‘First Step in Faith’

MADISON  The Diocesan Office of Family Life will offer “First Steps in Faith,” a three-session series for parents and their newborn to pre-school-aged children.

The first session will begin by introducing these “little ones” to the concept of the Theology of the Body in simple language that they can understand. It will be held on Mondays, Sept. 12, 19 and 26, from 11 a.m. to noon, at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evangelization here.

Instructor Cindy Costello, coordinator of Marriage Ministry for the Office of Family Life and a married mother of five, will lead fun and age-appropriate lessons for the Theology of the Body, which will include reading stories aloud to the children, and leading them in songs, prayers, and an activity. Sessions will follow the three books by Monica Ashour in the Theology of the Body for Tots series, which introduces children to such concepts as gender differences, self-giving, and freedom to make choices.

“Children can receive an understanding of the Theology of the Body from an early age,” said Costello, a speaker and writer on the subject and many other Catholic topics and a graduate of the Theology of the Body Institute in Pennsylvania. “Children can be led to understand that we as human beings are made in God’s image and are made for love — to love others and love him. That is the goal of our faith: to have an encounter with God,” she said.

“The first session, ‘Every Body Has a Body,’ will offer the children a simple, fun introduction to the differences between boys and girls. The next session, ‘Every Body Is a Gift,’ will present everyday situations to show the ‘little ones’ how we all use our bodies to receive and give love to those around us. The last session, ‘Every Body Is Smart,’ will instruct them in ways our bodies talk to us, how we can respond and how we can make good choices,” Costello said.

Participating mothers will receive links to Web sites about Theology of the Body for children so they can speak further on the topic at home and appropriate prayers to say with their children, said Costello, a parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle in Sandyston.

Between 1979 and 1984, St. John Paul II presented the Theology of the Body — a Catholic understanding of what it means to be a human person, of vocation, and the purpose of our lives to love the Lord and others — in a series of 129 lectures during his Wednesday audiences in St. Peter’s Square and Paul VI Audience Hall.

If “First Steps in Faith” receives a strong response, the Office of Family Life hopes to expand the ministry to Catholic mothers into a group that meets regularly, Costello said.

“We all want to be good moms. It [a possible group] could be for faith-filled moms, who are looking to meet other faith-filled moms. It could be a Christ-defined community for education and evangelization,” Costello said.

[To register, call (973) 377-1004 or go to www.insidethewalls.org.