Brad Colvis now serving as associate director of catechesis
Brad Colvis has joined the diocese’s Department of Evangelization and Catechesis as associate director of catechesis.
Colvis oversees efforts in the department including the Scripture Institute, the Lay Formation Institute and formation and ongoing education for master catechists and catechists. He also collaborates with the Office of Worship in the full implementation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
Colvis previously served since 2006 as associate director of evangelization and director of youth and young adult ministry in the Diocese of Peoria, Ill. There he coordinated the Theology on Tap outreach for young adults and had key roles in planning diocese-wide events, including youth rallies and evangelization conferences. He also led weekly adult formation studies in Scripture and has been involved in leading the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults for five parishes in the Peoria Diocese.
He holds a master’s of divinity degree from Cranmer Theological House in Shreveport, La., and is pursuing a research doctorate in Catholic studies from Maryvale Institute in Birmingham, England. His research focus is on the church’s catechetical documents with strategies for the effective implementation of lifelong catechetical formation.
Colvis says since Vatican II there has been a renewed emphasis on the importance of the call to the laity in the service of ministry in the church. “One of the greatest services that the diocese can provide is fundamental and ongoing formation for parish leaders who work in collaboration with their pastors,” he says. “The church has a great opportunity to share in the work of Christ in making disciples who can be equipped in turn to make other disciples.”
Raised Catholic, Colvis explored other Christian denominations in college and eventually was ordained in the Reformed Episcopal Church. After a long process of prayer and study, his faith journey led him back to the Catholic Church. He resigned his Anglican parish in Texas in 2005 and he and his family came into the Catholic Church. Colvis and his wife, Natalie, have five children.
