National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers
Strengthening the Church’s Commitment to Families
SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP OFFER
In response to the pandemic, NACFLM is reducing this coming year’s membership fees by 25% and not require the fee to be a paid until October 1st.
That’s three months free!
If you are not a member but interested in NACFLM,
you may join the Association during this time and benefit from our network and resources at no cost or obligation until October 1st.
That’s free membership until October 1st!
Please contact us at nacflm@gmail.com for more information or click membership tab.
MARRIAGE PREPARATION
In response to COVID-19 and social distancing required by local or state governments, the following is provided as a list of online marriage preparation course options. Courses listed here are not necessarily endorsed by the Association but are provided for informational purposes.
Online Marriage Preparation Courses – (In alphabetical order)
Agape Catholic Marriage Preparation – https://www.catholicmarriageprep.com/ – Fee: $194 – $245 – Language: English, Spanish, French
Living Our Faith in Love – https://themarriagegroup.com/ – Fee: $195 20% discount: $156 – Languages: English, Captioning in English and Spanish
Smart Loving – https://smartloving.org/engaged/ – Fee: $68 – $273 – Languages: English
Unveiled – http://www.unveiledmarriage.com/home – Fee: $190 – Languages: English
DOMESTIC CHURCH RESOURCES
In response to COVID-19 and social distancing required by local or state governments and families staying home the following are provided as helpful resources to the family.
May News Nugget
Are you “Liberal” or “Conservative”?
Our country is divided. Our Church is divided. Even NACFLM has divisions. Surely we are united in our goal of trying to further Christ’s presence in the world, particularly through marriage and family life. BUT, who’s way is the right way, the best way? All of us are right and all of us are limited. Consider today how you can listen and learn from someone in our NACFLM family who has a different style; a different way. That’s what healthy families do. Let us learn from each other.
NACFLM LATEST MEMBERSHIP NEWS
2020 February
Congratulations to Bill Boomer, Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio, retired on Friday, February 7, 2020 after 40 years working for the Church!
2019 DECEMBER
Congratulations to NACFLM Member, Jim Healy, for his Honorary Doctorate from Lewis University in December.
Our Organizational Members provide NACFLM members, other family life parish ministers, and clergy with resources they can use in their local communities to strengthen marriages and families.
The Pope Francis Intention for May 2020
For Deacons
We pray that deacons, faithful in their service to the Word and the poor, may be an invigorating symbol for the entire Church.
Most of us know that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, chose to be called after St. Francis of Assisi. Many of us assume that St Francis was a priest. Rather, St. Francis was a deacon who beautifully lived his ordination of “diakonia” of service to others, especially the poor.
His service was rooted in the deacons of the early Church who served “at table” tending to the corporal needs of the growing faithful. A restored diaconate continues its pastoral service today as well as liturgical service and worship connecting a ministry of word and a ministry of service.
This ministry of service and word is the ministry of the first deacons of the early Church such as St. Stephen, of St. Francis in the 12th century and of deacons today as we have embarked on the next decade of this millennium in 2020.
St. Francis as deacon preached, tended to the poor, and – above all – loved. Indeed, he loved all of God’s creation. St. Francis serves as a model for our deacons today and for all of us of how to live, how to act and how to “be” culminating in his famous attribution, “Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” Following this example, deacons today are called to renew and strengthen their love of God and his people. Deacons enter in their own unique mode into Christ’s mission for the Church, as we all hope to do in the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.
Deacon John Krenson
Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (USA & Canada)
Lord God, we thank you for the gift of family. We acknowledge that our image and name as family come from you.
We believe that within our family lies a home-made holiness. We affirm that it is this household of faith that we experience Your presence. Your forgiveness, and Your love.
We are family. We give thanks to You, for the many joys and blessings that have come to us through our family.
As family, we sometimes feel pain.l And so we offer to You our disappointments, frustrations, and hurts. Help us to forgive those members of our family, including ourselves, who have caused pain.
We pray for the strength to be a light within our family. May we open our hearts, our eyes and ears and carry our light to those in need.
God, Creator of the earth and all its people, help us to be mindful that, as members of one global family, we are equal in Your eyes. Help us to continue to appreciate the diversity of persons in our homes and in our world. As members equal in human dignity, may we build a better world and proclaim our willingness to be the holy people you call us to be.
Amen