On Thursday, May 29, more than 30 priests, deacons, and lay leaders from across the Diocese of Toledo gathered at Little Flower Catholic Church for Hope and a Future: Forging Strong and Stable Families in Ohio. The summit, hosted by the Diocese’s Department of Discipleship and Family Life in partnership with the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) and Communio, addressed a sobering reality: in Ohio, over half of all teenagers are growing up without their father at home.
This growing crisis is linked to declining faith engagement, rising violence, and generational poverty—but diocesan leaders are responding with hope and action.
Attendees learned how Communio, a Catholic apostolate focused on evangelizing through healthy relationships and marriages, offers a practical model for parish renewal. Their data-driven, step-by-step approach equips parishes to reach single adults, support couples preparing for marriage, strengthen healthy marriages, and intervene early in struggling ones.
“Communio uses a step-by-step evangelization model and modern data systems to help parishes find and support single people, couples in marriage preparation, married couples who want to go deeper, and marriages that are struggling,” said Nathan Maurer, Parish Life Coordinator for Evangelization and Planning. “All of this comes together to build a parish culture where marriage and family become a foundation for renewal.”
In one county where Communio piloted their outreach, divorce rates decreased by 24% in just three years. “We’re excited to be able to recommend Communio to our pastors and parish leadership teams—and for the near future, at a significantly discounted rate for our diocese,” Maurer added.
To learn more, visit Communio.org or contact Jared Smyth at jsmyth@communio.org.
Posted June 5, 2025 at 4:34 pm