Family Court of St. Louis County Welcomes IP Workshop

On Tuesday, June 3, Interfaith Partnership led a staff development workshop at the Family Court of St. Louis County facility on Brentwood Blvd in Clayton. Nearly twenty case workers attended the presentation, which featured three pre-selected faith traditions of interest to the staff – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Church of Scientology. Steven Rettke, Human Resources Generalist, initiated and coordinated the half-day event with David Mehl of the IP
staff. David facilitated the event, and introduced Mary Pedersen, IP Board member and active member in the LDS community, who presented detailed information on both her own LDS traditions and beliefs, as well as the Jehovah’s Witness faith. Mary then introduced Ellen Maher-Forney, who spoke about the traditions and beliefs of her community of faith, the Church of Scientology. Time for questions and answers was built into the morning schedule; Family Court professional staff engaged the presenters with numerous questions, which had arisen from recent home visits to families of the three faith traditions. Survey responses indicated appreciation for the workshop’s open atmosphere and detailed presentations, and indicated interest in future events to highlight other religious traditions in the St.
Louis area.