It is intended to draw adults and youth closer to the heart of Jesus and to equip families to live the faith fully in the home. In includes:
For more information or to register for Journey Home, please contact Andrew Zeisel, Discipleship Director, at 763.972.2077 x 111 or by email [email protected]
The quick answer: we have found it doesn't work to keep children growing and connected in their Catholic faith.
The average (median) age that a Catholic leaves the Church is now 13. Children need to see on a regular basis that being Catholic means something substantially better than whatever else the world offers. The Christian world view used to be instilled by school and society and parents/families and the Church: however, at present, God has effectively been banished from most schools; the new religion of society is secularism/relativism; and only 50% of children will spend years 0-18 with the same two parents.
Dropping our children off for an hour or two to be taught in a classroom by other people is not the answer. We must spend more time learning from our parents -- our primary teachers -- what it means to be Catholic. Praying together, attending Sunday Mass together, and learning together is what our children need.
In the Journey Home program, we invite families to reach out to us with their requests -- is their child ready to learn about Jesus and receive Him in the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Communion? We have resources and do a wonderful retreat for both the children and the parents. Is their child ready to learn about Confirmation? We can help prepare the student. Do they want other resources to use in the home to foster a richer prayer life? We have those. Do they want to come to our in-person meetings held throughout the year to learn more how to live the faith in the home? We host those and have catechists for the different age groups.
As one family stated: "Our family had participated in the Faith Formation program at our previous parish, but after several years of having our children complete the very similar workbooks, it became difficult to get them to listen to the lesson, let alone complete it. Last year, we opted to do our own version of Family Formation at home, which went "ok," but wasn't really what we had envisioned. When we signed up to participate this fall at St. Max in Journey Home, we didn't really know what to expect. My husband and I were happy to learn that it was going to be "different," acknowledging that the old way really didn't work. In our limited experience in our home, we knew this to be true. In the few sessions we have attended at St. Max, we have been thrilled with what our children are sharing with us and with what we, as parents, are gaining. The sessions are fruitful and wonderful reminders that we, as families, are the Domestic Church. Our faith is meant to be lived."
Two books which were very helpful in developing the philosophy behind Journey Home are: