When we meet someone who is suffering, whether physically or emotionally, we naturally want to be of service to them. Sometimes our fears overcome us, and we avoid opportunities we’re presented with to "bear one another’s burdens" or "mourn with those who mourn" (Mosiah 18:8-9) Other times we step in but viscerally feel our inadequacies. Sometimes we realize our good intentions have gone wrong, and we have said something or done something that has caused even greater pain. Sometimes this happens without our even realizing it. Even with its many challenges, we are all called to learn compassion, to be with each other even in extremity. How can we do this better? In this episode, we talk about all of these things and much more with three persons who are extremely experienced with providing care for those (and the families and friends of those) in great pain, mental or physical duress, as well as those dying: LDS military/hospice chaplains Phil McLemore, Nathan Kline, and Jason Unsworth.

When we meet someone who is suffering, whether physically or emotionally, we naturally want to be of service to them. Sometimes our fears overcome us, and we avoid opportunities we’re presented with to "bear one another’s burdens" or "mourn with those who mourn" (Mosiah 18:8-9) Other times we step in but viscerally feel our inadequacies. Sometimes we realize our good intentions have gone wrong, and we have said something or done something that has caused even greater pain. Sometimes this happens without our even realizing it. Even with its many challenges, we are all called to learn compassion, to be with each other even in extremity. How can we do this better? In this episode, we talk about all of these things and much more with three persons who are extremely experienced with providing care for those (and the families and friends of those) in great pain, mental or physical duress, as well as those dying: LDS military/hospice chaplains Phil McLemore, Nathan Kline, and Jason Unsworth.

Many Latter-day Saints who are negotiating a faith transition, including developing a new relationship with God and the church in which they were nurtured, naturally hope to create a smoother road for their children than they have had themselves. For those who find themselves in this new faith terrain and who still have a strong desire to stay active and raise their children within the Mormon fold, key tasks emerge. How do we parent in such a way that our children will come to feel a rich connection with their faith tradition? How do we help them develop a true sense of belonging while still encouraging them to take responsibility for their own faith, to have a genuine sense of self? How do we convey and help them see and experience Mormonism’s many wonderful offerings while at the same time work to mitigate the effects of some of the misguided and dangerous messaging that strike us as unhealthy. In short, how do we pro-actively parent within a tradition and community in which there is both so much good and so many well-intentioned but potentially harmful messages and practices? In this episode, panelists Brent Beal, Paul Barker, and Aimee Heffernan, join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in a discussion of the Mormonism they all love, what it is that they worry most about their children encountering through their engagement with church and culture, and what messages above all they hope to convey to their children and what are the "best practices" they have tried or plan to try as they raise them within the Church.

Many Latter-day Saints who are negotiating a faith transition, including developing a new relationship with God and the church in which they were nurtured, naturally hope to create a smoother road for their children than they have had themselves. For those who find themselves in this new faith terrain and who still have a strong desire to stay active and raise their children within the Mormon fold, key tasks emerge. How do we parent in such a way that our children will come to feel a rich connection with their faith tradition? How do we help them develop a true sense of belonging while still encouraging them to take responsibility for their own faith, to have a genuine sense of self? How do we convey and help them see and experience Mormonism’s many wonderful offerings while at the same time work to mitigate the effects of some of the misguided and dangerous messaging that strike us as unhealthy. In short, how do we pro-actively parent within a tradition and community in which there is both so much good and so many well-intentioned but potentially harmful messages and practices? In this episode, panelists Brent Beal, Paul Barker, and Aimee Heffernan, join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon in a discussion of the Mormonism they all love, what it is that they worry most about their children encountering through their engagement with church and culture, and what messages above all they hope to convey to their children and what are the "best practices" they have tried or plan to try as they raise them within the Church.