(From Ascension Press)

WELCOME TO FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH: 

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

 

The Foundations of Faith: A Journey Through the Catechism of the Catholic Church will help you understand the teachings of the Catholic Faith as contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Using Ascension’s Foundations of Faith approach, the program reveals the big picture of the Catechism and shows you how its parts fit together.

The Catechism provides a clear and complete summary of Catholic doctrine. As you read and study, you will also discover in it a work of unparalleled beauty.

The Ascension Foundations of Faith approach begins with the four pillars of the Catechism—What We Believe, How We Worship, How We Live, and How We Pray. It also examines the sources of the Catechism, those writings that have contributed to our knowledge of Jesus and his enduring love for us from biblical times through the early Church and up to the present day. These sources fall into nine general types:

• Sacred Scripture
• Professions of Faith
• Ecumenical Councils
• Particular Councils and Synods
• Pontifical Documents
• Ecclesiastical Documents
• Canon Law
• Liturgy
• Ecclesiastical Writers

During each session of the program, you will read an overview and selected paragraphs from the Catechism, respond to thought-provoking questions, and meet with your small group to watch a video presentation and discuss what you have learned. These materials are designed to help you grow in your understanding of the Catholic Faith and in your love for Christ and the Church he founded. As you progress through the study, you and the others in your group will also discover many new and unexpected riches of the Catechism.

MATERIALS: What do I need for this study? 
Materials for Foundations of Faith: A Journey Through the Catechism of the Catholic Church include the following:

• Workbook: This workbook contains session overviews, reading assignments, questions for reflection and discussion, prayers, video outlines, and responses to the questions. You will need one workbook for every participant, study leader, and small group facilitator.  
• The Catechism at a Glance Chart: The chart organizes the four main parts of the Catechism using the colors of the Foundations of Faith approach. It also identifies the nine types of sources found within the Catechism and provides a comprehensive timeline of the Church councils, Catholic writers, and popes whose writings are referenced in the Catechism. 
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• Video Presentations (Optional): The twenty-part video series was filmed in more than forty locations around the world. It features top Catholic speakers—including Dr. Edward Sri, Jeff Cavins, Marcellino D’Ambrosio, and Fr. Mike Schmitz—who will guide you through the rich teachings of the Catechism. These presentations are available for purchase through "online access" or as a DVD set.

In addition to the workbook and video presentations, every participant and facilitator should have a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. For this study, we recommend the Ascension Edition of the Catechism, which uses the same color-coded Foundations of Faith approach as this study. The Ascension Edition of the Catechism is available at AscensionPress.com.

NOTE: You can access both the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Ascension Edition, and The Great Adventure Catholic Bible without charge through the Ascension app, available atAscensionPress.com/app.

LENGTH:  How long will it take to complete this study, start to finish? How much time will I need to spend on each session at home?

Number of Sessions
The Foundations of Faith study is taught in twenty sessions. Groups that meet weekly will be able to complete the study in approximately five months.

Individual Investment
The amount of assigned reading and discussion questions varies from session to session. We recommend allowing about ninety minutes per session (about fifteen minutes a day) to complete the home preparation before your small group meeting.

STRUCTURE: How are the study sessions organized? What are the main components of each session?
Each session is broken into two parts: Home Preparation and Small Group Meeting. 

HOME PREPARATION: Overview, Read, Respond 
Each session begins with personal study at home that involves reading the session’s overview and Catechism selections, followed by responding to questions which will help you think more deeply about what you have read and prepare for the small group meeting.

Overview
Each session begins with an overview. The overview helps you prepare to read the Catechismby introducing the key themes of the session’s assigned paragraphs.

Note: To help provide additional context, some people like to review the responses to the discussion questions from the previous session before they begin the current session. These responses can be found in the back of the workbook.

Read and Respond
Read the assigned Catechism paragraphs and then respond to the discussion questions. Remember not to rush through the readings or your responses. We recommend that you spread out your home preparation over the course of the week, setting aside at least 15 minutes a day to work through the assigned readings and discussion questions. 

Helpful Tip: Reading the Catechism and answering the questions may bring further questions to mind. When this happens, write down your questions in the workbook so that you can bring them up during your small group discussion. Also take note of any passages, saints, Church councils, or other points in the readings that you find especially interesting or thought-provoking.

As you write your responses to the questions, we strongly recommend that you refrain from checking the responses for this session in the back of the workbook until after you have met and discussed the questions with your small group.

Application and Prayer
The final step of your home preparation for each session involves applying the key lessons from the Catechism to your own life. We recommend taking a few minutes for reflection, commitment, and prayer after you have completed all the readings and discussion questions and before you meet with your small group.

