Religious Leaders Join Effort to Provide Resources, Training

February 7, 2009

Author: David Yonke

Source: The Toledo Blade

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090207/NEWS10/902070353/-1/OPINION04

This is the Year of the Parent, and local religious leaders are joining forces to help parents become more involved and more effective in raising healthy, well-adjusted children who will contribute to, rather than be a drain on, society.

Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim clergy already have signed a covenant - and other faiths are invited - committing themselves to "developing ways and means of honoring and supporting parents in their sacred role as we declare 2009 The Year of the Parent" in northwest Ohio.

The Rev. Glen Stadler, one of the organizers, said that when he first became involved in the effort eight years ago, he looked at his own religious tradition, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, to see what resources it provided for parents.

"The first thing that I thought about was baptism. When parents bring their children to baptism, they make certain promises," said Mr. Stadler, interim pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Metamora.

Those promises include teaching children the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, and bringing them to church services.

But what happens after the baptism ceremony? Mr. Stadler asked himself.

"They go home and have a celebration with the family and ... that's it!"

The church was not doing much to support parents, he said.

"It finally dawned on me, after too many years in the ministry, that we are basically just throwing them out there assuming they know what they're doing," he said.

He also looked at the writings of Martin Luther and learned that the 16th-century father of Protestantism placed an extremely high value on the role of parents.

"He said the parent is next to God in place of honor," Mr. Stadler said reverently. "And for me, that says everything that needs to be said about why we want to do this. We want to put the role of parent back in the place where it needs to be and to find ways that support and encourage parents in that role."

Mr. Stadler has been working with the Parent Community Partnership to strategize and develop plans for 2009, the Year of the Parent.

The committee includes an array of faith groups such as the Toledo Catholic Diocese, Cherry Street Mission Ministries, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Greater Toledo, the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, the Northwestern Ohio Synod of the ELCA, the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, the Maumee Watershed District of the United Methodist Church, and the United Jewish Council.