Catholic Parents as Innovators
Nancy Bandzuch – Catholic Sprouts
After years in education as a high school English teacher, mother of five, and now as the leader of a Catholic Ministry for families–the most important lesson I have learned can be boiled down to one simple phrase:
Get out of the way.
As much as I might want it to be about me and my cool ideas for lessons or projects, it most definitely is not about me. Education, whether it be about adverbs or the Eucharist, is about the student, the learner. And if I insert myself too much, if I get in the way, I ruin everything.
Eight months ago this tiny seed of wisdom grew into a project that won the OSV Challenge from OSV Institute for Catholic Innovation. The Domestic Church Project from Catholic Sprouts might have been our idea, but this six week in-home experience for the whole family makes Catholic parents the true innovators in their own homes.
The Domestic Church Project wishes only to assist families as they discover and embrace their unique calling. Parents are the real innovators, partners with Christ in welcoming new life and bringing those souls into the work of the Church.
‘Get out of the way’ had begun to ring in my heart in the months leading up to the challenge. Reading about the Church’s teaching on the Domestic Church, I was beginning to more fully embrace my own calling to be the primary educator of my children’s faith. At the same time, each day through the Catholic Sprouts Podcast, I was speaking directly to thousands of Catholic children around the world. As the tagline of the podcast advertised, we were striving to plant seeds of faith…but facts don’t necessarily lead to full blown faith. Through the podcast we were learning a lot together, but teaching the faith is radically different than teaching grammar. Really learning about God requires encountering God, and facilitating this via a podcast is impossible.
Besides, the research is clear. The faithfulness of children is dependent on one overarching factor: the faithfulness of the parents.
Therefore, if we have any hope of ending the mass exodus of young people from the Church, we need to empower Catholic parents and equip them to be the faith leaders in their own homes. Because the vast majority of Catholic parents had either poor or poorly received formation, they need a program that trains them to learn the faith with their kids, and then together as a family, encounter the Lord of the Universe through prayer.
The Domestic Church Project is not about me. The Domestic Church Project is about the individual family and the unique, innovative decisions Catholic parents make in their own homes. These choices might seem small: Do we do liturgical crafts? Pray a nightly rosary? Read the stories of the saints before bed? Evangelize to other families and invite them into our home? The choices might be small, but we believe that each family was created as a sacred institution, and God has a specific plan for that family.
Catholic Sprouts: catholicsprouts.com
The Domestic Church Projet: domesticchurchproject.com
