Kathleen Conklin has always had an apostolic heart, and has always been called to mission. As a new mother raising her own young family with her husband, Don, she began looking for Catholic organizations where she could both give of her time and receive formation, where families like hers could come and receive support. Eventually, with her degree in education, Kathleen started her own preschool and a business called Perfect Playhouse, a place where families could gather and play together, complete with ball pits and giant slides, but still she felt like something was missing.
Soon after, Kathleen encountered Regnum Christi and the Legionaries of Christ, and heard of a new family initiative being developed in Texas. In response to this personal call to the mission of the family, and in a giant leap of faith, Kathleen and her husband moved their family from Michigan to Texas to work with Catholic Kids Net, and eventually launched K4J (Kids for Jesus), a large apostolate for children and families which ran for 20 years and reached tens of thousands of families across North America.
Through her work with K4J, Kathleen discovered a deep love for vocations. “Looking back, I realized that in K4J, we helped children discover their own mission while also encouraging parents to embrace their vocation to marriage and family life and to remain open to God’s plan for their child.”
As the Advancement Director for Sacred Heart Apostolic School—a pre-seminary high school in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, where young men discern a vocation to the priesthood, and where her son, Fr. Ronald Conklin, LC, serves as rector—Kathleen once again felt a tug at her heart. She sensed a renewed call to continue the mission of the family that had inspired her years ago and to develop a program that would accompany new parents in being open and generous toward God’s plan for their families and their lives.
Motivated by this call and the needs of the family and the Church today, Kathleen and her team have developed First Fruits, a brand-new Catholic apostolate that offers small-group experience designed for parents in the early stages of parenting. Like-minded parents will gather monthly six times a year for two years in a supporting faith-centered community, exploring the plan God has already written deep within their hearts.
Following the teachings of the Church, First Fruits compiles 12 Guiding Principles of family life. Participants will enjoy meeting together, forming friendships, and finding the support and community they need during the challenging life stage of early parenthood. In First Fruits, they will find a strong community of families who live a vibrant Catholic family life and embrace the universal call to holiness.
“God created us for love right in the family, and faith begins at home,” says Kathleen. “What we do in First Fruits is teach parents the basic principles that they need to allow for God to enter in and become a part of who they are as a family, to really welcome him in, and how that translates into their daily lives.”
Over two years, parents will discover the 12 Guiding Principles of First Fruits:
YEAR 1
- Your Family is Sacred
- Fatherhood Shows God’s Love in a Specific Way
- Motherhood Shows God’s Love in a Specific Way
- Each Person is Unique and Called
- Faith Begins at Home
- The Family Prepares Children for Life
YEAR 2
- Families Learn and Live Emotional Maturity
- Family Life Requires and Fosters Virtue
- The Family is United and Works Together
- The Family Serves Together
- God’s Plan is THE Plan
- God is the Source of True Happiness
The program gathers the participants in small groups, with formation occurring through stories and conversation. Each month, parents will enjoy a video, prepared by Fr. John Bartunek, LC, and Fr. John Pietropaoli, LC, that reveals God’s story about one of the 12 Guiding Principles. Next, participants will hear from dynamic lay people who share their personal experiences of discovering the same principle in their own family. Finally, they will listen to an audio story of a real-life example of how that guiding principle is lived in day-to-day family life. Discussion follows each of these sessions, allowing couples and parents to bond as a community. After each gathering, the participants are sent one 15-minute First Fruits Pause each week, designed to be a simple and quick means to practice the guiding principle of the month.
Throughout the program, the group grows closer together through discussion and experiences of true communion. The participants will have an engaging, faith-based experience that helps them feel confident in themselves as parents, and helps them embrace their call to holiness and the joy of living God’s plan for the family. Over time, they will discover their own story, being written in their own family with God.
And this initiative is truly a Regnum Christi endeavor. “Regnum Christi members came together to respond to an urgent need in the Church,” says Kathleen. “Our team benefitted from Regnum Christi formation and has lived the charism within our families for years, and we wanted to give that to the next generation.” For two years, the First Fruits team has worked to develop an experience for parents in the earlier stages of parenting that is simple, enjoyable, and effective. Rather than a how-to or technical manual, the First Fruits team aimed to provide parents with a program that allowed them the freedom to live God’s plan according to their own unique family circumstances. As such, the 12 Guiding Principles will be lived differently in each home, and are meant to be lived and developed over a lifetime, in every stage of parenting. This is why First Fruits is appropriate for all types of families, including single parents and blended families. “It has been a thrill to work together to develop this,” says Kathleen. “It has definitely been a labor of love.”
Indeed, the First Fruits apostolate is a response to the desire of Regnum Christi to strengthen pastoral care for marriage and the family as the basic nucleus of society and the natural place where the person discovers himself, develops, and learns to love. First Fruits has as its mission to invite parents to find a break from the busyness and anxiety of the world and journey together, and to awaken in them the joy of living God’s plan for the family. Its vision is to create strong communities of families who live a vibrant Catholic family life and embrace the universal call to holiness, and to form parents who enthusiastically live communion and mission within the family.
First Fruits will be ready to launch on August 15, 2025. Visit firstfruits.family to register your name and be updated on progress and invited to online and in-person events to introduce you to the program.
First Fruits is also hosting a leadership summit on March 7-9 at Sacred Heart Apostolic School in Rolling Prairie, IN. Summit participants will learn strategies to successfully introduce and grow the First Fruits apostolate within their own parish, school, or community, and deepen their understanding of Regnum Christi’s proven methodology to evangelize today’s culture effectively. To find out more or to register for the First Fruits Leadership Summit, visit their website at firstfruits.family, or contact [email protected] for more information about becoming a cofounder of First Fruits and bringing this dynamic new apostolate to your community. You can also hear more about Kathleen’s story, and the founding of First Fruits, on the For This Moment podcast.
Kathleen Conklin and her husband, Don, live in Atlanta and just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. They have seven children and 13 grandchildren, and their oldest child, Ronald, is a Legionary priest. Kathleen has been a Regnum Christi member for 30 years, and sees her marriage and family as her primary mission, and her pathway to sanctity.
