Prayer and Relationship with Christ
Formation
Accompaniment
Advocacy
Every child is a gift, created to be nurtured in the love of family life. This ministry provides information on age-appropriate behavior, normal development and family dynamics, teaching skills of non-violent discipline, communication, and conflict resolution in family relationships. The Office of Family Life supports parents in their God-given vocation by creating networks to connect with other Catholic mothers and fathers. We provide opportunities to stop, take some moments to be blessed, and draw closer to God.
Download the “Catholic Hom” app for an online community to support the development of your family’s Domestic Church at home. https://www.catholichom.com/
Strong Catholic Families
Strong Catholic Families helps church leaders envision how the Catholic Church can more effectively partner with parents to help bring home the faith. Developed by NFCYM in 2005, the program offers a series of diocesan and parish level training, presentations, online and print resources, and Catholic Parent Revivals. Spanish language training (Fortaleciendo Familias en la Fe) and presentations are also available.
Parenting Programs
Becoming a parent is a vocation, a calling from God. When God calls us to raise our children, He gives us grace to do so, and praying about what we do with our children will activate that grace. Since God put us in charge, we parents are the ones who teach children the lessons of life – how to be loved, and how to love others. This takes discipline, and we need to be the ones who teach children how to live in harmony with God, with themselves, and in relation to others. Parents grow spiritually as they grapple with the ins and outs of what to do in each situation. Educating parents in skilled ways to communicate respect, dignity and inherent valueto their children is one of the pressing needs of our contemporary church.
“ParentCare” Groups for Parents of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers
Parents enjoy leader-led group discussions or listen to a guest speaker about Catholic, spiritual, emotional, social, developmental and discipline topics related to raising young children. These educational, supportive groups can operate weekly in the daytime, monthly in the evening, or after Sunday Family Mass while the older children are in religious education. Supervised play is provided for the young children, usually in the same room with parents.
ParentCare is a judgment-free place for talk, prayer, and play, a place where parents/sitters/grandparents, etc., feel comfortable speaking of modern-day child-rearing issues, are given religious education, while the children experience a preschool atmosphere, all within reach of their care-giver. Parents accompany each other, learn from each other how to parent in a Catholic household, that they are NOT alone, and that they will be listened to. Parishes wishing to enrich and/or start ParentCare groups can contact Sue DiSisto: 646-794-3191.
“Active Parenting,” for Parents of School-Age Children
Active Parenting Publishers is dedicated to preparing parent educators “every stage, every step,” helping provide you with the best programs for the families you serve.
Contact Yorleni to start this program in your parish: 646-794-3199.
The Liturgy of Domestic Church Life is an initiative sponsored by the USCCB and developed by Dr. Gregory and Lisa Popcak, of the Peyton Family Institute. Our traditional model of offering programs to families in our parishes do not work if families are not experiencing Christ at home. How do we develop a family centered around Christ and his personhood, mercy and holiness?
- The Rite of Relationship / Attachment
- Schedule family time first
- Practice extravagant affection and encouragement
- Practice prompt, generous, consistent and cheerful attention to each other’s needs
- practice discipleship discipline
- Rite of Rituals of Connection – create intentional, daily time to:
- Work together
- Play together
- Talk together
- Pray together
- Rite of Reaching Out
- Serve each other generously
- Think of others while being a family
- Be a Christian family in the world
- Serving the parish/community as a family
Additional parenting resources can be found on our Resources page here.