During a Nov. 29 meeting at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said trust in the Holy Spirit’s help will aid members of the new Blue Ribbon Commission on Parents as Primary Educators.

The commission — which currently consists of 21 members, including clergy, religious, educators, parents and grandparents — will develop recommendations to help form and inspire parents as the first teachers of their children in the ways of faith, as part of the Archdiocesan Synod implementation’s third year.

Taking the form of a committee, with plans to develop subcommittees, the commission will present recommendations for Archbishop Hebda to consider. The archdiocesan Office for the Mission of Catholic Education (OMCE) and Office of Synod Evangelization will be resources for the committee and subcommittees.

The commission will meet once a month through May 2024, when it expects to present its recommendations to the archbishop. The archdiocese could then help provide the recommended resources to parents.

“I’m really grateful to all of you for your willingness to roll up your sleeves and to help us make a concrete contribution to the life of this local Church, most especially, and how we might better assist parents in their responsibility for handing on the Catholic faith to their children,” the archbishop said at the group’s inaugural meeting. He went on to say, “I’m overwhelmed by how many of the people that we invited to participate said yes. It, for me, was a great confirmation that this is an area where the Holy Spirit is moving our local Church.”

Year three (July 2025-June 2026) of implementing the Archdiocesan Synod will encourage parent faith formation, as outlined in Archbishop Hebda’s pastoral letter released in November 2022, “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent from the Upper Room.” Year one of the implementation (July 2023-June 2024) has focused on small group formation at parishes. Year two (July 2024-June 2025) will focus on the Mass.

Year three adopts Proposition 28 of the Synod: “Form and inspire parents to understand and fulfill their responsibility as the first teachers of their children in the ways of faith.”

Archbishop Hebda’s pastoral letter indicated some of the goals of the Archdiocesan Synod implementation’s third year, including equipping parents with resources to help them teach the faith in the home and to encourage and help parents find ways to involve their children in sharing the faith.

Jason Slattery, director of Catholic education and superintendent of Catholic schools for OMCE, said he anticipates the commission “will want to get right down to business.”

“These are people who take seriously the saving message of the Gospel, which produces a real sense of urgency and care for souls,” Slattery said via an email. “Commission members bring rich lived experience and formation in the challenges facing parents. They will likely want to step back and look broadly at the opportunities and resources that might inform their recommendations.”

Alison Dahlman — associate director of educational quality and excellence for OMCE and an OMCE liaison for the commission — said the commission is “a group of people who really want to think creatively about: How can we meet parents in all of the different places that parents are?”

Dahlman said the commission is comprised of “people who want to serve the local Church and the archbishop and have a great love for Christ and for this archdiocese. Secondly, you have people who have been involved, in a variety of ways, with children and their families.”

In addition to members’ expertise, there is a wide age range, Dahlman said, which is “also really important because it spans the total life of a parent and what it means to be a parent.”

In her introduction at the commission’s inaugural meeting, Commission Chair Katie Danielson said she “was so honored to be invited to join this commission” and that she has “lots of thoughts,” as a parent and a former educator.

Danielson said she and her husband, Mike, have seven children. She most recently served as principal of Ave Maria Academy in Maple Grove.

“Catholic education has always been a huge part of my passion,” Danielson said. “I think God just planted in my heart that I’m really passionate about educating people in the faith, especially young people. And then God happened to give me seven of my own to do that as well as I can.”

In addition to the archbishop’s remarks, commission member introductions and fellowship, the Nov. 29 meeting encouraged commission members to consider “the challenges that parents face in today’s world to help form their children” for discussion at the next meeting, Dahlman said.

Archbishop Hebda said a primary aim of the local Church is to assist parents in passing on the faith so that younger generations come to know Christ.

“We want to make sure that our archdiocese, our parishes and our schools are all aligned in helping parents to carry on this important responsibility,” the archbishop said.

Speaking from his perspective as director of Catholic education in the archdiocese, Slattery said: “We know from experience that Catholic parents want to help their children grow and mature into people that God created them to be. We also know that the spirit of the world — in all of its forms — is a huge distraction from the ways that God is inviting us to cooperate with his grace in our lives. Our education and formation ministries exist to assist and support parents in this incredible responsibility.”

Dahlman echoed this sentiment, with a personal hope of hers that through the Archdiocesan Synod implementation process, “parents come to experience the person of Jesus Christ in a meaningful and intimate way and invite their children to do the exact same.”

“I would hope that people are inspired to become a disciple of Jesus and to bring others with them,” she said.