Parent Faith Formation
Retreat Experiences and Related Articles
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Naming Grace in the Domestic Church - Mary Pedersen shares her reflections about the domestic church and finding God in our families and our lives. Find tools and resources for parents, grandparents and faith leaders.
3-Minute Retreats (Loyola Press)
3-Minute Retreats invite you to take a short prayer break right at your computer. Spend some quiet time reflecting on a
Scripture passage.
Online Ignatian Prayer Adventure (Loyola Press)
This is an adapted version of the Spiritual Exercises. The eight week schedule would make it an excellent Lenten/Easter focus, but it can be promoted in your parish any time of the year. It is based on the longer retreat The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O'Brien, S.J.
Online Retreat (Creighton University)
This is a retreat designed for people too busy to make a traditional retreat. People can experience a relationship with God
coming alive in the midst of everyday life. A simple Guide each week places themes, reflections, questions and desires into the background of our busy lives. We learn to find greater focus and to let one week build upon another. Begin any time, but if a person begins the week of September 19th, the retreat fits with the Liturgical Year. People can make the retreat alone, with a spiritual director, or form a group to make the retreat together.
Online Retreats (Good Ground Press)
Good Ground Press provides online retreats that give people a chance to look at where you are in your journey to God, to be more aware of your journey, and of the loving God with whom you journey. Each retreat is in multiple parts and can be experienced over several weeks. Retreats include themes such as Memoir Writing, Women of Prayer and Justice, and Everyday Spirituality: A Busy Person's Retreat.
Why Every Mom and Dad Needs to Make a Retreat (and How to Make It Happen) (Peanut Butter & Grace)
Yes, you need to get away on a retreat, even though your kids are young and you’re too busy. Here’s why, and a few ideas for how to make it happen.
Naming Grace in the Domestic Church - Mary Pedersen shares her reflections about the domestic church and finding God in our families and our lives. Find tools and resources for parents, grandparents and faith leaders.
3-Minute Retreats (Loyola Press)
3-Minute Retreats invite you to take a short prayer break right at your computer. Spend some quiet time reflecting on a
Scripture passage.
Online Ignatian Prayer Adventure (Loyola Press)
This is an adapted version of the Spiritual Exercises. The eight week schedule would make it an excellent Lenten/Easter focus, but it can be promoted in your parish any time of the year. It is based on the longer retreat The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O'Brien, S.J.
Online Retreat (Creighton University)
This is a retreat designed for people too busy to make a traditional retreat. People can experience a relationship with God
coming alive in the midst of everyday life. A simple Guide each week places themes, reflections, questions and desires into the background of our busy lives. We learn to find greater focus and to let one week build upon another. Begin any time, but if a person begins the week of September 19th, the retreat fits with the Liturgical Year. People can make the retreat alone, with a spiritual director, or form a group to make the retreat together.
Online Retreats (Good Ground Press)
Good Ground Press provides online retreats that give people a chance to look at where you are in your journey to God, to be more aware of your journey, and of the loving God with whom you journey. Each retreat is in multiple parts and can be experienced over several weeks. Retreats include themes such as Memoir Writing, Women of Prayer and Justice, and Everyday Spirituality: A Busy Person's Retreat.
Why Every Mom and Dad Needs to Make a Retreat (and How to Make It Happen) (Peanut Butter & Grace)
Yes, you need to get away on a retreat, even though your kids are young and you’re too busy. Here’s why, and a few ideas for how to make it happen.
Parent (Adult) Faith Formation
Weekly Video Clips from Strong Catholic Families/Strong Catholic Youth
The Strong Catholic Families Facebook page offers parents the opportunity to subscribe to their weekly video clips on parenting and the role of parents in nurturing the faith of the children. Go to the Facebook page and subscribe in order to receive the clips via email.
Busted Halo video clips on YouTube
Many playlists provided for adults to explore and learn about the Church and their Catholic faith.
Catholic Spirituality for Adults Series (RCL Benziger)
Ideal for use in adult faith formation. Each book is Scripture-based and explores a dimension of faith from both a spiritual and experiential point of view. Each book in the series reflects Christ’s active and loving presence in the world. The authors celebrate our membership in the mystical body of Christ, help us understand our spiritual unity with the entire family of God, and encourage us to express Christ’s mission of love, peace, and reconciliation in our daily lives.
There are also online resources for small group faith sharing (free downloadable study guides). See details below in that category.
Catholic TV Networks Video Playlist for World Meeting of Families on YouTube
Videos on forming faithful families, and on preparing for the World Meeting of Families.
Coach Parents (Twenty Third Publications)
A range of resources, designed to help you coach parents to take a key role in the formation of their children from baptism, through the years before school, during sacrament prep, in middle school years, and right into youth and confirmation formation in junior and senior high.
Dynamic Catholic
Multiple resources for small group faith sharing, including Rediscovering Catholicism and The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic.
Family/Adult Learning (Our Sunday Visitor)
Articles and videos designed to help foster a deeper understanding of our Catholic faith. Topics include: understanding our Catholic faith, faith and spiritual growth, living the faith today, answering the call and more.
For Your Marriage (The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
An initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, this site explores dating, engagement, marriage and parenting from a Catholic lens.
Outside da Box Formation Videos on YouTube
Their tagline is "Bringing Jesus Christ to the young church through digital media". These videos are great for parents and young people to watch together.
VCat Video Catechism
A collaboration between Outside da Box and the Diocese of Wheeling, this video collections archives 40 video clips under the categories of Creed, Sacraments, Morality, and Prayer. For more information about the project read HERE.
World Meeting on Families - 2015 Philadelphia Held every three years and sponsored by the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for the Family, the World Meeting of Families is the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families. Each World Meeting of Families has a theme that energizes and enlivens the event while adding great depth of meaning to our understanding of families. The theme of the World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 is “Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive,” emphasizing the impact of the love and life of families on our society.
The Strong Catholic Families Facebook page offers parents the opportunity to subscribe to their weekly video clips on parenting and the role of parents in nurturing the faith of the children. Go to the Facebook page and subscribe in order to receive the clips via email.
Busted Halo video clips on YouTube
Many playlists provided for adults to explore and learn about the Church and their Catholic faith.
Catholic Spirituality for Adults Series (RCL Benziger)
Ideal for use in adult faith formation. Each book is Scripture-based and explores a dimension of faith from both a spiritual and experiential point of view. Each book in the series reflects Christ’s active and loving presence in the world. The authors celebrate our membership in the mystical body of Christ, help us understand our spiritual unity with the entire family of God, and encourage us to express Christ’s mission of love, peace, and reconciliation in our daily lives.
There are also online resources for small group faith sharing (free downloadable study guides). See details below in that category.
Catholic TV Networks Video Playlist for World Meeting of Families on YouTube
Videos on forming faithful families, and on preparing for the World Meeting of Families.
Coach Parents (Twenty Third Publications)
A range of resources, designed to help you coach parents to take a key role in the formation of their children from baptism, through the years before school, during sacrament prep, in middle school years, and right into youth and confirmation formation in junior and senior high.
Dynamic Catholic
Multiple resources for small group faith sharing, including Rediscovering Catholicism and The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic.
Family/Adult Learning (Our Sunday Visitor)
Articles and videos designed to help foster a deeper understanding of our Catholic faith. Topics include: understanding our Catholic faith, faith and spiritual growth, living the faith today, answering the call and more.
For Your Marriage (The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
An initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, this site explores dating, engagement, marriage and parenting from a Catholic lens.
Outside da Box Formation Videos on YouTube
Their tagline is "Bringing Jesus Christ to the young church through digital media". These videos are great for parents and young people to watch together.
VCat Video Catechism
A collaboration between Outside da Box and the Diocese of Wheeling, this video collections archives 40 video clips under the categories of Creed, Sacraments, Morality, and Prayer. For more information about the project read HERE.
World Meeting on Families - 2015 Philadelphia Held every three years and sponsored by the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for the Family, the World Meeting of Families is the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families. Each World Meeting of Families has a theme that energizes and enlivens the event while adding great depth of meaning to our understanding of families. The theme of the World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 is “Love Is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive,” emphasizing the impact of the love and life of families on our society.
Parent (Adult) Faith Sharing/Small Christian Community
Lectionary-based booklets
Advent Awakenings/Reflexiones en Adviento (RENEW International)
The Advent Awakenings series is based on the three-year cycle of the Lectionary. Each book contains four sessions corresponding with the Gospels of the four Sundays of Advent. Each session includes reflections, prayers, action responses, and song suggestions, plus seasonal devotions that families can use at home to enrich their Advent experience.
Disciples On The Journey/ Discípulos en la Jornada (Lent)
Faith-sharing booklet for small groups - Thirty-six page booklet includes Sunday Reading, Opening Prayers, Commentaries on Sunday Readings, Saints of the Week, Faith-sharing Questions, Practical Ways to Live as Disciples, Closing Prayers and Rituals. Faith-sharing questions, ways of discipleship and closing prayers are specific to each group, adult, teens and family. Available in English & Spanish.
Exploring the Sunday Readings/Para meditar las lecturas dominicales (Twenty Third Publications)
A monthly newsletter with commentary on all three readings, plus reflection questions for individual and group use. The commentaries offer insight into ways the message of the readings can be applied in everyday life.
Hosting Small Faith Groups (Loyola Press)
Author-speaker Joe Paprocki offers a six -part series with advice on how to host small faith groups This page also includes links to numerous small group resources from Loyola Press.
