Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
I am the first to admit that I have yet to embrace all aspects of social media including Twitter, tweeting and Facebook.  I am also deficient when it comes to all the things one can do on the computer and Internet.  I can do enough things to be helped in my ministry, especially when it comes to e-mail and "Googling" to get further information on something.  I'm not sure where most of you are when it comes to using the Internet, but I am excited to tell those of you who do use it, that our parish has joined a network called FORMED, which gives our parishioners access to many religious instructional, spiritual and entertainment possibilites.  This will aid in home efforts to grow in your faith as well as continued possibilities to use materials that are offered for group study and reflection here at Sacred Heart Church.

I'm going to turn the rest of my Pastor's Column over to our parishioner Tom Canavan's explanation of this program and hope that many of you will log on soon to see what is possible, especially for those who have internet access.  Please try it soon!

FORMED


FORMED.org is an online resource of Catholic materials that supports instruction and independent study in four major areas:  Adult Faith Formation, Youth Formation/Confirmation, RCIA, and Bible Studies.  Today, let's just deal with Adult Formation.

The FORMED.org website provides direct access to many materials useful in adult faith formation.  There are links to group and independent study programs on the Bible, the sacraments, the lives of saints, prayer, and many other subjects.

The resources that parishioners can use independently range from popular movies to documentaries on saints and Catholic leaders, from novels to books on important events in the Church's history, from radio plays that can be downloaded for listening while in the car to more formal studies of church teaching.  In addition, FORMED.org includes on its homepage, a link to Sunday Mass readings and a weekly talk on those readings.  It also has a full liturgical calendar with links to videos, audios, and readings appropriate to the saint or feast of the day.

The parish's enrollment in FORMED gives parishioners access to all of the site's resources and will expand the adult education programs that the parish can offer both for group study or independent study.  Look at the flyer in this week's bulletin to follow the directions to register on FORMED.org.