The Spirituality of Fatherhood: Developing a Faith Formation Program for the Archdiocese of Chicago

Willie Robert Cobb Jr.

Etd

The Spirituality of Fatherhood: Developing a Faith Formation Program for the Archdiocese of Chicago

Public Deposited

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Willie Robert Cobb Jr. The Spirituality of Fatherhood: Developing a Faith Formation Program for the Archdiocese of Chicago. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/22c3e954-9e3d-479e-88cc-d4e7a0205034.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

W. R. C. Jr. The Spirituality of Fatherhood: Developing a Faith Formation Program for the Archdiocese of Chicago. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/22c3e954-9e3d-479e-88cc-d4e7a0205034

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Willie Robert Cobb Jr. The Spirituality of Fatherhood: Developing a Faith Formation Program for the Archdiocese of Chicago. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/22c3e954-9e3d-479e-88cc-d4e7a0205034.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Willie Robert Cobb Jr.

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Abstract

This thesis-project set out to explore the current faith formation programs offered in the Archdiocese of Chicago and the experience of fathers within this context, to support the spiritual growth of fathers and to explore how the church is called to support that growth through faith formation. The meta-method employed for this thesis-project involves the four “movements” of the “pastoral circle” developed by Joe Holland and Peter Henriot, with two additional steps—engagement with theory and correlation. The process included both a broad approach and a personal outreach to those working in the African American and queer communities. Direct outreach to various parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Chicago entailed making phone calls, sending emails, or stopping by a total of 32 parishes. In the end, three focus groups were conducted. The moderator completed all the necessary IRB paperwork and permissions prior to the session meetings. The moderator encouraged participation from each participant in order to elicit information from every single person in the group. To facilitate the discussion, questions were presented to allow the participants to reflect on and share their experiences. Genograms were used to help the participants consider the impact of their personal family history on themselves and their children for several generations back. The project presented and answered the following questions: Does the Archdiocese of Chicago play a role in helping fathers understand how to raise their children, how to fight stereotypes they face about their fatherhood, and how to share their spirituality with their children in a way that interrupts patterns of violence and confronts the social issues they encounter? A two-tiered program was developed to address the concerns that were presented through the course of the project to provide agency for fathers in developing their own spirituality.

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