Faith Formation & Evangelization

Please see below for the up coming Fall 2011 Series and Events

The goal at St Stephen Martyr is to create opportunities for busy adult Catholics to recognize

and further develop their on-going relationship with Jesus Christ. “Adult Faith Formation by which people

consciously grow in the life of Christ through experience, prayer, reflection and study, must be the

central task of the catechetical enterprise.” ( USCCB attached document on AFF)

If you’ve read a Catholic periodical or Church document in the last few years, you have more than likely

read about Evangelization. Whether the article was on the challenge of adolescent catechesis, reaching

out to those who are alienated from the Church, or engaging adults more significantly in faith

formation, the topic always seems to come down to a conversation on evangelization.

Evangelization is the primary mission of the Church. Indeed the Church “exists in order to evangelize.”

(Pope Paul, VI, On Evangelization in the Modern World # 10) The work of evangelization requires a

mature faith assisted by the ongoing work of adult faith formation. Evangelization is not limited to its

former meaning of making Christians out of non-Christians. Rather, there is a new understanding of

evangelization that is needed in order to enliven the faith of the already baptized and to invite them into a

personal dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ in and through the Christian community.

Fall 2011 Adult Faith Formation Starting September 20th 7:00 pm (See schedule and attached documents print for talk below)

***PLEASE BRING YOUR BIBLE and PRINTED MATERIALS ATTACHED BELOW****

Fall 2011 series will center on "Women in the Old Testament'.  Our speaker will be Lina Rong, a professor from Catholic University of America.

About our speaker Lina Rong:

Sr. Lina Rong was born into a traditional Chinese Catholic family in northern HeBei Province; and entered the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Hope in 1993. Following formational studies, Sr. Lina was assigned to educational and medical ministries in the Xian Xian diocese. After specialized studies in English at Beijing Foreign Language University, in the fall of 2000 she was sent to the EAPI [East Asia Pastoral Institute] in the Philippines for studies in pastoral theology and leadership training; and later obtained her BA in Religious Studies from the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies. In Fall 2003, she matriculated to Loyola School of Theology of Ateneo de Manila University—where she earned her MA in theological studies with a concentration in Old Testament. During 2005 and 2006, Sr. Rong also studied at Bat Kol Institute and at Hebrew University in Israel. She is a regular contributor to Shabbat Table Talk – an online service of Bat Kol Institute found at www.batkol.info.

Sr. Lina came to the USA in summer 2007 and is currently a PhD candidate in biblical Studies at Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. She is writing her dissertation on Lamentations.

Women in the Old Testament

Fall, 2011

Sep 20: Eve

It is commonly believed that Eve is responsible for the “fall” of all humanity, for dragging us out of the happiest place on earth—Eden—the beautiful garden. Have you ever wondered if it is true? What did the Bible say about her? Where was Adam when Eve took the “forbidden fruit”?

• Genesis 1-3
• Phylis Trible, “A Love Story Gone Awry,” in God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, pp. 72-139.
• Phylis Trible, “Eve and Miriam: From the Margins to the Center,” in Feminist Approaches to the Bible, pp. 5-15.

Oct 4: Sarah and Hagar

When Abraham went to offer Isaac, the only son of Sarah, the son of her old age, on Mount Maria, how did Sarah feel? What happened to her after the offering?

• Genesis 16-22
• Phyllis Trible, “Genesis 22: The Sacrifice of Sarah,” in Women in the Hebrew Bible, pp. 271-92.

Oct 18: Rebecca and Rachel

The Bible tells us that Isaac loved Rebecca and found comfort in her after his mother’s death; Jacob loved Rachel at first sight of her and worked for her 14 years. Who are these two women? What characters do they have?

• Genesis 24-31
• Robert Alter, “Biblical Type-Scenes and the Use of Convention,” in The Art of Biblical Narrative, pp. 47-62.

Nov 1: Tamar

Tamar, a young woman who lost two husbands and was asked by her father-in-law Judah to go back to her father’s house, did not have much to hope for. Did she just wait passively? How did she become an ancestor of Jesus?

• Genesis 37-38
• Robert Alter, “A Literary Approach to the Bible,” in The Art of Biblical Narrative, pp. 3-22.

Nov 15: Miriam

Miriam, the sister who saved Moses, the prophet who sung by the Red Sea, the leader who accompanied the Israelite people out of Egypt, was struck by leprosy because she questioned Moses’ leadership. What was the nature of her questioning? What did the people do for her when she became leprous?

• Exodus 1-2; 15; Numbers 12
• Moshe Reiss, “Miriam Rediscovered,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 38 (2010) 183-90.
• Naomi Graetz, “Miriam: Guilty or Not Guilty?” Judaism 40 (1991) 184-92.

Dec 6: Ruth and Naomi

Ruth and Naomi, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, bound together neither by blood nor by their husbands, but by their love for each other.

• Book of Ruth
• Jacqueline E. Lapsley, “The Word Whispered: Bringing It All Together in Ruth,” in Whispering the Word, pp. 89-108.

Dec 13: Jesus’ Great Grandmothers

Do you know that there are women in Jesus’ genealogy? What kind of women are they? How did they become grandmothers of Jesus?

• Matthew 1:1-16
• Irene Nowell, “Jesus’ Great Grandmothers: Matthew’s Four and More,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 70 (2008) 1-15.

The talks will be on Tuesday evenings, twice monthly from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm, light refreshment will be served.  The opening talk will be Tuesday, September 20. The fall session will include seven talks, all centering on the heroines of the Old Testament who are revealed in the New Testament.

Second Annual Fall Book Sale

Sunday September 11, 2011 8:30 am- 5:30 pm This will provide an opportunity to prepare for our Fall Lecture  Series

Fall Pilgrimage to Baltimore Shrines

September 24th 2011. Please see attached attachment for all pilgrimage details and registration information.

Parish Celebration of the New Doors

Dedication and Celebration Mass by Cardinal Donald Wuerl. Sunday, November 20th at 11;00am. A reception for all parishioners in the Parish Hall follows Mass.