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 2. Why does Fe y Vida emphasize the Prophets of Hope Model for ministry with young Hispanics? 3. Why are most of Fe y Vida’s programs taught in Spanish? 6. What is a formation center and what are its advantages? 7. How does a diocese or institution offer Fe y Vida’s programs? 8. Who should I contact for more information? Fe y Vida’s Leadership Formation System sounds very sophisticated. Is it accessible to students with a limited academic background?The beauty of Fe y Vida’s Leadership Formation System lies precisely in its flexibility, stemming from its holistic approach to leadership development. Students immediately learn to recognize their own gifts and begin to develop new ones, irrespective of their academic background. Our students include everyone from those with little more than primary education to priests and other professional ministers with graduate degrees; our educational processes are designed so that all are empowered to learn and grow according to their own potential. With such diverse students, it was necessary to develop a system for qualifying the level of certification given to the graduates of our programs. Instituto Fe y Vida follows the Certificate Guidelines of the Federación de Institutos Pastorales (FIP). Its Certificate Program in Pastoral Juvenil Hispana (PJH) provides five levels of certificates, depending upon the student’s previous pastoral-theological formation and experience:
The Certificate Program is recognized by the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, for the students graduating from the program offered by Fe y Vida at the Christian Renewal Center. It has been granted 9 academic credits for the BA level and 2 academic credits for the MA level at Loyola University in Chicago, for the students registered at that campus. Fe y Vida is open to co-certify with other local academic institutions when offering its Certificate Program in particular dioceses. Why does Fe y Vida emphasize the Prophets of Hope Model for ministry with young Hispanics?The Prophets of Hope Model was designed based on the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry, and it takes into consideration the guidelines presented in Renewing the Vision and Sons of Daughters of the Light, the foundational documents from the USCCB for youth and young adult ministry. It utilizes eight core elements that build on one another as students advance to higher levels in the formation system to create a sound ministry for Hispanic youth and young adults in the United States. To learn more about the eight elements in the Model, click here to download a document that gives a general description of each. Why are most of Fe y Vida’s programs taught in Spanish?From the beginning, it has been Fe y Vida’s goal to develop the leadership and potential for ministry of Hispanic youth and young adults. As a consequence, the programs particularly target pastoral juvenil hispana, which usually serves immigrant jóvenes and adolescents in Spanish, and youth ministers serving Hispanic youth. The students are young adults who want to further their human and Christian formation, grassroots leaders, and paraprofessional or professional ministers, whose primary language is usually Spanish. All of the programs, with the exception of some aspects of the Formation & Support Program and many of our workshops, are currently taught in Spanish. The students are always welcome to speak and write in either English or Spanish, and most of our study materials are available in both languages. We recognize that in some dioceses the young Hispanic population is mostly English-dominant; we are prepared to offer our programs in English as needed, but the cost will be higher due to the need to translate some of our materials. Many of the jóvenes in my diocese are migrant workers who may not be around to finish the course, and who have little access to transportation. Are your programs designed to accommodate such circumstances?While it is true that a large portion of the migrant workers in the U.S. are young Hispanic immigrants, we have found from pastoral experience that this is only a very small portion of the young Hispanic population in most dioceses. Our programs usually require either a full week or four to eight weekends over a period of several months. Many of our students have made tremendous sacrifices to be able to complete the programs because they recognize the value they are getting, while others have arranged carpools to travel up to six hours by car to reach the program site. In some geographically large dioceses, the location of each weekend session is moved to different locations around the diocese so that the burden of travel is more evenly distributed among the participants. Fe y Vida’s programs can be held in a variety of Catholic institutions, including diocesan or parish facilities, universities, and retreat houses. It is up to the local coordinator to decide the location of each session. In addition, each year Fe y Vida holds a national summer program. The location varies from year to year, but typically it is conducted at a Catholic university. The program is comprised of multiple sessions in alternative tracks. As in the case of the local programs, we have found that with a little support and encouragement, the young people are very creative in making travel arrangements and finding resources to pay for their participation. I have little or no budget to pay for any formation programs. What are the costs of the programs, and what help can you offer me?Each program has a fee according to its level and duration. Other expenses include: a) the instructors’ stipends, travel, room & board; b) books and materials for the students, and c) costs of hosting the program. Fe y Vida’s program fees are heavily subsidized by our many philanthropic partners to make them more accessible, but there is no getting around the other fixed costs of offering our programs. We suggest that the diocese, the parish, and the young person split the costs. In cases of extreme financial limitations, Fe y Vida’s staff can recommend strategies for finding other local funding sources to subsidize the programs. Fe y Vida has also developed a way for dioceses that have become formation centers to reduce their costs. There are two types of contracts: a) Service Agreement for Beginning Dioceses, when Fe y Vida sends most of the teaching personnel and has primary coordinating and mentorship roles; b) License Agreement, for advanced sites, where Fe y Vida provides the programs and consulting services, but the teaching and the coordination is done by local personnel. What is a formation center and what are its advantages?A formation center is a site or a region that offers Instituto Fe y Vida’s programming on an ongoing basis, with several neighboring dioceses participating. The programs at each center respond to the leadership, pastoral, and geographical situation of the diocese, institution, and/or region where it is based. The advantages of formation centers are the following:
The following process is designed to build a base of highly skilled leaders and trainers for pastoral juvenil hispana, and it is recommended to most dioceses, although there are exceptions due to the pastoral circumstances of a particular diocese: • Fe y Vida conducts an on-site Exploratory Visit to:
• The diocese offers the Initiation Course a couple of times, or in different regions of the diocese. • The diocese or an academic institution offers the Certificate Program and invites neighboring dioceses to participate. It offers Advanced Seminars to continue the students’ formation. • The diocese sends selected leaders to the Annual Summer Program to complete their formation process. • The diocese identifies alumni with the appropriate profile to become instructors in the Initiation Course through the training of trainers program. • The diocese identifies local professors that can teach in the Certificate Program as adjunct faculty with Fe y Vida’s team. In this way it starts building a team of professional ministers who can serve as faculty and as advisers. Eventually the diocese can move from a Service Agreement to a License Agreement, thus reducing its costs while maintaining the benefits of access to ongoing program revisions and updates. Who should I contact for more information?
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