Earlier this year, Steven Ellair sat down with John Roberto, Director of National Community of Catechetical Leaders (NCCL) to co-host a webinar titled Parents and Families at the Center of Faith Formation. For those interested in watching the full webinar, they can watch it here. For more information on NCCL’s research, they can learn more here. 

This Q&A addresses the questions that surfaced from parish leaders during the webinar.

How can parishes engage parents in faith formation?

Q: How can a parish work with the “drop-off mentality” some parents have? 

A: For parishes to truly engage parents, the environment and content of formation sessions are crucial. It’s unproductive to blame parents for lack of participation. Instead, the focus should be on how parishes can make families feel more included, welcomed, and experience genuine hospitality. 

Key considerations for successful parental engagement: 

• What kind of learning environment is being set up for parents? 
• Is content useful and applicable to their lives? 
• Do parents have opportunities to talk to each other and learn transferable skills? 
• Do parents have structured opportunities to engage with their children during the session, allowing children to share what they’ve learned and encourage practice at home?  

When parents feel they are part of the experience, that the teaching is useful, and that they get a chance to spend quality time with their children, engagement flourishes.  

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Q: What kind of help do parents need? How can the parish adapt to those needs?

A: Parents want help discussing tough topics. These topics range from helping manage screen time to growing in their relationship with Christ. Whether it’s a spiritual or general topic, parishes can tailor communication with parents to meet and address this wide array of needs. 

Q: What’s the current level of parental enthusiasm? Is there room for parishes to engage parents?  

A: The overwhelming majority of parents say they’re either doing a good job as a parent or their role as a parent is important to them. This natural enthusiasm is something parishes can build on because a key characteristic parishes desire already exists: parents care. 

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Q: Which is more important in sharing the Catholic faith with children? Is it parents or parishes? 

A: While parents are the primary source for sharing the faith, the parish community should support what is happening at home. It’s a practice-centered process, not just didactic. Parents aren’t teachers or catechists, but parents can model the beliefs at home with the parish reinforcing those beliefs through instruction. 

Q: What are practices that parents can cultivate to encourage faith transmission and growth?   

A: Parents play the most significant role in faith transmission and growth at home. By focusing on intentional practices, families create an environment where faith flourishes and builds a strong foundation for life. 

Key practices parents can integrate into daily life include: 

• Regularly engaging with scripture as a family to provide direct access to the stories and teachings of their faith 
• Establishing consistent prayer habits, both individually and as a family, to model reliance on spiritual guidance 
• Open and natural discussions about beliefs, rather than just formal instruction, to help children understand their faith 
• Observing religious holidays within the home to create meaningful shared experiences 
• Recognizing significant life events through a faith lens (e.g., blessings, prayers for transitions) to demonstrate how faith is interwoven with their personal journey 
• Guiding children in decision-making and discussing values to help them apply faith principles to real-world situations 
• Actively participating in a parish community demonstrates the importance of belonging, providing a larger support system for faith development. 

For parishes, it’s not about adding extra burdens, but rather about building upon preexisting practices already present in daily family life. 

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Q: How do families cultivate child-parent relationships to model beliefs at home?   

A: A warm, loving parenting style is the foundation, creating space for a life-giving faith to take root within the home. Creating space looks like: 

• Balancing expectations around religious practice and a child’s growing needs 
• Allowing children to openly express faith on their own terms 
• Nurturing curiosity and open discussion about the faith 
• Listening more, preaching less with conversations focusing on children 

Q: What are statistical predictors of how children will respond enthusiastically to being Catholic? 

A: It comes down to what families consistently do at home. Studies show that when parents are actively involved and show their faith, their kids are way more likely to be enthusiastic about Catholicism.  

Some predictors include:  

• Encourage children to read the Bible themselves and, crucially, let children regularly see their parents read the Bible. 
• Talk about faith and spirituality openly within the home. 

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Q: Should parents talk about their faith openly with their children? What does that do? 

A: Yes! In fact, parents who regularly talk about faith and spirituality are more than four times likely than a parent who never does to have children who feel enthusiastic about being Catholic. 

Q: How does a family catechesis model influence faith formation at home?   

A: A successful family catechesis model takes the parish-based experience and extends it into the home. It creates less friction between home and parish because the entire family has experienced it together.

Q: What can a typical family catechesis session look like? 

A: A typical family catechesis session often extends over a couple of hours and should model practices parents can easily adapt at home. While customized in various ways, here are some recommendations for parishes to use: 

Start with a shared meal. A meal provides a rich environment for modeling family conversation, shared prayer, and community building among families. 

Follow the meal with a shared prayer experience. This prayer should follow a format that parents can easily replicate at home. The goal is to provide a practical example, rather than an overly elaborate “high church” experience. 

From there, the session can branch into different learning approaches: 

• Family Learning: Activities designed for all ages to learn together, suitable for content like Advent or Lent. 
• Parallel Learning: Families can break into different “tracks,” where younger children, older children, and parents learn about the same topic but in developmentally appropriate ways. This is an excellent opportunity not only to communicate with parents but also to model desired behaviors for home. 
• Learning Activity Centers: These are engaging, interactive stations where families can move around, experience, interact, and create together. For instance, a Lent-themed session might have centers focusing on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  

The session concludes with a closing family activity, specifically designed to help families apply what they’ve learned to their daily lives.  

By modeling these practical applications during the gathering, programs can impact a family’s religious practice and experience at home, aligning with research on effective faith transmission.  

Saint Mary’s Press is proud to offer programs that bring families together and promote this new family-centered approach to faith formation. Take a look at our newest addition to our offerings! 

The partnership between parishes and parents

Catholic faith formation thrives when parishes partner with families, not just instruct children. By  offering practical, engaging, and hospitable experiences, parishes can tap into parents’ existing enthusiasm.  

This approach fosters an environment where beliefs are not just learned in a classroom, but actively modeled, practiced, and celebrated at home, truly integrating faith into the everyday lives of Catholic families.