Starting next year, children in the Denver Archdiocese will get confirmed in third grade to fill them with the needed graces to face the ever-increasing difficulties of living a Christian life. The change also restores parents to their rightful duty as primary faith educators of their children.
If you’re a parent, are you ready for that?
If not, Aspen Catholic, the outreach arm of St. Mary Church in Aspen, is offering a dynamic three-day conference, “Reaching Our Kids: Faith and the Modern Family,” to deepen your own faith and equip you with practical ways to instill faith in your children.
“We chose the theme to tie in with the archdiocese’s program to move confirmation to third grade,” explained Father John Hilton, pastor of St. Mary’s and founder of Aspen Catholic, an initiative to provide outstanding spiritual and leadership formation for parishioners and visitors.
“Moving confirmation to third grade is great and we’re excited about it but we’re convinced it will be successful only to the extent that we engage parents,” he said. “We’re bringing in two powerful speakers and they’re going to talk about how you can have a deep relationship with your child and help your child to have a deep relationship with Jesus Christ. It will offer practical tips.”
Set Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at St. Mary’s, 533 E. Main St., Aspen, keynote talks will be delivered by award-winning speaker and writer Jeremy Rivera and by discipleship formator John Leyendecker. Both men are husbands and fathers and have held leadership positions in the highly successful campus ministry, Fellowship of Catholic University Students.
Topics they’ll be addressing include: “Rules, Relationships and Rebellion,” “When Life Doesn’t Turn Out the Way You Expect” and “The Divine Purpose of a Family.”
Holy hours, confession and Mass will be available, as is a Kids Camp (which is free child care, 48 hours notice required).
“Aspen Catholic likes engaging people with the beauty of the outdoors,” Father Hilton said. “So, for those who’d like, we’ll do an outdoor hike and we’ll have fly fishing.”
All married, single and aspiring parents are invited.
“In the past, (the Church has) unintentionally given parents the idea they are not quite capable to teach their children (the faith),” Father Hilton said. “We’re saying, come to this weekend and what will follow is family faith formation: we’re going to equip you.”
Two dinners and two breakfasts are included in the conference cost of $75 non-parishioner individual and $149 non-parishioner couple. Cost does not include lodging. For more information and to register, visit www.aspencatholic.org.