PrayerTime/Oremos (RENEW International)
PRAYERTIME is a faith-sharing resource based on the Sunday Gospel reading. The themes for reflection have been designed to be used either personally or in a group. Each book offers gentle but insightful reflections that help the gospel come alive. Written in an easy-to-read style that leads to profound questions about faith, each session sheds light on everyday life and should bear fruit in realistic action.
Quest (Archdiocese of Hartford)
Each weekly unit offers the elements for a complete small community session:
Suggestions for creating a reflective environment
Opening prayer
Introductory focus question designed to tap into some basic human experience addressed by the week's scripture. ·
Commentary on one or more of the lectionary readings for the up-coming Sunday
Several experience-based faith sharing questions
Suggestions for individual or group response in action
Closing prayer
Theme-based booklets
At Prayer with Mary/No temas, María (RENEW International)
Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been revered since the earliest days of the Church. Over the centuries, her example has inspired Christians to imitate her by saying “yes” to God’s call in their own lives. Mary’s faithfulness, as it is portrayed in the Gospel narratives, is a model of the prayerful kind of life Jesus calls us to. During this Year of Faith, we are called to recognize the special role of Mary and to follow her as a model of faith and virtue. Scripture, Catholic teaching, personal testimonies, and Marian prayer—including the rosary—provide a renewed appreciation of Mary’s place in today’s world, where she, as always, points the way to Christ.
Lifting Up Our Hearts (RENEW International)
A six-session small group faith-sharing process which will renew parishioners' spiritual life and their appreciation of the liturgy. Originally written to help people understand the changes to the peoples’ responses at Mass, this resource is an excellent process to re-educate adults on Eucharist. It emphasizes the role of the assembly and leads Catholics in an opportunity to talk about their experiences at Sunday liturgy and come to a deeper understanding of the meaning of the Mass and its significance in their lives.
Longing for the Holy (RENEW International)
Longing for the Holy is for those who want to enrich their sense of the presence of God. Based on the gentle spiritual guidance and practical wisdom of best-selling author, Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, it concerns the way we channel the deep longing at the core of our beings. Designed for either a small group faith-sharing experience or personal reflection, participants explore the implications of the central mysteries of faith-- the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and the Paschal Mystery -- for spirituality. Attending to the cultural challenges that keep us from realizing our true desire, it considers the important themes of church community, justice, sexuality, the practices of the spiritual life, and being a mystic of the everyday.
Multi-theme based booklets
Come to the Table (The Pastoral Center for Christian Holiness)
An easy-to-use process of small group meetings, organized around 7 major themes with 30 total topics. Parishes may set a curriculum for several years, or small groups may set their own course. Each session includes prayer, study, conversation, and decisions for specific actions. All of this pours out into the everyday lives of participants to enrich the parish and change the world.
Growing Faith Project (Twenty Third Publications)
A ”growing in faith” process that offers 48 eight-page booklets covering the entire content of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Can be used in six week sessions or longer.
Online Resources for Faith Sharing
Ascension Catholic Community (Melbourne, FL)
Commentaries/Reflections and Readings for Liturgical Years A, B, C - For use in Small Christian Community, meetings, and Scripture Study.
Catholic Spirituality for Adult Series Study Guides (RCL Benziger)
This adult series explores a dimension of faith from both a spiritual and experiential point of view. The study guides equip leaders to lead small groups or design individual study groups. The faith-sharing guides each provide three to five faith-sharing/discussion questions for each chapter of the book. These questions can be used for 1) individual reflection and journaling, 2) small-group discussion/faith-sharing, and 3) large group discussion/faith-sharing.
Good News Ministries
Receive by email life-enriching reflection on the daily readings from the Catholic Mass. On Sundays, the reflection include questions for private and group use, sent a week early to help you prepare for next Sunday's Mass. Sign up on the website to receive Good News Reflections daily.
The Text This Week
The Text This Week features a wide variety of resources for study and liturgy based on the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle. It includes a diverse variety of resources for scripture study, reflection and liturgy. The purpose of this website is to provide links to resources for study, reflection and liturgy which correspond to the RCL readings you may be using for study, teaching, and preaching.
Advent Awakenings/Reflexiones en Adviento (RENEW International)
The Advent Awakenings series is based on the three-year cycle of the Lectionary. Each book contains four sessions corresponding with the Gospels of the four Sundays of Advent. Each session includes reflections, prayers, action responses, and song suggestions, plus seasonal devotions that families can use at home to enrich their Advent experience.
Disciples On The Journey/ Discípulos en la Jornada (Lent)
Faith-sharing booklet for small groups - Thirty-six page booklet includes Sunday Reading, Opening Prayers, Commentaries on Sunday Readings, Saints of the Week, Faith-sharing Questions, Practical Ways to Live as Disciples, Closing Prayers and Rituals. Faith-sharing questions, ways of discipleship and closing prayers are specific to each group, adult, teens and family. Available in English & Spanish.
