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About Local Groups

Women for Faith & Family encourages faithful Catholic women to come together on the local level. Some of the reasons you might consider forming a local group in your parish or diocese are:

For all these reasons, we encourage the cultivation of groups of Catholic women -- even small informal groups of friends. Some of these local groups might blossom into official WFF affiliates, though this is not by any means obligatory.

Please pray with us for the Holy Spirit's guidance in forming groups that support and encourage Catholic women in fulfilling our vocations as women and as faithful daughters of the Church. 

To Help You Get Started

To make the idea of a local Women for Faith & Family group a reality, here is what we can do to assist you in getting started:

We can help you contact interested women in your area, if needed.
In many cases, we may be able to provide names of other Catholic women near you (such as signers of the Affirmation for Catholic Women in your locality) whom you may contact individually for the purpose of an organizational meeting.

We can provide complimentary materials.
We can send you as many copies as you need of the Affirmation for Catholic Women and other WFF materials to distribute. (See "Resources" below.)

We can give you suggestions and a simple program plan. (See "Suggestions for Local Meetings" below.) We can pass along ideas that have worked well in other localities and often can help you locate speakers, sources for materials, publications, etc.

We can provide a speaker from our staff for an event you might plan for launching your group. (You would only need to cover our travel expenses.)

We can publish news from your new group in Voices. This is an effective means of spreading the word and exchanging useful ideas.

Some basic guidelines:
1. Every prospective member of your group should sign the Affirmation for Catholic Women, the statement of fidelity to the Catholic Church and her teachings. This assures a gathering that will be firmly committed to essential teachings of the Catholic faith.

2. We recommend that a priest serve as chaplain for your group.

3. So that we can maintain good communication with your new group, we need regular reports on all your activities as your group develops. (This might be e-mailed notes, copies of minutes from your meetings, etc.) This communication is especially important as you're getting started.

4. Each group must be entirely self-supporting.

5. The name WOMEN FOR FAITH & FAMILY and the logo may be used only by official affiliate groups. (When you and your associates believe you have a viable affiliate group, you may apply for a WFF Charter. Acceptance of this Charter by both WFF and your group will officially establish your new "WFF chapter".)

6. A reminder: no local group or group member may speak publicly on behalf of Women for Faith & Family, or identify themselves as representing WFF, without prior authorization from a board member of WFF. Only WFF board members may give this authorization.

Note: WFF regards all our efforts as apostolic works of service to Catholic women, their families, and the Church. Thus, a local group is never obliged either to affiliate formally with Women for Faith & Family, or to purchase materials from us.

Suggestions for Local Meetings

 

Basic Program Plan
1. Open the meeting with prayer
Rosary (Mysteries of the day), or prayer from the Daily Office, or a Novena, such as the Novena for the Protection of the Unborn. (This usually takes about 15 minutes, after all have assembled and met one another.)

2. Introduce topic for discussion, distribute materials
Permission is granted to download and print out material from WFF's website for this purpose. The one who leads the discussion (perhaps the hostess) should review the materials in advance, and might prepare brief remarks to open the conversation, focusing on key points of the document to be discussed. (Paper and pencils should be provided for all; women might be asked bring their own notebooks.)

3. Review materials
The first 20-30 minutes could be alternately reading aloud from the text(s) provided.

4. Group discussion
Each person in the group is invited to contribute comments or questions for general conversation. Valuable insights and exchange of ideas can come from this conversation. Allow at least 30-40 minutes. Participants should take notes for questions and further discussion.

5. Conclude with prayer
Prayer intentions for the coming week from members of the group could be mentioned. The closing prayers could include the Memorare; the Lord's Prayer, or another suitable prayer, and might end with the Prayer to Saint Michael.

6. Plan the next meeting
Before adjourning (perhaps for refreshments?) decide on date, place, topic and leader/hostess for the next meeting.

