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Family Catechesis
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"Here is the true transformation I hope to achieve: family catechesis is not only a renewed approach to preparing our children to receive Baptism, Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist, but is also a shift in focus toward lifelong faith formation with adults. After receiving these wonderful sacraments around the age of discretion, children will continue receiving faith formation with their families, growing in their prayer lives, developing virtuous hearts, and learning more about the great truths of our faith. In all of this, parents will be challenged and empowered to be the primary catechists, with the support of our parishes, in handing on our Catholic faith to another generation." - Bishop Wack in his Pastoral Letter Reborn, Anointed, Nourished: Faith and Formation for Life
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Family CatechesisAs our diocese shifts to a restored order of the sacraments of initiation, an accompanying adjustment in catechetical focus is vital to making this effort an opportunity for renewal. Our parishes will be striving to implement a family catechesis approach to instructing both children and adults in the faith. By this we mean to slowly move away from catechetical models where parents entrust the bulk of catechetical instruction to the parish, Catholic school or particular ministry to catechetical models that directly engage the whole family as a unified subject and empower parents to lead their children as primary educators in the faith. Specific programming choices and methodology will vary across the diocese but this renewal in catechesis lead families together in continual discipleship formation even after a child has completed preparation for and received the restored order of the sacraments of initiation.
Resources for Transition to Family Catechesis
Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee White Paper on Family Catechesis - July 2024
Click above to read our diocesan white paper which provides a history of catechesis in the Church, the essential principles of family catechesis, potential models for various parish settings and intended fruit.
Our diocesan catechetical partner, Franciscan at Home, has put together a helpful series of workshops and webinars on family catechesis.
Franciscan at Home workshops (login required):- Workshop: Shifting to Family-Centered Formation
- Workshop: The Family as the Context of Catechesis
- Workshop: Family: Domestic Church and School of Holiness
Franciscan at Home webinars (no login required):- Webinar: Effectively Reaching Parents (this webinar has a PDF handout -click here to view)
- Webinar: Parents - Protaganists of Their Family's Formation
- Webinar: Evangelizing Families Todays: Engaging Parents as Partners in Faith Formation (this webinar has a PDF handount - click here to view)
Programming Suggestions for Parishes
- A Family of Faith (Sophia Institute)
- Word of Life Series (Augustine Institute)
- Alive in Christ (Our Sunday Visitor)
- Forming Families: A Faith Resource on Catholic Identity (Dr. Kathie Amidei)
- Pathways Formation Suite (Faith and Family Life Catholic Ministries)
- Christ Our Life Family Catechesis (Loyola Press)
- Finding God Family Catechesis Parish-Home Hybrid (Loyola Press)
- Family Formation (FamilyFormation.net | Catholic Church of St. Paul in Minnesota)
- Families Forming Disciples (Archdiocese of Atlanta)
- Finding God Family Catechesis (Loyola Press)
- Early Catholic Family Life
Parent Led at Home Family Catechesis Resources
- Faith and Life Volume 1 and Volume 2 (Ignatius Press)
- Lectio Series (Archdiocese of Denver)