The Diocese of St. Cloud hosted the second annual Festival of Families Feb. 2, at St. Francis Xavier Church in Sartell. The focus of the day-long celebration was to give families the opportunity to get to know each other, share their faith and have fun in the process.
The day began with carnival games and a pizza lunch, followed by a welcome gathering in the church. During the welcome, families were given a “Bingo” card and encouraged to talk with other families to gather the information to fill out the card. The room buzzed with excitement as they talked with people they had never met before.
Sponsor tables lined the room around the carnival games. The Crosier Fathers and Brothers challenged participants to a game, but also offered information about their community and a relic of their patron, St. Odilia for people to view.
“This has been an excellent opportunity for us to engage with the community,” said Crosier Brother Christopher Erran, “We are happy to be able to help sponsor this event and to be able to interact with the community with laughter, education and prayer.”
The afternoon was filled with activity as parents and teens attended break-out sessions, and children were divided into groups rotating from story time to a sing-along, an art project and more.
“We enjoyed the breakout sessions probably the most,” said Becky Wolbeck, who attended with her husband Josh and their young children. “The second session we went to had a parent-led discussion. We got to meet a couple of families that have the same struggles we’ve had and we were able to share some advice with them.”
The event ended with a bilingual Mass celebrated by Father John Klassen of Saint John’s Abbey.
“From the moment we came in, everything was very well organized,” said Sandy Garcia, who attended with her family. “Just seeing all the families come together and being able to participate as a whole community in both English and Spanish was awesome.”
