Family involvement enriches religious ed

Parents and students gather for announcements and opening prayer Jan. 20 for family prayer night at St. Therese Catholic Parish in Kansas City, Mo. (NCR/Traci Badalucco)

Kansas City, Mo. — Jennifer Davis hurries from one classroom to the next, peeking through the doorway to make sure things are running smoothly. She stops in the hallway to answer a teacher's question, then disappears around the corner to take care of other administrative duties before her students arrive Wednesday evening for class.

It's a busier-than-normal night at St. Therese Catholic Parish in Kansas City, because Davis is expecting more than the usual crowd.

Students begin to trickle in with their parents, each bundled in coats and topped with hats and hoods, eager to get away from the below-freezing temperatures outside. They chitchat with friends and siblings, and one little girl gives Davis a hug.

To an outsider, it might seem like a typical night of extracurricular activities in any school across the U.S., but these children are here to learn about God. 

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