By Marie Mulvenna

Recent participants in a unique program of adult religious education entitled Country GIFT were Mrs. Marie Muldoon of St. Luke’s Parish in Dahlonega, and former pastor of St. Luke’s, Glenmary Father Gerald Peterson. The program is designed primarily for rural and small towns and is considered a significant new approach to adult religious education.

The new thrust in adult ed was studied at a recent series of meetings held in Nashville, Tenn. The program, adapted by the staff of the Glenmary Home Missioners Religious Education Department from the original plan of Father James Schaeffer of Baltimore, has been labeled Country GIFT, standing for Growth in Faith Together. It is based on the assumption that adults are capable of assessing their particular needs in religious education and of locating appropriate resources to fill those needs.

Those taking part in the three days of sessions in Nashville described Country GIFT as a welcome new resource for local leadership training as well as a way of helping parishioners discover how their abilities and skills can be developed in order to adequately and responsibly carry out the work of adult religious education in their particular parish situation.

Reports presented to the gathering of representatives of small town parishes indicated that the program has produced parishioners who can take initiative in the parish community and work together in a responsible and dependable fashion, presenting an account of their special ministry to the pastor and to other members of the church community. Several pastors reported increases in attendance at adult ed functions, ranging from 10 to 50 percent more. It was noted at the Nashville conference that the new program gave the pastor a model of a new form of ministry in which he could assume a less active role in directing the adult program, supporting, instead, the work of the parishioners involved.

Country GIFT is composed of four distinct phases. The first aspect is “Research” in which issues of faith concerns are discovered by the entire parish. The second phase is “Reflection” on the meaning and implications of these faith concerns.. “Response” is the third phase and includes bringing in resource persons and materials to explore the issues. The fourth part of the program is “Review,” a constant evaluation of what is happening. Throughout the program, there is careful attention paid to prayerful or liturgical response to the issues that are examined.

One of the leaders of the consultation process was Father Peterson, a Glenmary Father who has served in rural parishes in Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee. The Country GIFT program was implemented at St. Luke’s in Dahlonega in 1974.