STANTON — Families looking for others who share their Catholic faith have had a group, Parents with Young Children Ministry, for a number of years now in the northern part of the Diocese of Wilmington. The organization has recently had a name change, one that its founder says more accurately reflects what it is all about.
Authentic Intentional Catholic Families is the new name of the organization. Ruthie Coutinho, who founded PWYCM eight years ago, said the new name came to her while she was praying.
“I think it’s more welcoming because it’s not just little kids now. It’s older kids, too,” she said recently at a summer cookout at Delaware Park. Some families had children with a wide age range, and they weren’t sure they could include their older offspring.
“We’re just trying to get more fellowship and a more authentic bunch of Catholics that are intentional about their faith,” she said.
Coutinho, a member of St. John the Beloved Parish in Wilmington, owns her own company and works from home. She said she had trouble meeting other Catholic families, so she started PWYCM. More than 100 families are currently involved with AIFC. She and her husband, Cecil, have three children: 8-year-old Isaiah, 7-year-old Julia and 5-year-old Zelie.
The size of the group makes holding events at members’ homes impractical, so they go to parks and other locations that can handle a crowd. In June, that was a park inside Delaware Park, with large trees providing cover from a blazing sun.
Mike Kwiatkowski of St. Patrick’s Church in Wilmington enjoyed the afternoon with his wife, Lisa, and their five children. He said he had started attending Mass again about five years ago and wanted to be more involved.
“Within two weeks, I’m just sitting in a pew, and Cecil came up and said, ‘Hey, we have a prayer group, and we have a group for Catholics with young families. You should check it out,’” he said.
He attends the men’s prayer group, which meets once a week in the early morning, along with as many of the events as he can. The people keep him coming back.
“Everybody’s rowing in the same direction,” Kwiatkowski said. “We all want the same thing. We want to get closer to God.”
The men’s prayer group serves as a motivation and inspiration for him, and he likes hearing how the prayers apply to his life.
The women get together for faith-sharing one night per month.
Kwiatkowski said AIFC also helped provide the courage to quit his job to stay home to school his children.
“That wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t see all these other people doing it. It’s scary and we’ve never tried it before, but let’s do it,” he said.
Karen and Michael Mitchell have two sons, Noah and Harrison, ages 13 and 6. Michael works with Cecil Coutinho, and his family has been part of AIFC for years.
“It’s important to have friends who share the same faith and the same set of values. There’s a really strong feeling of friendship and community,” said Michael, a member of Holy Family Parish in Ogletown.
Karen Mitchell said they attend as many gatherings as possible; she appreciates the camaraderie and support.
AIFC is not affiliated with St. John the Beloved, but Coutinho said the parish has been very supportive of its efforts. The group advertises its events in the parish bulletin and would like to get into other bulletins around the northern part of the diocese.
Anyone interested in joining AIFC or finding out more about the organization can contact Coutinho at slcordero@aol.com, text (484) 554-5618.
