The next webinar in the series Together Along the Way: Conversations on Catholic Faith Formation in Contemporary Ireland takes place on Wednesday 26th October at 7 pm with Gerard Hanley. Gerard grew up in Galway with the ambition of being a professional soccer player. He did end up playing underage soccer with the Republic of Ireland and seven years in the League of Ireland. His faith came alive as a teenager thanks to the influence of an RE teacher who brought his classes on a number of retreats. He left football in 2016 and has been working full time in Youth Ministry since then. His last role was with the Archdiocese of Dublin before taking on the position of Director of Alpha Youth in the summer of 2022. Alpha Youth provides young people in schools, parishes and other christian communities to explore the Christian faith in a safe and welcoming environment. In this webinar Gerard explores the current state of faith formation in Ireland by analysing current data and summarizes the goals and objectives of catechesis as offered to us in Scripture and the most relevant Church documents. He presents the findings from a small-scale empirical study that was carried out with members of Holy Family Mission, a recently established community of faith formation for young adults in Ireland. The research offers insight into the experience of young Catholics and highlights the deprivation many have experienced in faith formation. He assesses the need for systematic and intentional formation of young Catholics in Ireland. Register for the webinar here: