PROVIDENCE — The diocese’s offices of Youth Ministry, Religious Education and Life and Family have teamed up to offer practical solutions for parents in their mission to build solid family structures rooted in the faith.
The program, Strong Catholic Families, Strong Catholic Youth is based on programming from the national Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, and will feature two introductory sessions next week for parents and parish leaders.
The presenter will be Dr. Sean Reynolds, director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Reynolds was instrumental in creating the program, and has worked with several pilot dioceses.
Diane Comerford, religious education coordinator for grades 6-10 at St. Luke Parish in Barrington, is looking forward to attending the program next week.
“We have a strong base of parent support at St. Luke Parish, both at the school and in the religious education program,” Comerford said.
“Our staff is attending the workshop because we are always looking to make good things better. Our interest in the workshop is to learn of programming ideas and topics that will reach a wide range of family age groups. Parents are seeking guidance, support and suggestions from us on how to bring the sacred to family activities and discussions in the midst of a secular world.”
Among its goals, the program is geared toward creating opportunities to seek new ways to begin forming children and teens in their Catholic faith. It will help to examine the level of partnership between parents, school and faith formation programs, and will use contemporary research which highlights the critical impact of the parents’ faith, beliefs and actions on that of their children/teens.
The parents night session will be held Wednesday, Nov. 3 from 7-9 p.m. at Presentation of Blessed Virgin Mary Parish Hall, 1081 Mineral Spring Ave., North Providence. The evening is free of charge for all attendees, but seating is limited.
On Thursday, Nov. 4., there will be two parish leader sessions offered, one from 9 a.m.-noon, and the second from 6:30-9:30 p.m., both will be held at Emmaus Youth Center, 25 Metropolitan Park Dr., Riverside. The morning and evening sessions are $20 per person for the first three from the same parish, to a maximum total of $75 per parish for four or more attendees; this amount includes all materials for each attendee.
All parish leaders are invited, including pastors, associates, deacons, catechetical and youth ministry leaders.
“Providing parents with any enrichment opportunity to help them in their role as the primary educators for handing down our Catholic faith is of great interest to me,” says Wendy Carrier, director of religious education at St. Michael Church, Smithfield.
“As soon as I read the flyer on Strong Catholic Families/Strong Catholic Faith, I wanted to learn more about how I can get parents more involved in parish life, especially becoming catechists.”
Carrier said she often wonders if the reason why some parents choose not to get involved in their childrens’ faith formation is that they feel they lack sufficient knowledge of the faith themselves, or whether it is a time issue.
She feels that bringing events into the parish just for parents might make them realize how important they are in the faith formation of youth.
“Faith formation comes in all different ways to all different age groups, and it is my job as Director of Religious Education to provide these opportunities for our parish.
For more information, or to register, call 401-278-4626, or e-mail youthministry@dioceseofprovidence.org.
