Promoting Family Faith at Home - CATECISTA Magazine (2023)

Key Strategies for Building Catholic Families

Roberto John

We know how important parents and the whole family are in the formation of the faith of young people. The United States Catholic Bishops' Conference declares that the family "is our first community and the most fundamental way in which the Lord gathers us, forms us, and works in the world" (follow the path of love). We know that Catholic identity takes root in children's lives primarily through the family's daily religious practices and the way parents model and share their faith through conversation, collaboration and exposure to outside religious opportunities ( please referAn Account of Catholic Religious Education in America, Justin Butkus and Christian Smith, page 7). Parents are simply the greatest influence on the religious and spiritual outcomes of youth (follow the path of love).

The family is the community in which the practices of the Christian faith are nurtured and developed. We have found through research that certain religious practices make a significant difference when it comes to building the faith of children and young people at home. Key practices include:

1. Read the Bible as a family and encourage young people to study the Bible regularly.
2. Pray together as a family and encourage youth to pray personally
3. Help people in need as a family and support youth work activities.
4. Eat together as a family
5. have family talks
6. Discuss beliefs, religious issues, and questions and doubts.
7. Ritualizing important family moments and important experiences
8. Celebrate religious holidays and seasons at home
9. give moral instruction
10. Get involved in a faith community and regularly attend Sunday family worship.

strategies for success

What approaches can we use to equip and support parents and families to incorporate these practices into their daily lives so that they become “habits of faith”? Here are some strategies for promoting faith practices in the home, including incorporating these practices into our current parish and school programs and creating new initiatives to equip and support faith practices in the home. We'll start with three basic strategies and then move on to
more “programmatic” ideas.

1. Build a digital platform, through your church or school website, or building a family faith-building website. To reach parents, we need to use digital tools and methods, and a family-friendly website is essential these days. The site is the resource hub and portal (ie, links to other online resources) for faith-building content (printed, audio, and video resources and activities) for families to engage in at home. A church or school can develop a family faith education website that introduces each of the faith practices with engaging activities (print, audio, video, apps, and more) aimed at families with young children, older children, teens, older teens, and for The whole family are tailored, including practical information and videos for parents.

2. Offer “how-to” help to parentsso that they feel safe and competent to participate in faith practices at home with their children and youth. Provide parents with practical online information (print, audio, video) with real-world activities to do at home. A simple way to do this is to create a short video of the children or young people experiencing the activity and make it available on the website or on a dedicated YouTube channel for their families.

3. Communicate regularly with parentsUsing a family newsletter via email or SMS to highlight online activities and videos. Use social media to reinforce and spread the practice. For example, create a faith-building Instagram account with photos of children and youth participating in the program or classroom activities, and then invite parents to post photos of their families participating in the activity.

4. Integrate belief practices throughout the year.Teach the practices through experiential activities in children and youth programs, and then invite parents to deepen the practice through ongoing experiences at home that you provide online for easy access. This strategy can bring great rewards from childhood to adolescence. Imagine the difference it would make if families focused on one Bible story or prayer each month
Practice every month for 10 years. Here are two examples:

◗ BIBELLESEN:Develop a Bible Story of the Month plan to introduce children and youth to important Bible stories and teachings and teach them how to read, interpret, pray, and apply the scriptures in their lives. Select 12 of the most relevant and appropriate Bible stories for ages 5-18. Incorporate Bible teaching into a session or program each month; Use videos to help you. (Check out the animated videos belowTheBibleProject.comdas enJellyTelly.com.) Then provide online resources for parents to deepen the Bible story by reading the story, watching the video, and discussing the story.

Make sure families have a good children's Bible:The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every story whispers His namevon Sally Lloyd-Jones (ZonderKidz), eThe Catholic Children's Bible(St. Mary's Press) are excellent resources. Another free resource is Reading the Bible byLiving well: Christian practices for everyday life.

