By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
RICHARDSON — As the first communicants of St. Joseph Catholic Church traverse the aisles of the sanctuary to receive the Blessed Sacrament for the first time, their faces often glow with the joy of the sacramental moment. Christie McGee, who as the Richardson parish’s director of children and family ministry has witnessed this heartening scene many times, said that the faces of the communicant’s parents also radiate jubilance in that moment — but all too often, the parents remain a step removed from the sacrament itself.
“You could see these glowing faces,” McGee said, “but the thing that struck me was how many parents went up and crossed their arms and did not receive. I began to think, ‘Gosh, there’s a gap here. There’s some sort of pastoral gap that we’re missing.’”
That “pastoral gap,” as McGee put it, has become a focus of her research and reflection since last fall, when she became a participant in the first Contours of Wonder Leadership Cohort. Through her involvement in the select cohort, McGee has entered deeply into the study of childhood faith formation with hopes of creating a transformative capstone project that will benefit the families of her own parish community.
“We want there to be a place at the table for everyone; and so, my project is: How can we fill in that pastoral gap?” McGee explained. “How can we form families where everyone is in a position to receive the Eucharist?”
‘A vision of formation’
The Contours of Wonder Leadership Cohort is part of a larger Contours of Wonder project that commenced in 2023: a multi-year initiative of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. Funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., the initiative focuses on the intersection of children’s liturgical formation and the present technocratic age.
“Contours of Wonder is about recovering a vision of formation that begins in childhood and extends across a lifetime,” said Timothy P. O’Malley, academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. “Children are not simply passive recipients of religious education; they are active participants in the mystery of God’s presence.”
This vision of faith formation — one that pulls from the human elements of imagination, wonder, and contemplation — leads to a more profound religious experience among the faithful, according to Juan Carlos Moreno, director of the office of Evangelization, Catechesis, and Family Life for the Diocese of Dallas.
“It is an antidote against modernity’s focus on expedience and productivity. It ultimately dignifies the person, the child, by honoring our God-given abilities to encounter the mystery of the divine in worship,” Moreno explained, adding, “It was truly an honor to collaborate with the McGrath Institute with the Spanish version of the initial presentation to the diocese,” which took place at the National Shrine Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 2024.
The leadership cohort launched in the fall of 2025. The cohort consists of 20 pastoral leaders, hailing from 10 diocese across the United States, who were chosen to reimagine religious formation for children through engagement in a year-long program of coursework, mentorship, and project development. McGee is the only participant representing a Texas diocese.
“I think that she is going to be able to learn a lot through her participation in this cohort and be able to bring that back to St. Joseph’s,” Diocese of Dallas Director of the office of Worship Jeanne Marie Miles said of McGee, “but I’m also hopeful that she’s able to bring that back to a wider audience,” including the “larger diocesan community.”
“It’s not lost on me what an honor this is,” McGee said of her participation in the cohort. “I’m super humbled, super grateful, and just trying to soak up as much as I can.”
Seeds of insight
On the desk in McGee’s office at St. Joseph, a stack of books piled high: texts from Pope Benedict XVI, from Romano Guardini, from Sofia Cavalletti. These works and others, McGee explained, are all a part of the leadership cohort’s program of study, which kicked off its coursework last September. The courseload can be demanding, McGee admitted with a laugh, but it has also been transformative.
“I went into this cohort thinking: content,” she said, “and this has really been so much more than that. This has been personal and spiritual formation as well.”
During its fall session, which wrapped in December 2025, the cohort covered a range of heady topics: the effect of the present technologic age on children, for example, and the essential role of community and mystery in liturgical worship. Course readings were supplemented by assigned activities — such as a 24-hour digital fast or an intentional time of silent adoration — as well as virtual cohort meetings that continued the conversation.
“Each assignment also always has an artifact,” McGee added. “That may be an image to look at; it may be a poem to read; it may be a video to watch, but it always complements what we are studying during that unit.”
Members of the leadership cohort navigate the course with an eye towards the development of individual capstone projects that address the faith formation needs of their own parishes, schools, and diocesan communities.
“In the true meaning of formation, some of our projects have shifted, and maybe entirely changed, from what we had originally thought,” McGee said. Her own project idea — a family formation that welcomes all to the eucharistic table — remains the focus of her capstone, she said; but her conception of the project has expanded and matured through her engagement with the Contours of Wonder coursework.
“Christie’s encounter with the program has seeded not only new insights but also a deep connection to the heart of what it means to accompany children and their families,” said Jodi Hunt, the executive director of the Neuhoff Institute for Ministry & Evangelization at the University of Dallas, who has served as a diocesan conversation partner for McGee during her cohort leadership program. “I am excited to see where the seeds planted through these conversations will blossom.”
This upcoming summer, McGee will travel to the University of Notre Dame to present her capstone project: the culmination of a year of research, reflection, and prayer — and some plain grit too. Her hope is that the project will bear fruit for the Church, especially for those families formed in faith within the St. Joseph community.
“I think we could change St. Joseph in so many ways by better forming families, by really and truly accompanying them through these processes, by really and truly bringing them into a lived life of faith,” McGee said, “and if that can serve the larger diocese, then I think that would be amazing.”
Cutline for featured image: Christie McGee, the director of children and family ministry at St. Joseph Catholic Parish in Richardson, is a participant in the first Contours of Wonder Leadership Cohort of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. McGee is the only participant representing a diocese within Texas. (AMY WHITE/The Texas Catholic)
