Faith at Home
Question: I was raised Catholic and often heard about the benefits of sending kids to Catholic schools. I didn’t have the opportunity to attend one myself, and it’s not possible for my children either. I’m concerned about not being able to provide them with a Catholic education. What advice do you have for nurturing our faith at home? How can I ensure my children still receive the spiritual and moral foundation they might have gained in a Catholic school?
Question: I was raised Catholic and often heard about the benefits of sending kids to Catholic schools. I didn’t have the opportunity to attend one myself, and it’s not possible for my children either. I’m concerned about not being able to provide them with a Catholic education. What advice do you have for nurturing our faith at home? How can I ensure my children still receive the spiritual and moral foundation they might have gained in a Catholic school?
Answer: A Catholic Education is of immeasurable value — it is an investment in your child’s spiritual, moral, and intellectual formation — and worth any sacrifices it entails. Catholic Schools help form a child’s faith. However, regardless of where your child is educated, there are meaningful ways parents can nurture their children’s faith at home. In short, you want to provide positive experiences of holiness and foster a close relationship with the Church. Here are a few key points to consider:
Parental Witness: Parents are the first and most influential teachers of faith. Let your children see your desire to grow in holiness and live out the Gospel. Model the virtues of a Catholic family, especially in your marriage partnership. Pray together regularly and encourage your children to form their own personal prayer habits.
Consecrate Your Home: Create a spiritual atmosphere at home with sacred images, Bibles, and visible reminders of the faith — like the Commandments, the Beatitudes, or the Apostles’ Creed. Display them where your children will see them often. Use technology wisely: for wallpaper on devices, select sacred images or scripture verses and bookmark trusted Catholic websites.
Worship Together: Make Sunday Mass the heart of your week, prepare for it as a family, and talk about the readings, prayers, and homily afterward. Teach your children to participate in the liturgy by singing and praying actively. Get them involved as altar servers, as choir members, or in other liturgical ministries. When possible, attend daily Mass, adoration, and other devotions like novenas or Stations of the Cross.
Teach the Faith: Countless online resources make teaching children Catholic doctrine in age-appropriate ways easier. Use these tools to supplement your parish’s faith formation, sacramental preparation, or youth ministry. Teaching the stories of the biblical heroes and the saints is an effective way to help your children to apply the lessons of faith to their life.
Remember, what you teach children at home will stay with them forever.
Father Joseph Waters is Judicial Vicar, Censor Librorum, and one of the Vicars General of the Diocese of Saint Petersburg.
