St. Francis of Assisi Parish offers various Year of Faith activities

Intermountain Catholic

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Julie Boerio-Goates presents a class on Lumen Gentium at Saint Francis of Assisi Parish on Nov. 12. IC photo/Marie Mischel

OREM — In keeping with Pope Benedict XVI's call for Catholics to learn more about their religion during the Year of Faith, which started Oct. 11, Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Orem has begun adult catechism classes in English and Spanish, and plans for other activities as well.

The Spanish-language group is studying the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, while four documents from Vatican II are being reviewed for English speakers.

"We're doing a bunch of other things, too," including organizing ?witnesses to the faith' talks and youth group activities, said Father David Bittmenn, pastor. "One of the things that we need to be reminded of from time to time is that faith is very central to who we are. This is not a club, this is not an opportunity for somebody to be in charge of something. This is an opportunity to serve God, and to do that you've got to be grounded in faith."

The classes on the Vatican II documents began Nov. 5 with an overview of what prompted the council and the setting. The second class, on Nov. 12, covered Lumen Gentium, one of two council documents that shaped the changes in the Church regarding laity, said Julie Boerio-Goates, the St. Francis of Assisi parishioner who is teaching the classes.

Boerio-Goates said that she remembers being a child when Vatican II convened. One of her uncles was in a seminary and several aunts were in religious communities, "and whenever they got together, this is what they talked about," she said, adding that she also studied the documents in school and at college. "So, from the time I was a little kid, Vatican II has been the backbone of my understanding of Church?. Fifty years later my sense is that it's not always remembered with the wonderful sense of optimism and enthusiasm and the joy that I remember it. I want to introduce a new generation of people to what was so important to me."

Among those who attended the Nov. 12 class was Ken Bayer, who teaches the parish's sixth-grade religious education class. Boerio-Goates' presentation gave him the bishops' perspective on the Vatican II documents, he said. "I thought it was very useful to almost be transported back in time to the debates over the Church's fundamental view of itself in terms of its ecclesial leadership – what their view of themselves was."

Likewise, St. Francis of Assisi parishioner Melanie Feeney said she finds the council documents interesting, particularly because she grew up in the 1970s, in the post-Vatican II Church.

"I don't know if there's been one 'ah-ha' moment," in the classes, she said, but she has learned much. For example, she said she thought the council was a small group of people rather than more than 2,000 bishops, each with one vote, deciding whether to approve the documents. "All those bishops had an equal say," she said. "I think that was quite revolutionary, by Catholic Church standards."

The classes will continue Nov. 26, Dec. 3 and Dec. 10 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 65 East 500 North in Orem. A different Vatican II document will be covered each night. For information, call Julie Boerio-Goates at 801-221-0750 ext. 11.