◗ PRAYER:Develop the prayer life of children, youth, and families by focusing on learning Catholic prayers, teaching different forms of prayer, and experiencing a prayer practice each month during the class or program. Have the children and youth experience the different types of prayer: contemplative, biblical, intercessory, praise (worship), and thanksgiving. Develop a short video of children or youth praying so parents can see the prayer in action. Provide online prayer activities and resources for parents to continue the "Prayer of the Month" at home.

Living well: Christian practices for everyday life offers excellent online prayer resources for
Pais.

5. Celebrate the seasons at homeFind a monthly seasonal event that reflects the seasons of the church calendar and the seasons of the year, and then post the activities on the family website. Incorporate scripture, prayer, learning, service and action, ritual, and family conversation into all seasonal events. Highlight a Christian practice that is communicated and lived at each event.

For example:
◗JANUARY:Martin Luther King Jr. (work for justice and peace, serve)
◗FEBRUARY:Valentine's Day (Love)
◗MARCH:Lent (praying, serving/giving alms, forgiving)
◗APRIL:Earth Day (Caring for Creation)
◗HE CAN:Mother's Day (honour parents, nurture with love)
◗JUNE:Father's Day (Homage to Fathers, Love, Caring)
◗JULIUS:Independence Day (working for justice)
◗AUGUST:Back to School (celebrating new beginnings)
◗SEPTEMBER:Fall Harvest (Be Thankful, Be Generous, Take Care of the Earth)
◗OCTOBER:San Francisco (Farming, Animal Care, Simple Living)
◗NOVEMBER:Thanksgiving (be thankful, serve, live hospitality)
◗DECEMBER:Advent and Christmas (celebrating rituals, praying, serving)

A church or school may develop festivals and family gatherings to support the seasonal schedule that utilizes the four seasons (fall, winter, spring, and summer) or the seasons of the religious year: Advent and Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost.

6. Connect families to Sunday worshipIncorporating Sunday preparation into programs for children and youth, and then deepening the Sunday worship experience at home through activities, practices and resources from a variety of age-appropriate and family-friendly digital content on the site. These activities may include family discussion questions, a weekly table ritual, a sermon podcast or a parenting study guide video, creative Bible activities for children, picture books, videos depicting the Bible story, daily prayer, and weekly family devotionals.

7. Create family immersion experiences in faith practices.Design extended programs (half-day, full-day) that teach faith practices through immersive, church-based or community-based experiences where families can experience a practice firsthand, such as: B. Hospitality in a homeless shelter. House serving a meal in a soup kitchen. , or care for creation by planting a garden. Combine the church experience with family activities at home.

Replace an age group program with a family program, or add three or four family programs throughout the year that teach a practice of faith by sharing it with the whole family.

8. Develop skills for family lifeadding a parent-child/teen component to age group belief formation; or adding special parent-child/teen programs throughout the year. Focus on the types of skill development that strengthen family life and parent-child/teen relationships, such as (encouraging and praising one another, giving feedback, standing up for one another) and treating one another with respect and dignity. Many of these skills can be developed through films chosen for their positive message. An example of a film that provides a basis for subsequent activities is Disney/Pixar's Inside Out, about the emotional life of a growing child.

Try one or more of these ideas in your church or school over the next year. In today's faith formation there is nothing more important than equipping and supporting parents and the whole family to become communities of faith practice.

Johann RobertHe is part of the Vibrant Faith leadership team where he serves as the Training Services Coordinator. His publications includeFaith formation with a new generation(2018),Families at the heart of faith formation(2016),Adult Faith Formation Times(2015),Rethinking Faith Education for the 21st Century(2015),generations together(2014), zFaith Education 2020(2010). He is the founder of LifelongFaith Associates and the Center for Ministry Development.

This article was originally published inCatechetMagazine, March 2019

FOTOS: (T-B) GEORGEMURESAN/ISTOCK, ALDOMURILLO/ISTOCK, GEORGE MARTELL