Getting Started: The Path to F.O.R.E.M. Certification

F.O.R.E.M. (Formation Of Religious Education Ministers) is designed to prepare catechists to serve in the ministry of Catholic education. It is intended for Catholic school teachers, parish religious education catechists, youth ministers, all those involved in any form of adult religious education and education commission/committee personnel. Involvement in the program will be a great help in providing the best religious education possible in the Diocese of Madison.

I.  If you have never achieved certification at any level in the old program:
You progress through Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. A certificate is presented at the completion of each level.

Note: Basic is the goal level for all parish catechists and also for those school teachers not teaching religion classes. The advanced level of F.O.R.E.M must be completed by all school teachers who teach religion and by all Catholic school and parish religious education program administrators.

 II.  If you have completed some clockhours towards certification, but have not yet achieved Basic level certification:

III.  If you have already achieved a level of certification in the diocese:
Your level of certification continues to be recognized provided you have followed the requirement concerning the maintenance of the level in that program. (Certification at any level is valid for 3 years; it can be renewed at the same level if 15 clockhours of additional in-service have been completed in a 3-year period.)

Note: If a particular Basic level course has not been taken by a person who as achieved Basic certification previously, you can choose to apply that Basic level course to the Intermediate certification.

IV.  If you are just moving into the Madison Diocese from another diocese:
If you have achieved a level of certification elsewhere:

• you submit your file to the Diocesan Office for review
• the Office will determine what level of certification you have in the Diocese of Madison

If you have not achieved any level of certification elsewhere, but have completed some clockhours toward certification:

• you submit your file to the Diocesan Office for review
• the Office determines what is acceptable toward certification

IV.  If you have not achieved any clockhour credits toward certification elsewhere, you follow the procedure in Section I above.

Keeping Records and Applying for Certification

In the F.O.R.E.M. program, each person is responsible for keeping his/her own record of courses attended. A file and forms will be provided for this purpose by the Diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis. These forms are usually available from each parish program administrator.

Course instructors will be directed to evaluate the student upon completion of the course, and to indicate his/her successful completion by signing the "Application for Certification Credit" form. These forms are to be filed in the applicant's file.

An option will be for the parish DRE, CRE or school principal to keep the files of their own teachers/catechists. Individual records will not be kept at the diocesan office.

When a person has completed a level of certification s/he submits the entire file to the Diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis. The file is reviewed by the Office, and if the requirements have been fulfilled, the Office recommends certification to the Bishop. The applicant's file is then returned to the applicant.

Certificates will be presented to persons certified once each year at an appropriate celebration. A record of certification level achieved is kept by the Diocesan Office of Evangelization and Catechesis.