Suggested Topics for Study
A. As you begin to plan an opening series of meetings, we suggest you review the plan prepared by the Pontifical Council for the Family for the international meeting with families in Manila in January 2003. This plan could be adapted to almost any group.

B. We strongly advise study of Familiaris Consortio, the 1980 apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II, along with the 1983 Charter of the Rights of the Family.

We regard these documents as basic to a full understanding of the Christian family. Familiaris Consortio contains essential Catholic teaching on the meaning of marriage, family, the relationships and responsibilities within the family, and of the family with the Church and the world. This apostolic letter was expressly written to families -- and Pope John Paul II intended that it should actually be read by Catholic families, not just by theologians or other "experts". Yet there has appeared an entirely new generation of Catholic families since it was originally written. We think it is most important that young families benefit from this invaluable teaching.

Additional information on Familiaris Consortio is available in the Church Documents section of the Women for Faith & Family web site (e.g., Helen Hull Hitchcock's article "Familiaris Consortio - on the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World", Voices November 2001).

3. The Catechism of the Catholic Church should be a constant reference and resource for all members of the discussion group. (See sources below. The entire Catechism is also on the Vatican web site, and accessible on the Links page on WFF's web site.)

4. The Bible should be available at every meeting for reference. Each member can bring her own copy so she can note passages for review after the meeting. We strongly recommend the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition [RSV-CE], as the most accurate of all the contemporary English translations. (For sources see page 8.)

5. Other Church documents that are essential for Catholic women -- especially mothers ­ to study are the Holy Father's 1988 Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity and Vocation of Women); Pope Paul VI's Humanae Vitae ­ perhaps the most controversial document in recent Church history, though one that is rarely actually read; and Evangelium Vitae, (On Human Life). These are all accessible on our web site.

We hope soon to prepare brief study guides that may be helpful in reviewing these documents.

Resources from Women for Faith & Family Printed Materials

We will be happy to supply complimentary packets for each member of your group. The packet includes informational leaflets about WFF, a copy of the Affirmation for Catholic Women, a copy of Voices, prayer cards, and Novenas.
Be sure to let us know how many packets you will need for your event. (Note: Donations to cover costs of these materials are welcome but not required.)

We can provide additional materials for your group members - prayer cards, Novena leaflets, copies of the Affirmation for Catholic Women, Voices, etc. (See catalog page on our web site for our current offerings, or call us for sample copies.)

Web site resources
Our web site contains many useful resources, including an "interactive" Liturgical Calendar and other Prayers; Church documents concerning women and families; WFF Statements; an "online magazine" on bioethics issues, About Medicine and Morality; our quarterly magazine, Voices (and archives).

NOTE: You are free to download and reproduce information from the Women for Faith & Family web site as study materials for your group or for personal use. Any other use requires special permission. We also warmly invite you to make suggestions for added content.

Recommended Sources
Following are suggested sources of printed or web-based materials for your new study group ­ Bibles, Catechisms, and commentaries.

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PERMISSION GUIDELINES

All material on this web site is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without prior written permission from Women for Faith & Family,except as specified below.

Personal use
Permission is granted to download and/or print out articles for personal use only.

Quotations
Brief quotations (ca 500 words) may be made from the material on this site, in accordance with the “fair use” provisions of copyright law, without prior permission. For these quotations proper attribution must be made of author and WFF + URL (i.e., “Women for Faith & Family – www.wf-f.org.)

Attribution
Generally, all signed articles or graphics must also have the permission of the author. If a text does not have an author byline, Women for Faith & Family should be listed as the author. For example: Women for Faith & Family (St Louis: Women for Faith & Family, 2005 + URL)

Link to Women for Faith & Family web site.
Other web sites are welcome to establish links to www.wf-f.org or to individual pages within our site.

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Women for Faith & Family
PO Box 300411
St. Louis, MO 63130

314-863-8385 Phone -- 314-863-5858 Fax -- Email