Exploring the Sunday Readings/Para meditar las lecturas dominicales (Twenty Third Publications)
A monthly newsletter with commentary on all three readings, plus reflection questions for individual and group use. The commentaries offer insight into ways the message of the readings can be applied in everyday life.
Hosting Small Faith Groups (Loyola Press)
Author-speaker Joe Paprocki offers a six -part series with advice on how to host small faith groups This page also includes links to numerous small group resources from Loyola Press.
PrayerTime/Oremos (RENEW International)
PRAYERTIME is a faith-sharing resource based on the Sunday Gospel reading. The themes for reflection have been designed to be used either personally or in a group. Each book offers gentle but insightful reflections that help the gospel come alive. Written in an easy-to-read style that leads to profound questions about faith, each session sheds light on everyday life and should bear fruit in realistic action.
Quest (Archdiocese of Hartford)
Each weekly unit offers the elements for a complete small community session:
Suggestions for creating a reflective environment
Opening prayer
Introductory focus question designed to tap into some basic human experience addressed by the week's scripture. ·
Commentary on one or more of the lectionary readings for the up-coming Sunday
Several experience-based faith sharing questions
Suggestions for individual or group response in action
Closing prayer
Theme-based booklets
At Prayer with Mary/No temas, María (RENEW International)
Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been revered since the earliest days of the Church. Over the centuries, her example has inspired Christians to imitate her by saying “yes” to God’s call in their own lives. Mary’s faithfulness, as it is portrayed in the Gospel narratives, is a model of the prayerful kind of life Jesus calls us to. During this Year of Faith, we are called to recognize the special role of Mary and to follow her as a model of faith and virtue. Scripture, Catholic teaching, personal testimonies, and Marian prayer—including the rosary—provide a renewed appreciation of Mary’s place in today’s world, where she, as always, points the way to Christ.
Lifting Up Our Hearts (RENEW International)
A six-session small group faith-sharing process which will renew parishioners' spiritual life and their appreciation of the liturgy. Originally written to help people understand the changes to the peoples’ responses at Mass, this resource is an excellent process to re-educate adults on Eucharist. It emphasizes the role of the assembly and leads Catholics in an opportunity to talk about their experiences at Sunday liturgy and come to a deeper understanding of the meaning of the Mass and its significance in their lives.
Longing for the Holy (RENEW International)
Longing for the Holy is for those who want to enrich their sense of the presence of God. Based on the gentle spiritual guidance and practical wisdom of best-selling author, Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, it concerns the way we channel the deep longing at the core of our beings. Designed for either a small group faith-sharing experience or personal reflection, participants explore the implications of the central mysteries of faith-- the Incarnation, the Eucharist, and the Paschal Mystery -- for spirituality. Attending to the cultural challenges that keep us from realizing our true desire, it considers the important themes of church community, justice, sexuality, the practices of the spiritual life, and being a mystic of the everyday.
Multi-theme based booklets
Come to the Table (The Pastoral Center for Christian Holiness)
An easy-to-use process of small group meetings, organized around 7 major themes with 30 total topics. Parishes may set a curriculum for several years, or small groups may set their own course. Each session includes prayer, study, conversation, and decisions for specific actions. All of this pours out into the everyday lives of participants to enrich the parish and change the world.
Growing Faith Project (Twenty Third Publications)
A ”growing in faith” process that offers 48 eight-page booklets covering the entire content of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Can be used in six week sessions or longer.
Online Resources for Faith Sharing
Ascension Catholic Community (Melbourne, FL)
Commentaries/Reflections and Readings for Liturgical Years A, B, C - For use in Small Christian Community, meetings, and Scripture Study.
Catholic Spirituality for Adult Series Study Guides (RCL Benziger)
This adult series explores a dimension of faith from both a spiritual and experiential point of view. The study guides equip leaders to lead small groups or design individual study groups. The faith-sharing guides each provide three to five faith-sharing/discussion questions for each chapter of the book. These questions can be used for 1) individual reflection and journaling, 2) small-group discussion/faith-sharing, and 3) large group discussion/faith-sharing.
Good News Ministries
Receive by email life-enriching reflection on the daily readings from the Catholic Mass. On Sundays, the reflection include questions for private and group use, sent a week early to help you prepare for next Sunday's Mass. Sign up on the website to receive Good News Reflections daily.
The Text This Week
The Text This Week features a wide variety of resources for study and liturgy based on the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle. It includes a diverse variety of resources for scripture study, reflection and liturgy. The purpose of this website is to provide links to resources for study, reflection and liturgy which correspond to the RCL readings you may be using for study, teaching, and preaching.
