"Art of Parenting" Zoom Training/Mentoring for Parish Leadership

Dear Clergy and Parish Leadership,

Last year the Office of Marriage and Family Life piloted a new zoom program called the Art of Parenting with Fr. John Palmer, Dn. Dennis and Christina Chinn and the St. Denis team.  It drew over 80 parents and was a great success.   We asked Fr. John Palmer and the team if they would be willing to help other parishes start a Parenting Program/Ministry and they graciously said “yes” and even made a special video to explain the program.  (See below).

The “Art of Parenting” has been adapted to include the Catholic context.  The Course consists of nine weekly meetings via Zoom on Wednesdays from 7:30-9:00 p.m. starting on Wednesday, May 11.  Each meeting includes prayer, an entertaining and informative video on a parenting topic (20-30 minutes), short workbook exercises, and small-group discussions.  The topics include:  the goal of parenting, applying discipline, building relationships, understanding and nurturing identity, preparing for mission, and the power of family. For more information about the Course, please watch this video and go to St. Denis’s website:  StDenis.org.

For parishes that are interested in starting their own Christian Parenting Program, we recommend having at least one leadership couple (i.e., a husband and a wife, perhaps a deacon and his wife).  St. Denis team of parent-facilitators would then mentor them.  In practice, your leadership couple(s) would shadow our team of parent-facilitators; would participate with the team in all of the behind-the-scenes preparations without serving as facilitators themselves; and would participate in the nine-week Course.  In this way, your leadership couple(s)would have an insider’s perspective on how to start and run a Christian Parenting Course in their own parish.

"Art of Parenting” was developed by Christian ministers and therapists and is designed to teach parents: (1) how to deal with the real-world challenges of raising children today; and (2) how to make faith in Jesus Christ the core of their parenting.

We recommend that the leadership couples sign up by Tuesday, May 3 by e-mailing their mobile phone numbers and e-mail addresses (for both the husband and the wife), as well as their parish name and city to:  [email protected].  In addition, they should mention in the subject line of the E-mail that they are a “Leadership couple from another parish.”

For any questions, please contact the leading couple, Deacon Dennis and Christina Shin at [email protected] and 909-274-0065 or Fr. John Palmer at [email protected] and 909-861-7106.  I hope you can join us...