Explore, Learn, and Grow with FORMED

About a year ago our parish took out a subscription to FORMED. FORMED is basically a “Catholic Netflix”. It is an online streaming platform and media website that provides on-demand Catholic educational materials, movies, audiobooks, and family programs. It was created by the Augustine Institute, which started as a private graduate school of theology in response to Saint John Paul II’s call for a “New Evangelization.” The founders desired to provide training to laity and leaders within the Catholic Church. FORMED is one of the many things the Augustine Institute has expanded to provide, yet its mission to train and form Catholics in Evangelization has not changed. With FORMED, individuals whose local parish subscribes are offered free access to all the videos, movies, audiobooks, lectures, and material it offers. 

Signing up for FORMED is really easy. There are small cards at the entrances to our church that have a QR code you can take with you and scan. You can also go to signup.formed.org and enter our zip code (54016) or St. Patrick. That is all it takes. 

Once you are signed in, you will join the other 324 members of our parish who already utilize FORMED. These 324 users have enjoyed 1,130 videos and viewed 29,862 minutes of content. Among the top videos viewed are: The Last Days: The Passion and Death of Jesus with Jonathan Roomie, Holy Saturday with Dr. John Sehorn, and The Trials of Saint Patrick.

A few suggestions I have for you to watch are:

1. What Catholics Believe About Mary: Immaculate Conception, Virginity & the Rosary. This is an 18 minute video featuring Dr. Edward Sri. This is really appropriate now, as last Saturday was the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary and this Saturday is the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. LINK TO VIDEO HERE
2. An Ordinary Martyr: The Life and Death of Blessed Stanley Rother. This is a twenty minute video about Blessed Father Stanley Rother, a priest who grew up in Oklahoma and died the death of a martyr in Guatemala. LINK TO VIDEO HERE
3. Maria Gorretti: The Story of the Patroness of Modern Youth. An hour and a half video shot on location tells the story of the plight of Maria’s family and others who were living in poverty but remained devout in faith. (I recommend this video as appropriate for older teenagers and adults.) LINK TO VIDEO HERE

Formed offers so much for kids, teens, adults, and families. And the great news is it isn’t another subscription you need to sign up for. Your parish has taken care of that.

‍