Young engaged couples need a solid, practical preparation for Marriage, and families today need spiritual support. Most Catholic parents want to do the best they can for their children and know that they are the primary teachers of the faith. Yet in the listening sessions, it was universally reported that many parents lack the knowledge and tools to transmit the faith effectively and with confidence. This priority of the Plan focuses on resources and opportunities to enable families, children, couples engaged to be married, and the newly married to strengthen their foundation of the faith.

• Become Stronger in Faith. As the baptismal ritual makes clear, parents are called to be “the first teachers of [their] children in the ways of faith.” Leading them to a deeper knowledge and love of the Catholic faith will assist parents to “be the best of teachers, bearing witness to the faith in all the say and do, in Christ Jesus
our Lord.” 1

• Celebrate Joyfully in Hope. Called to love each other with the full, faithful, and fruitful love which Christ has for the Church, spouses, nourished by the Sacraments, bear witness to and hand on this love to their children, preparing them for lives of active faith, and grounding them in the hope of eternal life.

• Serve in Charity. The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, despite the many hardships they endured, lived their family life in respect, in love, in trust, and in joy. Strengthening family life in the Diocese will assist families to bear public witness to this love, and to witness as well to the dignity of human life in all its stages.

OVERALL GOALS:

1. Focusing on the importance of fostering the faith in the family, offering tools for parents to fulfill their role as the primary transmitters of the faith, and enabling each family to be an authentic “domestic church.” 2
2. Providing all children in parishes and schools with a deep, comprehensive and joyful education in the faith, guiding them as they cultivate their friendship with Jesus as members of His Church.
3. Offering a more comprehensive marriage preparation program, so that couples are practically and spiritually prepared to live their vocation to holiness in their married life.
4. Supporting couples throughout the different stages of their married life, accompanying them as they grow and mature in the fulfillment of the Sacrament they have received.
5. Educating and offering prayer and awareness opportunities on the sacredness of life and pro-life issues, inviting all to informed, charitable, and vigorous advocacy.
6. Providing in our parishes a welcoming, loving, and participative environment for all those who have any sort of disability. Supporting families and educating parish communities, so that they may recognize the gift that they represent to the community. 3
   
   

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   2 Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Familiaris Consortio, no. 38.
   3 Cf. USCCB, Welcome and Justice for Persons with Disabilities.

1. Creating a Diocesan Family Life Committee that will support all efforts in this area, and will develop ideas, organize activities and evaluate progress.
2. Providing tools to enhance parental involvement in the faith formation of their children through spiritual and informational talks, resources on the web, and the newly developed curriculum mapping for religion, which includes family participation. 4
3. Through the activities organized by the Office for Pastoral Services, the Office for Education, and CLDB, supporting religious education in parishes and schools, providing adequate resources 5 and tools for the faith formation of children. 6
4. Organizing Diocesan Family Days and/or Family Retreats.
5. Enhancing the marriage preparation program to prepare couples in a more comprehensive way to receive the Sacrament of Marriage. This will include a new program based on Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body,” complemented by the Catechism and formation in Natural Family Planning. 7 This is an evangelization opportunity that will help future married couples to grow in faith, to learn the moral teachings of the Church, and acquire life skills for their married life.
6. Supporting marriage and family life through enrichment activities such as anniversary Masses, married-couples retreats organized by the Family Life Ministry, and other programs offered by organizations such as Marriage Encounter, Couple to Couple League, Engaged Encounter, and Retrouvaille.
7. Defending the role of marriage and family life, both in the Church and in civil society, by informing and educating parishioners on items currently before the legislatures, and encouraging their informed, charitable, and vigorous advocacy, based on the values of the Gospel.
8. Through the Respect Life Ministry, promoting prayer and education for pro-life issues, fostering advocacy and offering programs on the moral teachings of the Church to middle, and high school aged students, and their parents. 8
9. Appointing a Director for Ministry to the Disabled, who will initiate diocesan-wide and parish-based activities, and will support parents of the disabled.
   
   

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   4 Curriculum mapping has been developed in a collaborative effort between the Office for
   Education and the Office for Pastoral Services to be used in parishes and schools. Cf.
   related strategy in the priority Cultivating Family and Life, Catholic schools strategy no. 5.
   5 Every year, the Diocese reviews and approves the religion textbooks that are in accord to the Diocesan Religion Guidelines to be used in our parishes’ religious education and Catholic schools.
   6 Cf. related strategies in the priority Enhancing Adult Formation, diocesan strategies nos. 5-7 and in the priority Cultivating Family and Life, Catholic school strategies nos. 5-6.
   7 Cf. Paul VI, Humanae Vitae.
   8 Cf. related strategy in the priority Inspiring Youth, diocesan strategy no. 10.

1. Creating Family Life Parish Committees that organize evangelizing and social activities for families in the parish.
2. Offering parents, who are the first educators in the faith, several opportunities to deepen their faith and empowering them to live the faith at home, especially through the newly developed curriculum mapping tool.
3. Supporting Directors of Religious Education (DRE’s) and catechists so that they may continually strengthen the religious education offered to the children in the parish, offering them the needed resources, enhancing ongoing communication, and participating in their programs. Emphasizing the importance of making the best use of this time in the religious education of the child, encouraging the parents to make it a priority in the family schedule.
4. Actively leading those in marriage preparation to an active participation in the life of the Church through mentoring programs for newlyweds and their participation in parish groups.
5. Strengthening the parish-level pre-baptismal preparation, offering mentoring support from other families
6. Preaching on family life, on the importance of growing as a couple and living the Sacraments, sponsoring marriage enrichment activities on a regular and ongoing basis (e.g. supports groups, workshops). Linking parishioners to services that can help them in times of marital difficulties
7. Organizing prayer for the unborn, awareness opportunities of pro-life issues, and inviting parishioners to become advocates, as well as promoting these activities for youth.
8. Offering parish-based programs for the disabled, inviting them to participate in the life of the parish.
   

1. Enhancing the environment where students in Catholic schools, which are strong evangelizing agents, can comprehensively learn the faith, develop the virtues and cultivate their spiritual lives.
2. Engaging students to discover the gift of the faith, basing their catechetical instruction on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. 9
3. Allowing students to “realize how Jesus illuminates all of life — science, mathematics, history, business, biology, and so forth”. 10
4. Offering students the opportunity to participate in outreach services for the needy in the community and beyond, allowing them to experience the joy of service and giving of self.
5. Through curriculum mapping and other tools, involving parents, as the first teachers of their children, in the transmission of the faith at home. 11
6. Offering parents opportunities to grow in their life of faith such as prayer services, talks, and other gatherings, so as to live and share it in their families.
7. Fostering “a distinctively Christian community among faculty, students, and parents.” 12
   
   

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   9 Cf. NDC, p. 232.
   10 Cf. NDC, p. 233.
   11 Cf. related strategy in the priority Cultivating Family and Life, diocesan strategy no. 2.
   12 Cf. NDC, p. 231.