Will our faith have children?

The Catholic home becomes the agent of faith

We tend to look at this question from the perspective of the child — will our children have faith? Theologian Walter Bruggermann switches the emphasis to faith — will our faith have children?

When we walk into our churches on Saturday evening or Sunday morning, we see the gift of faith bestowed mainly on our seniors, some middle-agers, a sprinkling of youth, if any, and a few children.

That gift of faith cherished by our seniors was nurtured and supported first and foremost in their families. In their day, the “Catholic Culture” saw the church and their faith connected in one way or another to everything that they did and nothing was more important than the mentoring role their parents provided.

Now the Catholic Culture has been replaced by a secular culture that seeks to banish all religions from the public space — making our families the only place where faith is passed on assisted by the church.

The catechism of Catholic Church recognizes the important role parents play in their children’s faith formation, naming them their children’s first catechists. The root of the word catechist means to echo. So parents are called to echo the Good News of Christ.

In the recent past, religious education was left to the professionals and not a lot was asked of parents. Catholic children went to Catholic schools and were taught by religious orders. Now with no religious education offered in public schools and parishes offering an hour or so of faith formation sessions, the vital role of parents in the passing on of faith becomes all too clear.

With the demise of the Catholic Culture, the Catholic home with the support of the parish becomes the agent of faith. The catechists who work to support families by offering weekly catechetical sessions (Sunday school) know the importance of parental participant in a child’s faith formation.

There is support for parents as they strive to carry out their role as the first catechists of their children.

Dan Mulhall, in his lecture on “Partnering with Parents: Making Catechesis Effective,” asks parents to think about the following questions: • What gifts and talents are in

your family?

• What do we do well?

• What about your family brings joy? • What values guide your family life?

• What does it mean to be in a Catholic family? • How should we show others that we are Catholic? • How do we pray and celebrate rituals?

Working together with catechists and the parish community, parents can become comfortable in answering the above questions. Reclaiming the role of echoing the faith and ensuring our faith will have children. Debbie Aker is the catechetical consultant for the Diocese of Antigonish. She can be contacted at catecheticalconsultant@ dioceseofantigonish.ca. The Diocesan Voices is written by various members of the Diocese of Antigonish and appears regularly in the Cape Breton Post.