Since launching in early 2015, the FORMED platform has expanded dramatically, offering a wider range of resources—studies, movies, audio books, e-books, and more—from a growing number of Catholic apostolates. Initially a collaboration of Lighthouse Catholic Media, Ignatius Press, and the Augustine Institute, FORMED now also includes content from Marian Missionaries, the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, Sophia Institute Press, EWTN, and Catholic Answers, among others. Individuals can subscribe to FORMED, and parishes and diocese can purchase group subscriptions for the members of their flocks.
And now, in addition to its “On Demand” service, FORMED has added a “Market” section, which will make more content available to users on a pay-per-view basis.
Catholic World Report spoke with Lou Reynolds, managing director FORMED/Tech Platforms, about the FORMED Market and what it means for Catholics interested in trustworthy resources ranging from family-friendly entertainment and spirituality to catechesis and apologetics.
CWR: What was the genesis of FORMED?
Lou Reynolds: FORMED came about in direct response to the call for a new evangelization issued by St. Pope John Paul II. The Augustine Institute took up that call and has been responding in a series of ways, including the development of a fully accredited Graduate School, the development of award-winning video and audio programs (including Symbolon and Lectio, among many others); that also includes the organization and development of the FORMED platform, which features a broad coalition of well-known Catholic apostolates (approximately 50 now) along with cutting-edge technology, allowing FORMED to become the platform for the New Evangelization.
CWR: Who is Augustine Institute working with? What are some immediate goals with the site?
Reynolds: In addition to Ignatius Press, we have a number of very respected content partners, such as Father Gaitely’s Marian Helpers, Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center, Catholic Answers, Sophia Press, Rome Reports, Herald Entertainment, USCCB, and EWTN to name just a few. We would like to help every Catholic apostolate reach users worldwide and we have a number of initiatives well underway that will be game-changers. These are exciting times and we are at the cutting edge of using technology for evangelization.
CWR: What is FORMED Market? And how does it fit in with FORMED On Demand? Would it be accurate to describe it as a sort of “Catholic Amazon”?
Reynolds: With the new launch of the Market, FORMED will consist of three major components.
FORMED On Demand is the popular and highly successful service where subscribers can view FORMED subscription content (studies, movies, audio, e-books). It now has over 500,000 registered users, and is used by 3,400 parishes worldwide; we also have over 39 dioceses who have signed deals to use the service, including the entire Archdiocese of New York. FORMED On Demand has been called “Netflix for Catholics” as it features thousands carefully curated video/audio programs, e-books, and movies from a wide variety of trusted Catholic sources for a flat, recurring fee.
The new FORMED Market expands this incredible collection with even more premium content that is available for purchase and rent (a la carte). Think of it as iTunes, Audible, or Amazon Prime for Catholics. It allows us to get even more top-notch Catholic content that is not available for streaming services, and to offer it to our rapidly growing user base, which is eager for high-quality content.
The final component is a personal cloud library that allows users to assemble their own collection of favorites, which can be streamed or downloaded to any of their mobile devices and played offline. This is currently available with our iOS FORMED app and will soon be available on Android as well.
We will be adding other exciting components in the near future, but as you can see FORMED is becoming a complete ecosystem for top quality digital content for Catholics.
CWR: Looking at the bigger picture, what are your plans and hopes for FORMED in terms of serving the mission of the Church?
Reynolds: We hope to continue to serve as a trusted source of well-curated content that can help Catholics worldwide to understand, live, and share the Faith.
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Pardon my cynicism, but when I go to FORMED, I am immediately confronted by a subscription rate… and yet this whole project is introduced as part of the New Evangelization? Why do we need a resource manager to access Catholic teaching, much less a paid one? I would honestly like a more thorough explanation of what this resource does that Google and YouTube do not… Or is this a more moderate version of Church Militant? An sincere versus a snarky question from someone exhausted by the Evangelical-Industrial complex and the whole “Gospel-centered” mania in the Protestant universe.
+Hi Joe. FORMED.org is designed to bring the orthodox teachings of the Catholic Church alive in a beautiful and compelling way for people in parish environments and for individuals. Augustine Institute programs aid people preparing to enter the Catholic Church (think RCIA groups), people preparing to receive the Sacraments (in addition to RCIA, think Baptismal preparation for parents, Sacrament of Reconciliation Preparation for First Communicants as well as the rest of us who benefit from this powerful Sacrament, Marriage Preparation and Vocation Discernment). FORMED.org offers Bible Studies on numerous topics such as the Eucharist, Prayer, Peter, the Bible and the Blessed Virgin Mary; Devotional Groups (think 33 Days to Morning Glory, Consoling the Heart of Jesus, Divine Mercy in the Second Greatest Story Ever Told); programs to run compelling Youth Groups; as well as outstanding Catholic movies for the whole family (adults, teens, children) including biographies, dramas and documentaries as well as e-books, audio talks and audio dramas. Some offerings are in both English and Spanish and more Spanish offerings are being consistently added. Leader Study Guides and Participant Study Guides have been developed and published for all of the Augustine Institute Programs to make it easy to facilitate a class and easier and more inspiring to learn. Programs have been developed and filmed onsite overseas as well as in the classrooms of the Augustine Institute. The folks who oversee FORMED are constantly adding new programs, more movies and books, etc. as well as increasing its technological capabilities.
