New Minister Cohort
Overview / Goals:
The New Minister Cohort is a free, 4-week event designed to provide a common onboarding experience for new ministers in the Diocese. The term “new minister” includes those hired/appointed since the Fall of 2021 in positions like: Faith Formation leader at a parish, Young Adult and/or Youth Minister, parish priest, or Catholic high school Campus Minister. It can also include those hired before the Fall of 2021 who were unable to attend the previous Cohort.
In its first two years, more than 25 people have completed the New Minister Cohort and reported it to be a very valuable tool as they started in their ministry.
Our goals include:
- Connecting new leaders to a broader community of support throughout the Diocese.
- Introducing leaders to the team in the Office of Faith Formation so that leaders know who we are and how our offices can help.
- Orienting leaders to the vision of lifelong faith formation in the Diocese of Erie. This will include generational kinetics education.
- Fostering a culture of active discipleship focused on a ministry of one (meaning, one-to-one outreach as mentors of faith)
Dates and times:
2022 sessions are scheduled for Thursdays evenings in October.
- Week 1: Th, October 6 @ 6:30-8:00 pm
- Week 2: Th, October 13 @ 6:30-8:00 pm
- Week 3: Th, October 20 @ 6:30-8:00 pm
- Week 4: Th, October 27 @ 6:30-8:00 pm
All sessions will be held via Zoom, allowing participants from across the Diocese to connect. A Zoom link will be sent the week before we begin. To receive the greatest benefit from this experience, we ask that you attend all four sessions. If you have a scheduling conflict and are unable to make a session, please let Danielle know as soon as possible. She can work to get you materials or make alternate arrangements for that particular session.
Time commitment:
The estimated weekly time commitment is 2.5-3 hours. This includes one 90-minute Zoom session per week, one 30-minute meeting (phone or Zoom) with a mentor from the Faith Formation team per week, and time for short weekly assignments. We will be reading One Disciple At A Time by Everett Fritz (100 pages) and will use it for our discussion in weeks 3 and 4. This book will be provided to you.
Our hope:
We endeavor for new ministers to feel filled up and invested in by this faith formation opportunity! We hope that rather than thinking of this as “one more thing” on a calendar, leaders think, “I can’t wait for tonight’s session!”
Interested?
If you are a new faith formation leader in the Diocese of Erie and would like to register for the 2022 New Minister Cohort, please email Danielle Schoenfeldt, Director of Faith Formation for Parish Support, at dschoenfeldt@eriercd.org or call her at 814-824-1224. Or simply register using this Registration Form: https://forms.office.com/r/gZYAuG9Vvg.
Deadline: Friday, September 9th at 5:00 pm.