Joy of the Family E-Newsletter
July 2020
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Welcome to the
Joy of the Family E-Newsletter
, designed to inform you of all the exciting things happening around the diocese and from our office. The recently restructured Office of Marriage, Family Life, Faith Formation & Youth Ministry has adopted a unified approach to encourage all of us to become ever more fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ by strengthening our Catholic identity and by discovering and embracing family as the Domestic Church, the foundational gathering of believers in Jesus Christ. No matter what stage of life we are in, we all come from a family and are called to the family of families, the Catholic Church, where we gather to worship and grow as a community in Jesus Christ.
We pray that you will find this newsletter to be a useful and enjoyable resource for discovering all that our wonderful Diocese of Palm Beach has to offer and to assist you on your faith journey toward becoming ever more fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Thank you from our team and may God's peace be with you,
Cathy, Deacon Louie, Beth, Liliana and Erika
Please feel free to share this email with anyone and everyone! Together, let us build, unite and grow our Church.
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With each of the next few newsletters, we would like to take the opportunity to introduce ourselves to you.
Our office is led by Cathy Loh, who worked as a parish Faith Formation Director for four years and as the Diocesan Director of Marriage & Family Life, for six years before being named Director of the Office of Marriage, Family Life, Faith Formation & Youth Ministry. Cathy earned her Masters in Theology from the Augustine Institute in 2015 and feels privileged to be a contributing author for several of the Augustine Institute
Lectio
Scripture Studies. Her early career was spent in marketing and management consulting. Cathy has been married to Deacon Les for 38 years, and is mother to Jordan and Maddy and proud grandma to Caroline and John Paul.
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What's Happening
in Faith Formation, Family Life and Youth Ministry?
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Youth Ministry Listening Sessions
Thank you to all the clergy and youth ministers who participated in our March listening sessions to help us better support youth ministry in our diocese. The sessions were moderated by Mr. Everett Fritz from St. Andrew Missionaries of Denver, CO. Fritz is one of the developers of Y-Disciple, a small-group, discipleship approach to youth ministry and former Youth Minister in the Diocese of Palm Beach. In his role as our interim Youth and Young Adult Ministry Coordinator, Fritz has also organized a series of weekly virtual sessions for our youth ministers, hosting nationally acclaimed youth ministry experts including Jason Evert, Jim Beckman and Katie Prejean McGrady, among others. In addition, Fritz is spearheading the search to identify the right candidate to join our team as Youth and Young Adult Ministry Coordinator.
Stay tuned for more exciting news from the Office of Youth Ministry.
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LoveEd
Parent-Driven Formation
In February, parish and Catholic school faith formation leaders and educators were invited to learn about LoveEd, a dynamic and parent-driven, Catholic approach to teaching about love and sexuality based on St. John Paul II's teachings. LoveEd supports communication between parent and child about these sacred yet delicate topics in a positive way rather than as just a set of rules. More than 20 new facilitators were trained to bring this program to their communities and help prepare parents to address this critical topic with their children.
Thank you Coleen Kelly Mast, co-author of LoveEd, for bringing us this inspiring teaching and learning resource.
Congratulations
to the new
LoveEd
facilitators pictured above!
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Parish Ministry Leaders gather virtually for a morning of reflection.
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Recently, John Beaulieu, led a virtual morning of prayer and reflection. He is the Director of Evangelization and Formation in the Christian Outreach Office at Franciscan University. The Morning of Reflection, was a call to personal prayer through the power of the Holy Spirit. He reminded us that we are collaborators with God and the Holy Spirit is the true protagonist.
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n March and again in June, the faith formation leaders gathered virtually to address concerns regarding ministry during the pandemic and to identify new opportunities and ways of ministering to families. Meetings will continue to discuss faith formation in 2020 and beyond through the lens of the Domestic Church to foster Catholic identity and encourage fruitful discipleship of Jesus Christ.
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Introducing the Joy of the Family Blog
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VISIT OUR BLOG...
In this forum, we will discuss faith, hope, love, and all things family!
This blog was created for Catholic families as a place to learn and grow in faith and love. We all make up the Body of Christ; we are created in God’s image and likeness, to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him. Really, it does not get any better than that! Our lives are so special and truly a gift from God.
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Coming Soon...
Our website link
is getting a new look!
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Our Office of Marriage, Family Life, Faith Formation and Youth Ministry website will have a new look! We are updating the content and have included many new resources for parishes, ministries, and individuals.
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Catholic Family Resources
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Sophia Press Family Resources
Sign up for a ready-to-use lesson on each Sunday
Gospel. In July
Sophia Press
features a sample of their family catechesis program, A Family of Faith. This resource includes easy, family-friendly activities to live out your faith at home. Sign up for a ready-to-use lesson on each Sunday Gospel.
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Lifelong Catechesis
by Our Sunday Visitor
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Our Sunday Visitor’s mission to serve the Church is realized through partnering with parishes in creating and providing systematic and intentional catechetical resources that are based on the reflection and study of Sacred Scripture and Tradition for members of the faith community at every age and stage of development.
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In case you missed it...
Frazzled but Faithful: Parenting Through Pandemic (and After)
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If you missed the live interview on "Parenting Through the Pandemic (and After)" hosted by Sr. Terry Rickard and featuring the founders
catholiccounselors.com
Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak, don't miss this opportunity to watch the recording. It's filled with practical ideas to help families "experience their faith as the source of warmth in the home."
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Congratulations to the 2020
St. Timothy Scholarship
Recipient and Nominees
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The local St. Timothy Award and $1000 scholarship is given in the Diocese of Palm Beach to a Catholic, graduating high school senior who exemplifies the following qualities:
- Lives as a disciple of Christ
- Witnesses their faith
- Demonstrates Gospel values
- Exhibits Christian leadership
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Recipient - Lauren Johnston
Nominees
Celia Ann Kessler
Sara Cardenas
Christopher Mee
Steven Maxim Joltki
Esmeralda Jacinto
Nicholas Falcone
Chekube Chukwuma
Eva Miklos
Caleb Panoch
Natalia Panozzo
Bryce Chevak
Elizabeth Viti
Alyssa York
Gina Saxton
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Any parish, school, or Catholic entity in the Diocese of Palm Beach is entitled to nominate a candidate. This year, we received 15 nominations from around the diocese. Congratulations to all the nominees for their recognition by their local Catholic organization. Based on a blind review of the candidates by committee, Lauren Johnston was selected as this year's recipient based on her witness, leadership, volunteerism , and discipleship of Jesus Christ.
Congratulations Lauren!
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Scholarship Available for Catholic Laity
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Each year Catholic Life Insurance is proud to offer two scholarships worth $2,000 each through the Msgr. Larry J. Droll Scholarship Fund. Applications are now being accepted.
This scholarship assists Catholic laymen and women in pursuing graduate degrees that will help them qualify for professional positions in parish and diocesan ministry
. For more information call 1-800-262-2548. The deadline to apply is September 14, 2020.
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Please read, share, and forward this e-newsletter with your friends, family and neighbors. Look for more resources, opportunities and celebrations of our faith in the future.
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Inspire our actions Lord, and accompany them with Your help, so that our every word and action may always begin and end in You.
Excerpted from Roman
Missal,
ICEL
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9995 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410
phone: 561-775-9553 email: family@diocesepb.org website: diocesepb.org
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