Core Support & Resources
Through our five-year initiative, we are expanding and improving our leader support and catechetical resources, both for in-parish and at-home use.
Leader Support Framework
We will develop and refine a framework to prepare parish leaders to coach parents and caregivers. They will learn to help parents appreciate and embrace their Catholic faith and lifestyle, and how to share it with their children. Our sustainable and flexible support model will mentor and coach leaders regarding parents' essential role, proven methodologies to support them, and a process to develop and implement a parish plan.
The framework will encourage leaders to commit to a parent-centered approach. Many leaders aren't aware of research on parents or don't understand church teaching on the role of parents. Others are already open to change, but haven't been presented a compelling alternative or don't know how to convince their pastor. We will address all these barriers.
The framework will educate leaders on how to partner with parents and caregivers. It will teach core principles, an effective parent coaching process, and how to integrate a whole-family approach throughout parish life.
Goals
Strong Coaching and Support
We will offer the training, confidence, and support leaders need to move beyond old assumptions to embrace a parent-centered model of faith formation.
Leader Accompaniment
We will walk with, mentor, and accompany leaders, offering opportunities to talk through the specifics of their situation with an experienced ministry leader.
A Responsive Model
We will refine our approach based on the close interactions and feedback we receive from leaders, focusing on what leaders identify they most need to be successful.
Inspiration for Change
We want to inspire leaders, remove obstacles blocking a whole family formation approach, and help them serve their families well.
Features
Virtual Training Center
We will expand this website to serve as a central online destination for learning about parent-centered family catechesis.
Workshops & Training
Introductory and in-depth training via in-person, streaming, and on-demand video presentations. Options for diocesan-wide events and individual parishes.
Three-Year Plan
We will guide leaders step-by-step through developing a three-year plan to implement a more parent- and family-centered model of faith formation.
Leader Support Hotline
Personalized coaching via phone and video conferencing to accompany leaders as they develop and implement their plans.
Partnerships
The framework will help us to partner with dioceses and other organizations and work with their to train and support their leaders.
Resource Collections
We will compile and refine this collection of resources to help parishes coach parents to share faith with their children. With these resources, leaders will encourage and prepare parents to integrate faith into their family's home life and introduce them to tools that will support them.
Leaders need a selection of practical, flexible resources that makes it easy for them to support their parents and caregivers with children from infancy to age 12. We will provide print and digital tools in English and Spanish, with various formats and options.
Collections
Parent-Child Event Collection
These tools equip parishes host experiential events in which parents learn to share faith with their children and immediately practice. Catechists who are present become coaches for these parents rather than substitutes for the parent role. We have learned that this process kick-starts a conversation about faith between parents and children that goes home with them. The collection will include events for several settings, including large group whole-family, intergenerational whole-community, and parent-only gatherings.
Faith@Home Collection
This set of send-home handouts "for busy parents" supplements everything else we do. Options include weekly Gospel reflections from a parent’s perspective, discussion prompts on the Sunday Scripture readings for use in transit to or from church, seasonal handouts, and suggestions for family rituals.
Goals & Features
Meeting Parents on the Margins
The resources will speak to marginally active parents, knowing they may be skeptical of the parish and what is has to offer them.
Family Handouts
Resources are designed around friendly, lightweight handouts, so as not to intimidate or turn off parents.
Spanish Language Support
We are expanding our bilingual resources supporting Hispanic/Latino ministry.
Affordability
We will keep our resources affordable, conscious of the limitations of parish and school budgets.
Sends Faith Home
Families are coached on faith practices for use at home, such as family prayers, use of the Bible, faith talk, and more.