April

23, 2017

Dear Parents,

As Director of Faith Forma;on, it is my duty to do my best to ensure your children and teens
enter adulthood forming a personal and in;mate rela;onship with Jesus. ADer a long period of
prayer, inves;ga;on, and listening, I am determined the ;me has come to take a brand new
approach to faith forma;on at St. Aidan. I cannot in good conscience con;nue another year
with the same program, aware that in only a minority of our children and teens has it helped
them form the rela;onship with Jesus we wanted it to. Know that I take this step because I care
very deeply for you and your children; when I stand before Jesus, I want to be able to tell Him I
did my best in the ministry to which I have been called.

When you asked to have your children bap;zed, you accepted the responsibility of training
them in the prac;ce of the faith. To fulll that duty, you have the right to look to your parish to
be a center of worship, preaching, witness, community, and service. Your parish is to provide
opportuni;es for all its members to encounter the Gospel message. With the full support of
our pastor, Fr. Kevin Thomas, our new approach to faith forma;on will therefore involve a
partnership between you and your parish. Once-monthly on a Sunday, the en;re family will
gather for the 9:30 Mass, followed by a light breakfast and interac;ve forma;on in a faith topic.
Parents will meet as a group while the children enjoy their own grade-level appropriate
experience with a catechist. Coming together as one to conclude the morning experience of
worship, forma;on, and community, families will take home two topics to complete together in
the course of the month. Details of our new forma;on program can be found at
saintaidanlivonia.org/families.

As we take this bold step, I ask you to pray for the Holy Spirit to come down upon us all so that
the transi;on to this new approach to faith forma;on is a smooth one, and more importantly,
that it will be[er form us all into commi[ed disciples of Jesus our Savior and Lord. Should you
have any ques;ons or concerns, know that I am happy to speak with you. My phone number is
734-425-5950, ext.203 and my email address is davidjconrad@staidanlivonia.org.

Sincerely,

David J. Conrad
Director of Faith Forma;on