Faith That Supports Families

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May 2, 2024

Faith That Supports Families

Catholic Efforts to Strengthen Families and Prevent Child-Family Separation

There is global agreement (illustrated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [1989], the most widely adopted human rights treaty) that optimal support for a child comes from a caring and protective family. In addition, Catholic social teaching (outlined in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church) seeks the whole development of the child within a family setting, affirming God’s plan for family to be a child’s most important source of love, emotional support, and spiritual guidance. Yet, when vulnerable parents and families do not have the resources to meet their basic needs or are otherwise unable to access fundamental protections, the risk of child-family separation increases.

The phenomenon of preventable child-family separation is as old as time. Societal approaches to children at risk of losing parental care are largely informed by cultural beliefs and habits. Faith-based perspectives and responses are—and have always been—an important part of this equation. Christian faith communities have responded to child-family separation in various ways throughout history, contributing to both the propagation and prevention of child-family separation across time and contexts. The Faith and the Family Forum has considered this history in a series of webinars focusing on the theology of the child, children’s care and protection, and the Catholic Church’s role in child-family separation through the development and use of residential care worldwide, during American slavery, in Indigenous communities, and in migration policy and response.

During this webinar, participants considered how the Catholic Church is learning from this history; supporting vulnerable children, families, and communities; and helping to prevent unnecessary child-family separation.

The forum on Faith and the Family: Propagating and Preventing Child-Family Separation across Time and Context is convened by Catholic Relief Services and Georgetown University’s Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, in coordination with the Changing the Way We Care initiative and strategic partners.

Image courtesy of The Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery. Art by James Lesesne Wells (1988).

Resources

View articles, statements, and other resources for this event.

Participants

Sister Shamindani Fernando, RGS

Sister Shamindani Fernando, RGS, is a sister of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd in Sri Lanka. She also is the coordinator of Catholic Care for Children International in Sri Lanka, leading their Community Based Child Protection Program in six locations throughout the country. The project focuses on using child-friendly safe spaces as an entry point for adopting a systems approach to child protection, designed to strengthen the circle of care and rings of responsibility for child protection from immediate primary care givers to the wider community at large including teachers, educators, district officers, and estate officers and management staff.

Frédérique W. Jean-Baptiste

Frédérique W. Jean-Baptiste is the education, child protection and youth program coordinator with Catholic Relief Services Haiti, where she leads a team of child protection professionals. As part of the Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) initiative, the team works to strengthen families and communities to ensure that children and youth remain in, or are reintegrated into, safe and nurturing family care, and to strengthen the capacity of the Haitian government to advocate for and lead a shift from residential to family care for children.

Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa, SMM

The Most Rev. Thomas Msusa, SMM, serves as the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Blantyre in Malawi. The son of a Muslim imam, he left his village of Iba at 7 years old to study and converted to Catholicism at age 12. He joined the Monfort Novitiate in Kampala, Uganda, and was ordained a priest in 1996. He consecrated as bishop in 2004 and served as the bishop of Zomba until 2014. He is the president emeritus of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi and the former vice chair of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa. Archbishop Msusa has advanced interreligious dialogue in Malawi, leading their Committee of Faith Leaders’ mediation team.

Rev. Hans Zollner, S.J.

Rev. Hans Zollner, S.J., is director and professor at the Institute of Anthropology, Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care (IADC) at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is a consultant for the protection of minors and vulnerable persons to the Diocese of Rome and a consultant of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy. He holds a doctorate in systematic theology and is a licensed psychologist and psychotherapist. Author of numerous books and articles, he promotes and leads international research in his area of expertise to promote the protection of minors and vulnerable persons in the Catholic Church and in the society at large.

Mary Beth Iduh

Mary Beth Iduh (moderator) is the senior program manager for faith engagement and strengthening families for thriving children at Catholic Relief Services (CRS). She brings more than 17 years of Catholic international development experience to CRS, where she has worked on child-focused issues in Africa and South America and deepening global solidarity within the Catholic community in the United States. Iduh has an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and dual master’s degrees in pastoral ministry and global macro social work from Boston College.

Faith and the Family Forum