Faith Forming Families Network

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Fred Rogers '62 playing the piano at Pittsburgh Seminary

Established in 2024, the Faith Forming Families Network (F3 Network) is an innovation lab that rebuilds the neighborhood—one of mutual care and flourishing as envisioned by our most notable alumnus the Rev. “Mister” Fred Rogers ’62.

About the Faith Forming Families Network

One crucial challenge facing families and communities involved in the spiritual formation (faith) and moral development (character) of children is the disconnect between the parents, elders, and caregivers (families) who engage their children in the home, and pastors, teachers, and leaders who engage children in churches, schools, and social organizations.

Connection, conversation, and collaboration between those who engage children in the home and those who engage them elsewhere allows for effective spiritual formation and moral development. The Faith Forming Families Network reconnects families and communities as partners in the spiritual formation and moral development of young people, and empowers them to define the problems they face for themselves and to discern solutions they will implement together. The F3 Network invites its partners and participants to listen, learn, and lead with one another in order to pilot new programs and prototype new practices of spiritual formation and moral development for young people.

Partners

Our partners in this work include the following:

Theology and Ministry Fellowship

One initiative of the F3 Network is a post-doctoral fellowship in theology and ministry in partnership with the Fred Rogers Institute at St. Vincent College. This fellowship integrates, for the first time, the theological and educational areas of Fred Rogers’ legacy providing tools for parents, caregivers, congregations, and non-profit organizations. Learn more about the fellowship. And meet our 2024-2005 fellow Clarence Wright.

Project Funding

The project is being funded through Lilly Endowment’s Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to help parents and caregivers share their faith and values with their children. With these grant monies Pittsburgh Seminary can collaborate on building upon the legacy of Mister Rogers’ most fundamental commitment: that “every child should be loved exactly as they are.”

Meet the F3 Network Team

Meet the F3 Team

Lynne M. Napoleon Bassett as the inaugural director of the Faith Forming Families Network. “I am honored to be the first director of the F3 Network. Having the opportunity to use my education and experience in convening community groups and collaborating on family-centered, community-based solutions to support the spiritual and moral development of children is a calling very close to my heart. After years of working with families and community partners involved in the child welfare, juvenile justice, and mental health systems, I am excited to work in the spirit of the Rev. Fred Rogers, to ‘build a neighborhood’ around parents, caregivers, and children. In today’s complicated world, this is important and meaningful work,” said Bassett. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (M.S., applied development psychology) and Indiana University of Pennsylvania (B.A., psychology).

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Norma Jean Allen serves as the program coordinator for the Faith Forming Families Network. She previously served in the non-profit sector as administrative assistant at Neighborhood Resilience Project and as president to the Homewood Concerned Citizens Council. Norma has worked the majority of her career in the corporate world of Hewlett-Packard in multiple positions, including executive administrative assistant to the global sales manager and team for 20 years and Medtronic Inc. as regional service coordinator in cardiac rhythm disease management for 10 years. Norma holds a bachelor’s in organizational leadership from Duquesne University. She enjoys everything nature, rock collecting, and spending time with friends and family. 

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Lily Schatz is a research assistant at the F3 Network. As part of that role she is currently researching the moral and spiritual development of children. Lily also serves as the training coordinator at the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library. She previously worked for a Seattle-based technology startup, teaching customers how to use and derive the greatest value from the company’s software. In her free time she enjoys reading, baking bread, gardening, and spending time with her family.

 

Clarence Wright is the first Fred Rogers Fellow in Theology and Ministry in the F3 Network. The fellow serves a two-semester, postdoctoral appointment pursuing research within the Fred Rogers Archive at Saint Vincent College and teaching at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The fellowship honors the ministry and legacy of “Mister” Fred Rogers, who graduated in 1962 from the Seminary and whose work is recognized at the Institute. Dr. Wright’s research entails a close study of Mister Rogers’ “neighborhood ethic of care” and identification of ways to apply the theology undergirding this ethic for 21st century children, especially in urban environments. This will include engaging contemporary media, as Fred Rogers did in the early days of television, developing policy recommendations to address the unique needs of digital-native children, and later publication of notable findings. Read more.

Faith Forming Families Network is part of the PTS Neighborhood Collaborative. Read our Event/Class Guidelines and Policies.