well, we will continue to add to our team over time. Those interested in being considered for the Faith on Fire catechist panel are invited to get in touch by joining our mailing list or by email: faithonfireireland@gmail.com
Parishes interested in being part of the pilot phase early in 2021 are also invited to get in contact. For more information, you can contact Petra directly at faithonfireireland@gmail.com