Faith Formation Begins at Home

When I began this parenting journey, I was about as far from a "read aloud parent" that you could be. It wasn't really part of my upbringing, and since reading out loud is so much slower than reading silently, I was mostly frustrated with this supposedly blessed time with my children. What I've figured out over the past 15 years, however, is that reading books and even watching movies with   my children offers an awesome opportunity for formation and reflection that we wouldn't otherwise have.  The stories that we listen to and watch have a profound impact on us, and when we listen together with our children, I think that the impact is infinitely greater. I've been trying to figure out how to write about the movie, The Greatest Showman,  ever since we first watched it several weeks ago. Something in the movie resonated deeply with me, but whenever I try to talk about it, I end up babbling incoherently and finishing up with something like, "You should ju...

After 13 years working as a catechist in my parish, 9 years as Director of Religious Education, I attended a farewell celebration yesterday. It was bittersweet and beautiful. Families who attended were encouraged by the dear ones who organized the party to bring flowers for their children to "arrange" which became the centerpieces for the lunch, as well as centerpieces (and bathroom decor, and kitchen windowsill adornments, as well as pretties for my bedrooms and countertops....) for my home after the event. Each of the flowers represents their prayers for me as I move to new pastures, wherever they may be. A painting was also "commissioned" for me (which one of my dearest friends, Michelle Werner, painted), which was to serve as a summary of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, our shared passion and life's work. I commented that I had never had a portrait painted of me before, but I'm pretty sure I'm the sheep in this painting. It probably would have tak...

Gorgeous babies always stop me in my tracks. Big eyes, adorable smiles, and curly locks usually do me in. Babies also have that fantastic quality of holding your gaze longer than would be socially-acceptable with another adult, and they often look at you as though you are the most interesting person in the world. Babies make us feel like the world is an amazing place and everyone loves everybody. No wonder it is so natural for us to heap heartfelt acclamations of praise on the little darlings. Twice lately, after telling a couple of parents that their adorable babies had stolen my heart, the parents shared with me a great concern that their child will become vain or equate her value only with her looks because of how often she is told how beautiful she is. "I try to tell her she's smart, too." While I have no doubt that their one-year-olds were both geniuses, I tried to help allay their concerns that always telling their child how beautiful she is might somehow turn h...

In February of this year, my parents took off on a trip to St. Lucia where they sailed in a catamaran for eight days with my very talented uncle Tom as captain. When they returned, I sat at their feet for the better part of an hour (maybe 2), listening to the stories and watching the picture slide show of their adventures. I learned how important it is for your anchor to stay where you put it (yikes)! Also, it takes a good deal of skill and can be a bit choppy, but you can sail INTO the wind! If you really want to get somewhere amazing, which in their case was the lovely Sugar Beach, you might have to put up with the rough waters and the sea sickness that goes with it. They never went on trips like this when we were kids, and as I sit in the midst of raising 6 children, I look forward to the future with hope. I am not mourning, but celebrating, my own yearly passing from the beauty and adventure of youth to beauty of age and wisdom as I hit 39 years this month. Watching my parent ...

Post from 2015 at my previous blog!  It really puts into focus my work on helping families form their children and I thought it would be an interesting start to this new blog! I read a really thought-provoking article last week that made me reflect more deeply on what exactly a religious education program can and can't offer families. The article was critical of the Church for her "hero complex"--you know, the tendency for priests, DREs, youth ministers, Catholic school teachers and catechists to swoop in and attempt to evangelize and catechize a child who has little to no understanding of the faith,without really identifying and addressing the problem that kids are coming to them as "spiritual orphans." If I had to make an educated guess, the common practice of letting someone else besides the parents form children in faith is probably the fault of some well-meaning people from years ago who led a subtle or not-so-subtle campaign to tell parents: "Yo...