National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministers
Strengthening the Church’s Commitment to Families
2021 Conference
Saint John Paul II National Shrine
3900 Harewood Road, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Registration is Open!!
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July News Nugget
We’re up to July in the year of St. Joseph. What wisdom can this image of the caring father does summer bring to us? Joseph taking Jesus and Mary to the seashore? Joseph planting a small garden for Mary, to raise vegetables? There is so little in scripture that tells us about Joseph that we end up creating our own pictures, our own stories.
In his letter, Patris Corde, Pope Francis lists the following attributes of Joseph:
a beloved father
a tender and loving father
an obedient father
an accepting father
a creatively courageous father
a working father
a father in the shadows
The Pope tells us, “In every exercise of our fatherhood, we should always keep in mind that it has nothing to do with possession, but is rather a ‘sign’ pointing to a greater fatherhood. In a way, we are all like Joseph: a shadow of the heavenly Father, who ‘makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust'(Mt 5:45). And a shadow that follows his Son.”
If you haven’t read the letter, it is a lovely tribute to St. Joseph.
Resources From Our Organizational Members
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.
Organizational Member Spotlight
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