ROCKFORD—“Engaging and Evangelizing Families in Faith” was a day designed to be “filled with insights and great ideas,” said John McGrath, Education Department director, as he welcomed a room filled with school principals and parish directors and coordinators of religious education Sept. 17.
Dr. Jo Ann Paradise provided a number of thoughts and ideas in her keynote talks that morning. One insight addressed a core problem in many families today.
“I think that where evil attacks the family most is when all the love (in a family) is poured back into the family,” she said.
Misled by the “phantom curriculum of the culture,” many well-meaning families pour all their resources back into their family, so their children want for nothing and everything they do is supported and praised. But the children end up confusing self-esteem with a more profound sense of self-worth, she said.
They miss the point that “Love’s movement is always outward,” Dr. Paradise said, adding that such an inward focus is resulting in children who think they are the center of the universe and young people who can’t work together with others.
“If all the meaning of life has to come from me, it is overwhelming, and I get depressed,” she said, noting that statistics show that adolescents
“If all the meaning of life has to come from me, it is overwhelming, and I get depressed,” she said, noting that statistics show that adolescents are currently the most depressed and the most medicated group of people in society.
“The purpose of parents,” Dr. Paradise said, is to help children realize they are created and loved by God and can/should develop their talents to put them at the service of others. Using the biblical story of David and Goliath, Paradise encouraged the educational leaders to look at what the Catholic Church believes about families, meet each family where it is in the faith, and then reimagine and rethink ways to share the Church’s uplifting vision of families – all while filled with trust and confidence that God is with them.
“Your business is the business of helping people fall in love” with God and His Church, she said.
Paradise shared several creative and practical ideas she has used in her own work as a catechist, and she encouraged her audience not to become discouraged. Catechists should remember that growth in faith is “the work of the Holy Spirit and (also depends on) a person’s openness,” she said. “You do the best you can, and (with God) Goliath will fall!”
Participants at the day also were treated to information on catechetical resources from Our Sunday Visitor publications and information on dynamic resources that are being provided for free for the next two years to parishes and schools through a Diocese of Rockford partnership with Outside da Box. (See also the cover story in the Sept. 18 issue of The Observer.)
The afternoon’s speaker was Eric Groth, president and executive producer of Outside da Box, which has created some 150 short films and one feature film – all faith-based and geared to get groups pondering the richness of the Catholic faith. He showed three kinds of those short films and demonstrated how educational leaders can access the materials.
Another new resource that was recently sent to pastors and parish leaders was introduced at the beginning of the education day. Ellen Lynch, chancellor of the diocese and general counsel, introduced a set of guidelines that puts “in a succinct place” the information needed for all employees and volunteers who work with minors.
From how to do a background check to what parents and parishes need to do if a child has medical needs, “it helps to spell it out,” Lynch said. This new resource also will soon be available on the diocesan website and education department website.
It was indeed a day of ideas, resources and insights for educational leaders throughout the diocese.