NCCL Feature: A closer look at... FAMILY FORMATION

Every parish can reach parents and families at home with easy-to-organize activities that are delivered directly to the home. There’s no need to create the activities. Curate the resources you need and develop ways to deliver the activities to parents.

​Here are several ideas to stimulate your creativity...

Develop a monthly four-page parent newsletter. Include a feature article for all families, and then specific pages for families with young children, grade school children, and teens. Add the newsletter  to a special section on the parish website (Just for Parents), send it via email, create a social media post, and/or print copies for parents. Create your newsletter by using free resources like NCCL’s Parent Tip Sheets for the newsletter content: ncclcatholicfamilies.org/resource-center/tips (English) and ncclcatholicfamilies.org/resource-center/tips-ES (Spanish). Provide an email address where parents can offer suggestions for future newsletter topics. 

Create liturgical season family home kits. Include a variety of activities to celebrate the season at home (prayers, rituals, Scripture readings, family conversation questions, service ideas, creative activities, and more). Create a web page with the activities; bundle them together into a PDF and send them via email;   print copies to give to parents; promote the kit on social media, etc. Create a short video (on your phone) to provide a visual tour of the home kit and how to use it. See all of NCCL’s free liturgical year resources for families – in English and Spanish – at: ncclcatholicfamilies.org/resource-center/seasonal

Share a weekly lectionary reflection with families. Use one of the already created digital lectionary activities for families and send the activity (or link) via an e-newsletter and/or text to families. Watch for NCCL’s new weekly lectionary reflection for families coming in time for Advent. Check out the weekly Start with Sunday from the Diocese of Bridgeport: startwithsunday.org/subscribe and full episodes at startwithsunday.org/sunday-setup. Share the Sunday Connection from Loyola Press with families: loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/liturgical-year/sunday-connection.

Highlight a family milestone each month. Feature a milestone each month for families to celebrate: calendar year milestones like back to school or blessing of backpacks or start of a sport’s season, life cycle milestones like entering middle school or graduating high school, annual milestones like birthdays and anniversaries, anytime milestones like praying as a family tradition or utilizing my gifts or meal time prayers. Check out NCCL’s two-page, reproducible milestone celebrations at https://www.ncclcatholicfamilies.org/resource-center/milestones. 

Develop a yearlong theme with monthly activities. Sponsor a Bible Story of Month that all families are reading, studying, and applying through videos and creative activities at home. Sponsor a Prayer Practice of the Month that all families can pray each day at home. Include a short video to help parents teach the prayer practice at home. Check out NCCL’s Thread by Thread curriculum with monthly prayer practices for children and the family: ncclcatholickids.org/prayer-threads. Extend the idea of monthly themes  to other topics, such as a virtue or value of the month.

Engage families in serving those in need, caring for creation, and working for justice. Develop an annual gathered service program such as a Family Service Day or Family Service Nights. Develop a monthly family Service Project that families can do on their own. Survey your community to find family-friendly service opportunities that provide families with a direct experience, and to find leaders to assist you.

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 Author:

John Roberto
NCCL Executive Director