The "domestic church" - where faith meets life!
The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity. (CCC, 1666)
The Directory for Catechesis (2020) says:
The family is a proclamation of faith in that it is the natural place in which faith can be lived in a simple and spontaneous manner... It “has a unique privilege: transmitting the Gospel by rooting it in the context of profound human values.
On this human base, Christian initiation is more profound: the awakening of the sense of God; the first steps in prayer; education of the moral conscience; formation in the Christian sense of human love, understood as a reflection of the love of God the Father, the Creator.
It is, indeed, a Christian education more witnessed to than taught, more occasional than systematic,
more ongoing and daily than structured into periods.” #227
On this human base, Christian initiation is more profound: the awakening of the sense of God; the first steps in prayer; education of the moral conscience; formation in the Christian sense of human love, understood as a reflection of the love of God the Father, the Creator.
It is, indeed, a Christian education more witnessed to than taught, more occasional than systematic,
more ongoing and daily than structured into periods.” #227
Family Faith Formation is an approach, not a program
That doesn't mean we don't need to be strategic, we do. We need to articulate our vision, share it, design it, and implement it! But this isn't a "one size fits all" curriculum, or a program you "pop in to a schedule. It's an approach to adapt curriculum or programs to meet the needs of families. It's a way to evangelize a community. Engage Every Family is meant to be the guide that helps you do just that. Read it with your leadership team or your catechists. Hold a visioning day to share ideas and plan for the future of faith formation in your parish. There are questions at the end of each chapter (and at the end of each lesson in Chapter 2) that you can reflect on individually or together.
"It is in the family that a child first learns love, first learns to pray, learns who God is, learns what it means to believe."
Engage Every Family: A Parish Guide to Integrated Faith Formation
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From the Publisher:
As we emerge from the pandemic, parishes have an incredible opportunity to connect the domestic church with the wider parish community. How can we honor the experiences families have had over these many months while inviting them back to the parish? In this practical guide, diocesan and parish leader Denise Utter presents an uplifting, fresh, and flexible approach to faith formation based on the experiences of real Catholic families who have been engaging faith in a whole new way. Each section offers church teaching and questions for discussion with a path to reinvigorate faith formation in a way that fits your parish needs. Read a sample. Order from Twenty-Third Publications. Order from Amazon. |
Endorsements for the book:
We don’t need the numerous research studies to tell us that this isn’t the 1980s or even the 2000s. We’re experiencing it—a whole new world. What we did in the past won’t/isn’t working today. What a challenge and what an opportunity! Denise provides us with a magnificent summary of what we’ve lived and experienced in faith formation in the last few years. Real-life stories, practical examples, and multiple resources provide concrete steps of how to start and how to keep building a faith formation process that engages, empowers, and energizes for every family. This is an invaluable and indispensable book for every catechetical leader and catechist—not for their bookshelves, but constantly at their fingertips. ~ JANET SCHAEFFLER, OP, author and presenter
Filled with stories, examples, and practical wisdom, Denise Utter guides pastors and faith formation leaders in creating parish communities that can meaningfully engage families and nurture their faith at home. Every parish wants to involve families and help them grow in faith. Engage Every Family provides you with ideas and strategies that can actually work in parishes of all sizes and shapes, illustrated by real-world parish examples. Don’t just read this book. Use it as your guide to making family faith formation a reality in your parish—starting right now! ~ JOHN ROBERTO, Lifelong Faith Associates
Denise Utter has been an award-winning pioneer and innovator on the forefront of family faith formation. She has helped adults locally and nationally to feel more competent in working with children and teens. She has empowered multiple age groups to feel more confident in their personal and communal faith. She has done this through modeling the importance of connecting with, understanding, and encouraging families. In this book, she offers families and faith leaders sound theory, superb motivation, and innovative, diverse strategies—all grounded in practice and refinement—to help move us all onward to renewal in faith formation. Her commitment to engaging and equipping others in this important task is a great source of hope and vibrancy for our Church. ~ MIKE PATIN, Catholic speaker and author
Filled with stories, examples, and practical wisdom, Denise Utter guides pastors and faith formation leaders in creating parish communities that can meaningfully engage families and nurture their faith at home. Every parish wants to involve families and help them grow in faith. Engage Every Family provides you with ideas and strategies that can actually work in parishes of all sizes and shapes, illustrated by real-world parish examples. Don’t just read this book. Use it as your guide to making family faith formation a reality in your parish—starting right now! ~ JOHN ROBERTO, Lifelong Faith Associates
Denise Utter has been an award-winning pioneer and innovator on the forefront of family faith formation. She has helped adults locally and nationally to feel more competent in working with children and teens. She has empowered multiple age groups to feel more confident in their personal and communal faith. She has done this through modeling the importance of connecting with, understanding, and encouraging families. In this book, she offers families and faith leaders sound theory, superb motivation, and innovative, diverse strategies—all grounded in practice and refinement—to help move us all onward to renewal in faith formation. Her commitment to engaging and equipping others in this important task is a great source of hope and vibrancy for our Church. ~ MIKE PATIN, Catholic speaker and author