Young Family
Bibliography of Catholic Social TEaching for kids
Jesus was a great teacher, in part, because he was a great storyteller. He understood the power that stories have to catch our attention and help us remember things. Anne Neuberger is a great Catholic storyteller who has written some wonderful resources for catechists and parents to use, particularly in the area of Social Justice. Go here for a wonderful bibliography of books for kids of all ages, from storybooks to chapter books and more! Many are books that you may have on your shelf at home or that are readily available at the public library. There is a list for each of the Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching, and each list is preceded by short explanations of that principle, categorized by age.
Catholic Social TEaching for Parents
As parents, it is important that we continue our own formation in faith. To learn more about Catholic Social Teaching, so we can continue to guide our children, go the United States Bishops' website.
Celebrate the Easter Season as a family
Even though the stores clear out the Easter candy and decorations on April 2, we as a Church celebrate Easter for 50 days, until Pentecost on May 20. During this Easter season of fifty days, let the celebration continue. Below are some activities which will bring you closer together within your family life, as well as deepen your relationship with God and God’s family.
Even though the stores clear out the Easter candy and decorations on April 2, we as a Church celebrate Easter for 50 days, until Pentecost on May 20. During this Easter season of fifty days, let the celebration continue. Below are some activities which will bring you closer together within your family life, as well as deepen your relationship with God and God’s family.
- Reflect on Act 2: 42-47 (holding all things in common) and discuss ways that you can share some of your possessions with others who have need of them.
- Alleluia is a Hebrew word of joyful praise. Find where it is used in the Book of Psalms or Tobit. It is the word for the Easter season. Make a family banner and put it in your home. Better yet, put it on the outside of your home and share the good news with your neighbors. (Leave it up for the entire fifty days.)
- Make or find a bright, beautiful container large enough to hold a few dozen pieces of wrapped candy. Place it on the dinner table. Each time you gather for a meal, each family member gets the chance to mention one sign of new life he or she has noticed or one good deed she or he had done. When finished talking, the speaker places a piece of candy in the box. At Pentecost, decide how to divide the candy or give it away.
- Make a Resurrection cross. Cut out cross pieces from tagboard. Smash and crack colored eggshells in a plastic bag. Glue onto cutout cross. Punch hold at top and hang with yarn.
- Use chalk to decorate the sidewalk around your home with Easter words and symbols.
- Prominent in the Gospels of the Easter season are times when Jesus and the disciples shared food. During the Easter season, make it a point to have a sit-down meal together at least once a week. Include all the trimmings: tablecloth, candles, dessert, etc.
- Water is a primary symbol for the Church during Easter as we recall our baptism. Bring home some of the newly blessed water from church and keep it on your family prayer table. Bless yourselves; bless one another. It might be fun to surround the bowl of water with photos and mementos related to each family member’s baptism.
- We sing Christmas carols throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons. What about the Easter songs? Are they heard in your home for fifty days?
- Sit outside. Think about how the sky changes, sometimes becoming very menacing. Each member thinks of his or her fears. If they wish to voice them, the family can respond together by praying: “God, protect us and give us courage.” Then each member of the family looks around and thinks of the wonders of God’s creation. As thing come to mind, they are voiced and the family can respond, “We praise you, God of Wonder, God of Life.”
- Make a list of your family’s legacies – not goods or money, but attitudes, standards of value and influences – that you are passing on.
- Take an Emmaus walk. Before you start out, read the Emmaus story (Lk 24: 13-35) together. Then go to some place that has special meaning to your family, or to some place where you haven’t gone for a while. Imagine that Jesus is walking with you.
Resurrection eggs for little (and Big) ones
Many families have purchased or made Resurrection Eggs to help them tell the Easter story to little ones. Here is a simplified version for toddlers and preschoolers, using fewer eggs and fewer words.
From the blog, Happy Home Fairy.
There are many different ways to make and use Resurrection Eggs with older children. Here are a variety of approaches.
Keep working on your "plarn" and plastic mats for the homeless! The instructions are on the main page for April. Bring what you've completed to the May sessions!
