Bay Area Workshops on Coaching Parents
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You are invited to join us for our free Spring 2018 workshops for pastoral leaders. These workshops are perfect for pastors, pastoral associates, directors of religious education, or other parish leaders who want to learn how to ensure the Catholic faith is passed down to the next generation. Bring your whole pastoral team!
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What Will You Learn?
The statistics are startling when we look at the decreasing numbers of Catholic churchgoers in the United States. The numbers don't lie: on the whole, the faith is not being effectively passed down to younger generations.
The faith formation of every child is found in the faith of his or her parents. Almost every active adult Catholic is active because his or her parents had faith. Their faith did not come from a textbook. It came from the witness and “faith talk” in the home.
The faith formation of every child is found in the faith of his or her parents. Almost every active adult Catholic is active because his or her parents had faith. Their faith did not come from a textbook. It came from the witness and “faith talk” in the home.
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We must, therefore, form a real partnership between parish and household, coaching parents to form their own children. This results in formation that lasts a lifetime!
However, this is not about sending home flyers or books. It requires a change in how we think about catechesis, and a true commitment to working with parents to help them grow in their faith and their ability to share it with their children. This workshop will help you:
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2018 Workshop Dates & LocationsThu, April 12 - Los Altos
Refreshments @ 9:30am / Presentation: 10-11:30am St. Simon Church - Los Altos Wed, May 2 - Walnut Creek Refreshments @ 9:30am / Presentation: 10-11:30am St. John Vianney Church - Walnut Creek Wed, May 16 - El Cerrito Gathering @ 12:45pm / Presentation: 1-2:30pm St. Jerome Church - 308 Carmel Avenue, El Cerrito Tue, May 22 - Castro Valley Gathering @ 1pm / Presentation: 1:30pm-3pm Our Lady of Grace Church - Stack Center 3433 Somerset Avenue, Castro Valley Sat, June 9 - San Mateo - PLEASE CLICK TO RSVP! Refreshments @ 9:30am / Presentation: 10-11:30am St. Gregory Church - 2715 Hacienda Street, San Mateo |
Resources at the Workshops
We will bring with us a wide selection of our whole family and general catechist resources. It is a great opportunity to preview the many available options published by the Pastoral Center and other Catholic publishers.
Feedback from Past Participants
I most appreciated centering on the role of parents as a way that does not blame them, but coaches them in their living today. It was worthwhile to see things from a different angle. Very helpful and enlightening. Pastor
Loved Paul's enthusiasm, the attempt to think "outside the box," and access to great resources. Worth attending -- great ideas. Priests and parish council members should attend this too. Baptism prep leader
The open question and answer was interactive and provided more information. Awesome resources! It was a great, fun workshop! Catholic school teacher
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I most appreciated the practical applications. The material has substance but is easy to understand. The presenter was easy to understand, caring, and professional. Worth your time. Confirmation catechist
Common sense approach to making our program better. Great suggestions. Baptism prep leader
Paul explained in our terms and listened to what we had to add. Attendees weren't afraid to add to discussion. We learned from others and Paul was not afraid to let people interact. Diocesan director
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Time well spent. We came away with many good/new ideas for teaching any Catholic in the Church today! Religious education teacher
Very good ideas and ways to implement in my church. Very relevant to what the problems are in our church. Elementary-age catechist
Any church leader or teacher should attend this. I learned great ways to improve my Baptismal prep class to coach parents to be more involved. Baptismal prep leader
It helped me understand my role better. Very informative. Catechist
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Every catechist should attend and be educated on this subject. Parents also! Parish leader
This was great. Good resources, real tools to engage parents, and help for me as a catechist. Parish catechist
I appreciated using the language and concept of coaching as a way to interact with parents; the energy of presenter and down-to-earth presentation; seasonal topics. Director of Religious Education
Very helpful for involving parents and children. Excellent. Catechetical leader
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The Presenter
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Paul Canavese is the director of the online Pastoral Center (PastoralCenter.com) and co-directs the Growing Up Catholic ministry (GrowingUpCatholic.com) with his wife Ann Naffziger. Paul grew up in the San Jose Diocese and has ministered in all three Bay Area dioceses.