Donations from major donors have kept the costs down for this 24/7 state of the art digital platform accessible by computer as well as IOS and smart phones, but money is still needed to fund the work, pay the rent and pay the people who work to make all of this incredible wealth of Catholic teaching available. Even professors, evangelists, priests, movie makers, IT folks, secretaries, bookkeepers and salespeople need to earn money to live! 🙂
FORMED is an incredible resource for Catholics who want to deepen their understanding of the Catholic faith so they will be better able to share it with others as well as for people everywhere who want to learn about the what the Church really teaches in a beautiful and inspiring way. Hope this answer helps broaden your understanding and appreciation of FORMED.org and its purpose. I am sure I’ve missed a few things, too, by the way! God bless you.
Maybe I am missing something or not properly viewing the web site but I did not notice much concerning human sexuality. Nothing on contraception, homosexuality, premarital sex, pornography or abortion. Please correct me.
If I am correct, then this site is as bleak as going to Sunday mass with no mentioning of these topice.
PS: I have not heard one homily on these subjects in 32 years of faithful Sunday mass. Then I see an enthusiastic cleric and I think: How can you be so hypocritical when you don’t discuss the naked elephant in the room?
+
Hi Mike,
I hope you sign up for a free trial to FORMED.org if you need one so you can fully explore all that FORMED.org offers. As to the topics of human sexuality, premarital sex, pornography and abortion, there is ample material on all of those topics on the website I think. Some examples would be (in Study Programs): Y Disciple: “True Strength (Becoming the Man You Were Meant to Be)”; “True Beauty (Becoming the Woman You Were Meant to Be)”; “True Strength (Chastity for Guys”); “True Beauty (Chastity for Girls”); “Beloved: Mystery and Meaning of Marriage (Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage)” (English and Spanish) and “Beloved: Living Marriage” (for Marriage Enrichment) (English and Spanish); “Human Sexuality”; “Hot Topics” series; “Marriage: Unique for a Reason” series by USCCB (English and Spanish); “Invited to Courageous Love” (English and Spanish); “Desire of the Everlasting Hills”; “Engaging the Culture:Pro-Life”; Movies and Documentaries that address and promote chaste human sexuality (“St. Maria Goretti”, “Restless Heart”, “Bakhita”, “Clare and St. Francis”, “Fourteen Flowers of Pardon”, etc.; Apologetics: “How to Talk About Same Sex Marriage”; Talks: “Men, Women and the Mystery of Love”, “How to Save Your Marriage Before Meeting Your Spouse”, “The New Sexual Revolution” ,”Love or Lust?”, “Real Womanhood”, “No Imitations”, “Parenting for Purity”, “Pure Fatherhood”, “Swimming Upstream: Going Against the Current Culture”, “Defeating God’s Deadly Weapon Against Men”, “From Love, By Love, For Love”; “The New Conversation”, “Aborting America”, “Why I Left Planned Parenthood”, “There is Life in the Womb”, “Green Sex”, “Detox”, “Dating and Courtship”, “Women Made New”… One of my favorite Lighthouse Talks CDs on Natural Family Planning is “Prove it God! And He Did!” I don’t see that particular title listed on FORMED.org, but if your Parish has a Augustine Institute / Lighthouse Talks Kiosk you might find it there, if you are interested, or on the online LighthouseCatholicMedia.org store. God bless you!
Is there any plans for Formed to eventually develop an app for Roku so that my family and I can view Formed content on our television as opposed to a computer screen?
I, too, would like to see an app for Roku. I now have an M-5 gizmo that allows me to watch Formed on my TV but I have problems with the movie stopping in the middle. I am hoping that with Roku, that problem would be solved. I would watch more of the Formed content if it would be easier for me to access.
Yes, please add a Roku app! I also would love to see Formed on my TV! There are a LOT of Roku viewers out there!
Couldn’t agree more… create a Formed channel on Roku! Watching episodes on a tablet or phone just doesn’t work well when several kids or the whole family are sitting to watch something. Best done on the main tv.
Yes Roku app for Formed praise God. We need it NOW. Thanks
PLEASE add a ROKU channel!!!! It would be a GREAT evangelical resource and more would subscribe so it would pay for itself!
Yes, Roku channel please!!!!!
Yes, I would like to request for an app on Roku please. Thank you.
And updates in adding an app for
Roku?
Chiming in to also plead for a Roku channel! Hoping that some time soon we’ll get news on it being in development.
To other people trying to figure out how to get it to your TV (and don’t have Apple, or Chromecast to do it, or want to plug in an HDMI cable), I’m using an app called TV Cast (Roku) to do it. You have to go to the individual videos on your smartphone/tablet, play it, and then it plays your video on your TV, through Roku. It’s an awkward way to do it, but then again all of the other methods recommended are awkward too. It’s how we get the kids saints shows on TV for them to watch.
Formed does have a Roku app now 🙂