Many people also like to pray the application prayer after their home study each day.

SMALL GROUP MEETING: Watch, Discuss, Review 
Your small group meeting is a time for fellowship and for sharing your insights and questions. As a group, you will begin by watching the video presentation, discussing what you have learned from the videos, and reviewing your responses to the discussion questions. Your group may also decide to review together the responses for this session in the back of the workbook; alternatively, you can read them later at home.

As you participate in your small group meeting, it is very important that you and your group follow the "Ten Commandments for Small Group Discussion" found in your workbook.

Each small group is different. Therefore, how you choose to conduct your gatherings—from the length of each meeting to how you choose to approach the video presentation and discussion—depends on the needs of the group. The goal of the discussion and review is for your group to engage in fellowship with each other and share ideas for applying what you learn in your everyday life. Trained facilitators should guide the small group discussion and keep it on track.

For the best study experience, we recommend completing these steps during your meeting in the following order:

Watch
The video presentations provide rich reflections on the Catechism with a special emphasis on ways to apply its truths in everyday life. The workbook includes an outline for each video presentation, highlighting its main points.

Discuss
After the video presentation, your group will have time to discuss what you have learned from it. Here are general questions to consider:

• What did you find most interesting or thought-provoking in the video?
• What, if anything, surprised you?
• How did the video help shed light on something specific you read in the Catechism this week?

Note: We recommend limiting the video discussion time to 10 or 15 minutes to allow time for reviewing the discussion questions.

Review
Your group will now have time to discuss the answers to the discussion questions that you each prepared at home. This is an opportunity for members of the group to share their individual insights, thoughts, and further questions about the readings and discussion questions. This final stage of the meeting will also serve as a wrap-up for the present session and a launching point for the upcoming home preparation.

FORMAT: What’s the general sequence for small group meetings?

Starting Off: Session One 
Session One (“God Is Love”: The Foundation of Our Faith) is your kick-off meeting for this study. Your goals for this first meeting are to ensure that everyone feels welcome, has the study materials, and knows how the study works.

Session One does not require any home preparation or advance reading. This session does include Catechism readings and discussion questions, but they are brief and can be completed by everyone during the meeting. If participants do not have a workbook before this first meeting, they can read the Session One overview and application as part of their home preparation for the second meeting.

This first session is an opportunity for your group to get to know one another. Consider offering refreshments and community-building activities. Also, we strongly encourage your group to go over the “Ten Commandments for Small Group Discussion” so that everyone understands how best to engage and respect one another during discussions.

Session One may look something like this:

1. Welcome and group introductions (about 15 min.)
2. Overview of the study (10 min.)
3. Watch the Session One video (40 min.) 
4. Questions, fellowship time, and closing prayer (30 min.)

Gaining Momentum: Sessions Two through Twenty
The remaining nineteen sessions will take you on a journey through the four pillars of the Catechism. Here is an example of what the remaining small group meetings could look like:

1. Welcome and introduction (about 15 min.)
2. Video presentation (40 min.)
3. Small group discussion (40 min. for reviewing discussion questions; approx)
4. Closing and prayer (about 10 min.)

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF THIS STUDY 

Here are some ways to make sure the time, effort, and energy you put toward this study is worthwhile and will have a long-lasting impact:

Bring It to Prayer 
Whenever you open your Catechism to read, start with prayer and place yourself in God’s presence. You might take Samuel’s prayer as your own: “Speak, for your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10).

When you read, adopt an attitude of listening. Be attuned to how the teachings, quotes, and explanations speak to your heart. What resonates? What helps to clarify the questions you have had about the Faith? What sparks new questions and thoughts?

Take the Time
The Catechism is a worthy time investment. Give yourself sufficient time to read and respond each week. Also, help yourself by devoting a little time each day with the readings rather than tackling the assigned reading all at once.

It may be tempting to save time by skipping personal reflection and simply looking to the provided workbook responses. However, these responses do not exhaust the meaning that can be found in the Catechism readings. Reading a response written by someone else may satisfy your mind for a moment—but it will not result in the kind of growth that will occur if you attempt to answer the question on your own first. Likewise, a group of participants who have spent time pondering the Catechism passages will have more varied insights to discuss, leading to a more meaningful discussion.

Focus on Good Discussion
The success of a small group depends on a good discussion. The people in your group will have unique insights, and the questions you ask and connections you make together will deepen your understanding and appreciation of the Catechism in a way a simple lecture or self-study cannot.