What is CLP?

The Christian Life Program (CLP) is an integrated course intended to lead the program participants into a renewed understanding of and response to God's call to them as Christian couples.  The program has a total of 13 separate sessions, usually held once a week.

Goals of the CLP

Specifically, the CLP is intended to achieve the following:

• Bring the participant to repentance and a renewed faith in Jesus.
• Empower the participant in the Christian life through bap­tism in the Holy Spirit.
• Integrate the participant into a strong environment of support and ongoing formation.

Content of the CLP

The CLP starts with an orientation session, then goes into 3 modules of 4 sessions each.

The first module presents the absolute basics of Christian life.  The second module presents the kind of life that God calls us to, and helps couples to make a reorientation of their lives around Jesus.  The third module helps the couples to appropriate for their lives the power of the Holy Spirit, and provides the basis for continuing spiritual growth.

What is Parish Retreat?

This program has been designed to accomplish four goals.

• Be a source of renewal to the parish and its parishioners.
• Bring back lapsed Catholics to the parish family.
• Establish a base of Couples for Christ in the Parish.
• Foster vocations from the families in the Parish.

RENEWAL TO THE PARISH.
The aim of the program is to have the most active and committed parishioners reaching out to those Catholics who for what ever reason have stopped being part of the active life of the Parish. The committed get involved in the rejuvenating the parish through their involvement of re-evangelising non-practicing brothers and sisters. This act develops their faith as well as fulfilling the gospel commission of bringing good news to those who have been lost. In sharing their time and talents they can be instrumental in bringing back all those who are open to being members of the Church once again.

BRING BACK LAPSED CATHOLICS.
This program gives permission for non-practicing Catholics to return and be part of the active life of the Church. Often, Mass alone does not necessarily make them feel welcome or part of the Parish. This program is designed to enable these people to have an entry point where they can in a non-pressured way be heard and develop relationships with those who genuinely want them back. It is a basic need in all of us to belong to something. We enjoy membership of something that provides this.

ESTABLISH A BASE OF COUPLES FOR CHRISTAUSTRALIA IN THE PARISH.
For the total available programs to be rolled out and repeated in the parish, it requires members who are trained in running the programs and who are able to provide the complete suite of programs. Couples for Christ have approved programs for every stage of life. Our basic formation program develops leaders within the parish who will continue running the programs within the parish and then share what they have been given with neighbouring parishes. We find after the retreat that many people wanted to continue and would like their loved ones to get involved as well. For the parish to experience the maximum benefit for kids, youth, singles, widowed, separated and the divorced, parish members need to be given leadership training. This especially applies to the kids and youth ministries. The Youth Program is the most sought after by parishes in Australia. The need for a youth program that can retain youth in the Church is crucial for the ongoing life of the parish.

Couples for Christ Australia places a strong emphasis on the worship (through music) and the social life of the parish. It will assist in establishing a major social event like the Parish Ball where every family member can attend. We believe in putting fun back into being Catholic.

BRINGING VOCATIONS TO THE CHURCH.
Our priests of the future are most likely to come from families who are striving for holiness and living in accordance with Gods plan for families. By placing Gods laws in the hearts of our children and equipping them to go into a world that is hostile to their faith beliefs, is the way we see an increase in vocations coming from the parish. In Adelaide we have three seminarians that have been members of Couples for Christ youth ministry. As we implement these programs we believe we will see more vocations. It has taken Couples for Christ many years to develop the structures, resources and the committed membership to enable us to offer this retreat to your Parish. We believe the Holy Spirit has been using the Australian/Filipino community to be the backbone of this time of preparation.