{"id":5267,"date":"2017-11-16T10:29:15","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T15:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=5267"},"modified":"2017-11-16T10:29:15","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T15:29:15","slug":"evangelization-discipleship-boys-girls-live-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2017\/11\/evangelization-discipleship-boys-girls-live-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelization and Discipleship for the Boys & Girls Who Live At Your House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Up that Register:\u00a011 Ways to Prepare Your Boy to be a Great Priest<\/a>.*\u00a0 I\u2019ve never had a son of mine be ordained (the kid\u2019s only 17, it\u2019s a little early for that), so it\u2019s not an article about Things I Did That Caused My Little Angel To Show Everyone What A Wonderful Mother I Am.\u00a0 My kids are normal kids with the regular amount of free will; their\u00a0 parents are worse than that still.\u00a0 We don\u2019t do the Catholic Family thing perfectly.<\/p>\n

The list I came up with isn\u2019t exhaustive (I left off HVAC, a glaring omission if ever there were one), and it\u2019s meant to be reassuring.\u00a0 These are all things that any parent can do, more or less, if you make allowances for your state in life.\u00a0 They\u2019re the things you instinctively know are important.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to get overwhelmed when you read something on, say, the importance of a family rosary.\u00a0 I\u2019m totally supportive of family rosaries.\u00a0 But what if it\u2019s not something you can do?\u00a0 Are your kids doomed?<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 The important thing is prayer.\u00a0 Family rosary is a wonderful form of prayer, but there are other choices.\u00a0 Everyone gathered in the living room at a set time each day to pray is wonderful, but there are other ways you can teach your kids to pray.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have to be done all as a group, if that isn\u2019t the reality of your life.<\/p>\n

The reason I mentioned the trades so specifically is not to overwhelm parents with this heavy sense of having failed if their kid can\u2019t work a plumbing snake.\u00a0 But guess what: Most of us live in homes that require maintenance, and we all have financial concerns to manage, so it\u2019s pretty natural to at least introduce your kid to these ideas.\u00a0 Priests end up having to do all the normal things you do to keep your house running, only on a larger scale.\u00a0 So yes, a day volunteering with Habitat for Humanity is a valuable contribution to your child\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n

Anyone who shoves my list at you as evidence you\u2019re a horrible parent is doing it wrong.<\/strong>\u00a0 The list is about noticing how the things we do as Christian parents are valuable, and we should be encouraged to keep going along the right path, and look for ways we can build up our kids\u2019 lives.\u00a0 That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

Related links mostly from me, but starting with one from someone else:<\/p>\n

The Enduring Appeal of Creepy Christianity<\/a>:<\/p>\n

More importantly, this is where faith has to trump fear and uncertainty. We have to understand that there is no way around dependence on God. There is no formula for child-rearing. There is no foolproof guide to a happy marriage. No man can tell you how to secure your health or lead you to wealth. There is no community anyone can build that can protect its members from sin or temptation, and the utopian impulse itself can crack open the door to hell.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the Forming of Young Christians<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 My thoughts on what\u00a0formation<\/em> is, and how it plays out in real-life parental decision-making.<\/p>\n

Catholic Higher Ed, Debt, & Vocations<\/a> \u2013 Food for thought, no answers.\u00a0 The college debt problem is a big question mark in the vocation-discernment process.<\/p>\n

How do you build a community of disciples who observe Catholic liturgical culture together?<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 In the NCRegister list of eleven things, I mention family-to-family relationships.\u00a0 This post is about the practical side of finding other families you\u2019d like to be Catholic with, and then going and doing the Catholic things.<\/p>\n

And finally, here are three links, one practical, one a tad acerbic, and one that is in-between (I leave you to decide which is which), on the whole \u201cdiscipleship\u201d thing.\u00a0 None of this will cause your boy to magically become Mr. Amazing Christian Guy.\u00a0 He still has to choose to respond to God\u2019s call to a relationship with Himself.\u00a0 But without these things, the odds are against you:<\/p>\n