Ann and Paul live in Alameda, California with their daughters Madeleine & Rachel and nine chickens. Their family operates their mini-urban farm, loves to bike around town, and finds creative ways to build community in their neighborhood. Paul has his MTS from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley and has 20 years of software development experience with technology startups. He has spoken at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, National Conference for Catechetical Leadership, Santa Clara Faith Formation Conference, and many other events. Ann, Paul, and their children also actively minister at Corpus Christi Parish in Piedmont, CA. |
Who Is The Pastoral Center?
For those of you who don't yet know us, The Pastoral Center a small family-owned ministry center and publisher based in Alameda. As "pastoral ministers helping pastoral ministers," we develop and gather practical pastoral resources for Catholic leaders in the English-speaking world. You can peruse our web store to see some of our offerings.
Paul Canavese and Ann Naffziger direct the Pastoral Center, and come with decades of ministry experience in the Oakland Diocese. Ann received her MDiv. from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, and also serves as RCIA director at Corpus Christi Parish in Piedmont (she has been on staff at three other parishes in the diocese). I received my M.T.S. from the Franciscan School of Theology (formerly) in Berkeley. Learn more about us here.
We also have a great team of pastoral leaders from across the country who serve as authors and help us publish resources that usually originate in local parishes.
Paul Canavese and Ann Naffziger direct the Pastoral Center, and come with decades of ministry experience in the Oakland Diocese. Ann received her MDiv. from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, and also serves as RCIA director at Corpus Christi Parish in Piedmont (she has been on staff at three other parishes in the diocese). I received my M.T.S. from the Franciscan School of Theology (formerly) in Berkeley. Learn more about us here.
We also have a great team of pastoral leaders from across the country who serve as authors and help us publish resources that usually originate in local parishes.
Our Growing Up Catholic ministryGrowingUpCatholic.com is our ministry focusing on whole family catechesis, where we have been a leader for many years. Our previous director, Bill Huebsch, gave a whole family catechesis workshop here in the Oakland diocese back in 2004. We have a wide variety of resources to help you coach parents to pass on faith to their children. I have spoken about this ministry at the Faith Formation Congress and the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress.
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We have many resources to help you move toward a whole family model without necessarily completely switching to a whole new approach (you may not be ready for that yet!). Many parishes start with our popular First Reconciliation and First Eucharist preparation process. We have great resources for holding whole family events from a couple times a year up to once a month up to weekly. We also have tools to help parents meet and talk about parenting issues while their children are in class and simple, short handouts "for busy parents" that you can send home.
We feel it is essential that we evangelize and coach parents, helping them actually practice talking to their kids about faith in a parish setting. When we tell them what to do and just send it home, it is far too often forgotten in the busyness of family life. We've found that once parents start experiencing how to share their faith, they begin to appreciate it and become self-motivated. We create tools with this in mind, and it works well.
Paul Canavese, DIrector of The Pastoral Center & Growing Up Catholic
We feel it is essential that we evangelize and coach parents, helping them actually practice talking to their kids about faith in a parish setting. When we tell them what to do and just send it home, it is far too often forgotten in the busyness of family life. We've found that once parents start experiencing how to share their faith, they begin to appreciate it and become self-motivated. We create tools with this in mind, and it works well.
Paul Canavese, DIrector of The Pastoral Center & Growing Up Catholic
Free Resources
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We offer a free downloadable "Why Coach Parents?" resource kit that includes free leader handouts, parent handouts, and even a presentation you can give to leaders in your parish. Some of the short handouts are a great way to introduce your pastor, staff, catechists, or other leaders to this approach. Just add the item to your cart and check out (no payment required), and we will send it out to you by email.
We also have a "Growing Up Catholic" monthly email list for our community of leaders who are trying to engage parents in their communities. Sign up to stay in the loop on new resources and insights.
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Downloadable Flyer
Need Help? Want to Talk Any of This Over?
We're always happy to chat, and we offer free pastoral coaching by phone. Call us at the phone number below or email us at [email protected].
We hope the above resources can serve your ministry well. Thanks for all you do as a parish leader. It's really an honor to work with pastoral ministers like you!
We hope the above resources can serve your ministry well. Thanks for all you do as a parish leader. It's really an honor to work with pastoral ministers like you!
