Last week, in a brief, joyful graduation ceremony, sixty participants received diplomas saying they had completed “Love and Limits,” a session led by ASJ (formerly known as AJS) that teaches practical strategies for working with children and families.

Stronger families make stronger communities, ASJ knows, and many parents in Honduras struggle with listening and understanding their children, while also lovingly placing and enforcing limits.

These representatives will be able to take these lessons not just to their own families, but to the dozens of children going through catechism in each church, and to other families in their parish.

“My experience was very good, in that I could apply it to my own life. I have a daughter, and I learned how to improve my communication with her,” said Nora, a participant who also leads child ministries in her church. “We as mothers don’t know everything, but we learn along the way,” she added, smiling.

“I work with some difficult families where there is irresponsible parenting, and many different life situations, but we are going to work as a team to address that and to see what we can do with the families,” she added.

All attendees emphasized this commitment – they wanted to “scatter the seed”, sharing the lessons they learned with other families.

“I’ve learned a lot – these reflections allow us to learn so we can later teach,” said another participant, “What I most liked was to discover the values and talents that are in our church… It encourages me to continue firmly in my commitment of working in the church.”

“May God continue to bless the work of ASJ,” he closed in prayer.

In this and other projects throughout Honduras, ASJ facilitates trainings that give new skills and knowledge to leaders who can then spread the information within their own churches, organizations, and communities. In this way, ASJ’s work can be a catalyst for justice everywhere from the Supreme Court to the family dinner table.