The gift establishes a new Spirituality of Parenting initiative led by LMU’s Center for Religion and Spirituality
Loyola Marymount University has been awarded a five-year grant of $1.2 million by Lilly Endowment Inc. to fund the Spirituality of Parenting initiative, led by LMU’s Center for Religion and Spirituality and supported by LMU’s Center for Ignatian Spirituality. The initiative is intended to deepen the spiritual formation of parents and caregivers within a Christian-faith framework, with a special focus on the pressing need for such support among immigrant Latino families. By integrating Christian spirituality and practice, the Spirituality of Parenting initiative will provide participants with a foundation for building a thriving family life and nurturing children’s faith.
“I am grateful for Lilly Endowment’s generosity and vision in supporting this new project, which exemplifies LMU’s commitment to our Catholic values and innovation in education,” said LMU President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D. “As our institution evolves, we strive to meet the needs of our diverse constituents while maintaining our foundational focus on the whole person that renders the LMU experience extraordinary.”
The new initiative will offer an experiential, integrated, communal model of faith learning that is accessible within the context of the family. By focusing on the spiritual needs of parents, families, and children, the initiative will not only support their faith formation, but also provide families with opportunities to learn from — and incorporate — the grace, wisdom, and spirituality that arises from the experience of being a family unit and to share this wisdom with the larger community. Through LMU’s initial needs assessment and ongoing evaluation process, the initiative seeks to add to the body of knowledge on best practices for faith development in families and, ultimately, impact how congregations and churches address this need among families in their communities.
Robert Hurteau, director of the Center for Religion and Spirituality, explained that the idea for the Spirituality of Parenting initiative emerged during the pandemic, when many parents were asking what they could do at home to continue their children’s faith.
“The continued generosity from Lilly Endowment allows us to explore more deeply the idea of parents and caregivers as a vocation, where religion and spirituality are the foundation of family life, Hurteau said. “Yes, believers go to church on Sundays, but in this program, we are asking how we can support families to live their faith more fully within the home. We want to focus on the sacredness of home and family life — precisely in all its messiness and grace.”
The Spirituality of Parenting initiative will begin by focusing on two of LMU’s most robust existing networks: Southern California’s Latino Catholic immigrant community and the faculty and staff of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) network. The program will be offered first in Spanish to the former group and then in English to the latter. Topics will be considered from the perspective of communities being served, and content will be explored and reflected upon from the perspective of the participants’ lived experiences and the reality of their worlds.
“The Spirituality of Parenting initiative invites participants to see caregiving as a spiritual path,” said Elsy Arevalo, assistant director of the Center for Religion and Spirituality. “This is a path that is truly transformative, and when entered fully, can lead one toward greater union with God, self, and others. With its commitment to Jesuit and Marymount values and its focus on educating the whole student, LMU is an ideal institution to carry out this project.”
The Spirituality of Parenting initiative is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative, which aims to help parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children. LMU is one of 77 organizations receiving grants through this competitive funding round. Reflecting the diversity of Christianity in the United States, the organizations are affiliated with mainline Protestant, evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Pentecostal faith communities. Many are rooted in Black, Hispanic, and Asian Christian traditions.
“We’ve heard from many parents who are seeking to nurture the spiritual lives of their children, especially in their daily activities, and looking to churches and other faith-based organizations for support,” said Christopher L. Coble, Lilly Endowment’s vice president for religion. “These thoughtful, creative, and collaborative organizations embrace the important role that families have in shaping the religious development of children and are launching programs to assist parents and caregivers with this task.”
