A priest or teacher can talk 'til he's blue in the face, but a we never seem to learn what it means to be Catholic unless we live our faith at home. So how is that done? Keep reading!
You've already got a fantastic start. If you're doing the basics and celebrating each liturgical season, you are well on your way. If your family attends a Catholic school or regular parish religious education classes, even better! Your family still needs planned and guided home instruction. Again, we're here to help! Follow these steps:
- Sign up for our free e-newsletter
- Gather basic materials
- Prepare for guided learning
- Review the learning objectives
- Get started!
We have a few more suggestions, of course, which may also help your journey:
Every Catholic should have an understanding of scripture as God's inspired word, should know basic Catholic doctrine, and should receive sacraments and know why they are important in our lives. We should understand just how important our family, our parish, and our local and global community are to our lifetime faith journey, and, in turn, give service to that community. We also need to understand there are many forms of prayer, try various forms, and experience how they can deepen our personal relationship with God.
Our e-newsletter is designed to help you do all the above! We'll send weekly guides which will lead you through family study of scripture, Catholic doctrine, varied forms of prayer, and plenty of suggestions for living a Catholic life.
- An inquisitive mind
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church
- A Catholic Bible
- Patience - especially if your kids not used to home catechism. Okay, patience is useful even if they are used to home catechism!
This step simply means you need to look over the catechism and the Bible. Don't be intimidated! They are meant to help you live a life closer to God. Open them up. Take a look at the cover page. There is even a table of contents. The catechism has an index in the back. A Bible may or may not have an index, depending on the printer. Our kids love Bibles which have lots of colorful pictures. Just get to know these wonderful books. You'll never regret it!
This is a wonderful book which tells you anything and everything you ever wanted to know about the Catholic Church. After Vatican II the old Baltimore Catechism was no longer considered useful for teaching the Catholic faith. It focused on the memorization of questions and answers, rather than the intelligent questioning of thinking human beings. Our current catechism gives a thorough explanation of our faith. It may look overwhelming; after all, it was written by some of the greatest thinkers of modern Catholicism. However, if you take it little by little, it is a very useable and thought-provoking document.
It is important to be aware of the differences between Catholic and Protestant Bibles.
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Number of books - Catholic Bibles have 46 books in the Old Testament; Protestant Bibles have 39 books in the Old Testament. Both Catholics and Protestants use 27 books in the New Testament. The Catholic canon (the books included in the Catholic Bible) was based on the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the scriptures which had been used since 200 B.C. The Protestant New Testament is the same as the Catholic New Testament. The Protestant Old Testament is the same as the Hebrew canon. Around 100 A.D. Jewish scholars chose the books they wanted to include in their Bible. This occurred after the Jews refused to allow Christian worship in the synagogues, and after the complete destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman army. The Jews decided only books which had never been written in Greek would be allowed in their canon. Although the Christian scriptures remained unchanged for over 1200 years, the leaders of the Reformation decided to reject the Christian canon and accept the Hebrew canon. Interestingly, in modern times Jews have formally thanked Catholics for protecting an important part of their history, that which is contained in the rejected books.
The Catholic Old Testament includes the following books which are not included in the Hebrew and Protestant scriptures:
| 1 Maccabees |
Judith |
| 2 Maccabees |
Wisdom |
| Baruch |
Sirach |
| Tobit |
Sections of Esther and Daniel |
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Interpretation of the Bible - Catholics believe the scriptures are the inspired word of God. They are not dictated to an unthinking "robot-human." They are written by an independent, thinking human being who writes based on his or her own experience and culture.
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Catholics recognize that the Bible is actually a little library. There are many different types of books contained within its covers, including myths, parables, histories, poems, songs, and even science fiction (scholars call this apocalyptic literature). Each book needs to be interpreted based on the type of writing it contains. We interpret myths differently than we interpret histories, for example.
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Scripture and science - Because Catholics are not literal interpreters of scripture, we have no problem with science as long as there is a fundamental respect of basic moral criteria. For example, Catholics can accept the theory of evolution because we also accept the truths inherent in the Genesis stories, that God created everything and made it good. We can embrace both science and faith; it is not an either/or situation.
If you are starting to feel worried, please stop! It's okay if you have not had much catechizing. You can learn with you children, and it can be a fantastic, spiritual experience. To get comfortable looking through the Bible, try this Bible word search. It's a great ice breaker! (Click here for the answer key)
It is important that you know your goals for religious education. Of course you would like your family to develop a strong faith in God, but here are a few more specific goals which our newsletter attempts to achieve:
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Your family will understand that scripture is the inspired Word of God and tells us the story of God's love for us.
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Your family will know the basic teachings of the Catholic Church and use them in your daily lives
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Your family will understand the grace and power of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which binds our faith community
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Your family will appreciate the role of our faith community in their faith journey
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Your family will understand the need to serve others in your community
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Your family will experience a variety of prayer forms, and appreciate how they can be used to deepen your personal relationship with God
Are you ready? Grab your Bible and your Catechism and let's go! Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter - it will give you week by week suggestions for living a Catholic life!
Now don't be overwhelmed by this list. Start with one item and let it become habit. Experiment with new ones as you and your family feel ready. It took us quite a while to get comfortable publicly living our faith. However, doing so has made an incredible difference in our lives. The joy and peace we experience are amazing.
- Prepare for Sunday Mass by reviewing the scripture readings beforehand.
- Participate in our sacraments - you'll feel God's grace fill you as you participate in these signs of God's love.
- Read the Bible regularly. We discuss one Gospel reading and one non-gospel reading each week. Usually we do this over dinner, but not as part of family night. Some amazing conversations and good lessons come from these discussions.
- Regularly celebrate the feast days of saints - this can be simply changing your kitchen candle, or going all out with a party, or both!
- Choose your favorites among Catholicism's many devotions and practice them with your family.
- Volunteer to participate in your parish ministries.
- Learn about Catholic doctrine. Just pick up the Catechism of the Catholic Church, open it up, and start reading a small section. The more you do this, the more you'll understand the beauty and wisdom of our faith.
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