Family ministers graduate

Last month family leadership in parishes and pastoral areas took centre stage for five people who graduated from a Leadership in Family Ministry course.

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This archdiocesan training course offers participants the opportunity to study trends in family life, and contemporary issues affecting the family, as well as to look at what families are saying about themselves – their joys and their needs.

The knowledge and skills gained will be useful in family ministry and in other facets of life.

As participant Vanessa Rau wrote in her final report, ‘Not only will all that I have learnt assist me in reaching out to our parish families, it will, and has, helped me within my own family and in my other commitments outside my family and parish’.

As part of their training, all family ministers listened to the needs of the families in their parishes and worked on a project in response to what they heard. The projects included a parenting course for the middle childhood years in Lower Hutt, a workshop of family communication, the setting up of a ‘Godstart’ programme (early faith development), the development of a parish family album, and a remembrance service for women who have lost a child through miscarriage or abortion.

For those who are feeling overwhelmed by all the needs of today’s families, participant Wendy Nanai from Wainuiomata, said  in her report, ‘While we are just a mere drop in the water with our plans for our communities, the drop will have a ripple effect encouraging others’.

Family ministry adviser, Sue Devereux, told graduates she was impressed with the experience they brought to the training course. Each participant was already deeply involved in some aspect of family ministry as a caring member of their community.

It was one of the tasks of the training programme to reflect back to the participants the skills they already possessed, and to encourage them to fully embrace a family leadership role within their parish and pastoral area.

For more information on the next training programme for family ministry, please contact Sue Devereux 04 496-1744 or s.devereux@wn.catholic.org.nz