Please help me bring my kids up catholic

[mollysmum82]

I just thought I'd write this on the back of the other thread. I'm a fairly 'new' catholic, having just completed the Rcia and my family who are practising Catholics live some distance away. Dh was happy to have dcs baptised but is a non believer so I feel a bit on my own. Does anyone have any tips about prayers I could do/ books I could read or anything else to gently teach my children about the catholic faith? Thanks so much

[CraigyG]

^ haha,are the priests that bad?

[PTA]

Not a very helpful post llcc.

OP, is there a children's mass at your church? Ask the people who do the children's litergy, they should be able to point you in the right direction. Alternatively, if the church has a stall, the ladies (it's usually ladies in my experience) might have some nice prayer cards or books that would help.

[Birthhippy9]

No it does not help Licc as you would well know. Nor is that comment funny.
OP I think it's helpful to have a chat before bedtime prayers about your day and to also say grace before meals. When you take to Mass on Sunday encourage them to ask questions and do things for themselves such as bless themselves or light a candle if there's something they particularly want to focus on. Mostly I'd say that children are quite perceptive.

[swanthingafteranother]

First, I would recommend just taking them to church...as much to be part of the community as anything. There are often leaflets and booklets for sale in most churches. I think it comes gradually to children by osmosis, if they go to children's liturgy and you can read them Bible stories, there are no specific Catholic Bible stories ifysim.

Also just don't feel like you are not part of the community because you are new, and other people are established Catholics. Everyone will be v welcoming if you give them the chance, although I don't think most Catholics have quite the same approach to "welcoming" as some evangelical churches.

First Holy Communion programmes are also a very helpful way of teaching children about the faith in a structured way. All parishes should run these, most children are 7/8 but they will accommodate older children too.

[sashh]

If your husband is a non be,iever is he happy about his children being brought up RC?

[swanthingafteranother]

very strange posts on this thread. OP is not asking for opinions on Catholic upbringing just asking how to best facilitate it.
TBH I would just ask your local church for the best information Mumsnet is not really the best source!

[mariammama]

this

[sieglinde]

Hi, OP. Sorry you have attracted some irritants here.

We have a huge library of picture books, all of them beautiful and most of them centring on saints. I pretty much ignored doctrine - they went to children's mass for that, which for us is between the beginning and the Creed - and focused on the art and the stories. I tended not to buy actual RC publications, but things like books of angels. I can give you a list if you like, though it will depend on your dcs' tastes and interests.

I also found medieval lit helpful - stories of Arthur/the holy grail, for instance.

Film is also great - my dd loves the US film of the life of St Therese of Lisieux, and both dcs love Brother Sun and Sister Moon. We also tried song of Bernadette and the Nativity Story. Also history - the children get that all medieval churches were built by us - and they like stained glass etc. Make a lot of the visual, aesthetic stuff.

And music - Mozart, Schubert.

Let me know if you'd like a booklist!

[Rolf]

There are some lovely blogs. Try this one: ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.co.uk/.
The woman who writes it is a convert so is in the same position as you, although her children are grown up.

There's a new syllabus for RE in Catholic primary schools, in many parts of the UK. It's called Come and See and is very "meaty". You might find it helpful to see the structure of RE during the school year:
www.comeandseere.co.uk/

Take your dcs to Mass on Sundays and holy days. If there's a children's liturgy, you could think about getting involved in that.

Say grace before meals and at bedtime. Maybe light a candle and give thanks for the day. One family I know have the angel prayer above each child's bed and they say it at bedtime.

Have a crib in the house at Christmas and put baby Jesus in it on Christmas Eve.

Lots of families say the rosary together - either as a regular thing or during May and October.

The booklets for sale at the back of most churches are very good, with lots of ideas in them.

I'm not saying I do all these things, by the way! Just some ideas.

[sieglinde]

Yes, Rolf, should have thought of this sooner - Joanna Bogle's book on feasts and how to celebrate them! Advent wreaths, soulcakes... oh, and if you have a crib, don't forget to make the Three Wise Men creep slowly to it over Christmas, and appear in it on epiphany. Lots of churches have cribs, too.

Also say the Night prayers - compline - especially the Nunc dimittis, which is really comforting, as is the 90/91st psalm.

[HolofernesesHead]

I'm not RC, but this lovely book which I use with my dc is:

Sleeping With Bread. The dc and I love it. It's a child-friendly version of a wonderful way of prayer called the Examen, which St Ignatius of Loyola devised. You can all pray it togeher at the end of the day - the book shows you how - and you will all find so much peace in it. (I'm not the author / on commission, btw! I genuinely love this book.)

[sieglinde]

What a lovely choice, Holo. I didn't know of this one. Many thanks for it.

[Rolf]

Sieglinde - I'd be interested in seeing your book list, please

[sieglinde]

Picture Books

Mary, by Brian Wildsmith, Oxford Uni press. The True Cross, and The Easter Story and Saint Francis, by the same author, also OUP
Unicorns! Unicorns!, by Geraldine McCaughrean, illus. Sophie Windham
The story of the Creation, illus Jane Ray, Orchard Books
Lives and Legends of the Saints, Carole Armstrong, with illustrations from great art - so Fra Angelico, Caravaggio, Ingres...
Saints and Angels, Clare Llewellyn
On Noah's ark, Jan Brett - and also her Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve?

Reading 8-12
The Ignatius series of saints' lives for children - ok, saccharine, and most date from the 1950s, but my dd adored them.

Most RC kids make their first communion between 6 and 10. MY dd made hers at 6 - Pius X said the test was if the child is old enough to tell the difference between ordinary bread and the eucharist.

For 10+ kids you should really look at proper theology in the runup to Confirmation. Boys often like the English martyrs; if ds is a good reader try Evelyn Waugh's life of Edmund Campion.

Family Catholic customs
A book of feasts and seasons, Joanna Bogle
The Catholic Home, Meredith Gould
A Continual feast, by Evelyn Vitz - includes recipes!

I use apps a LOT, and two of the best are iPieta - just about every prayer you could want, every major writing, plus a FULL catholic bible and missal for just 3 quid or so, and the other, more expensive but cheap compared with the books, is Universalis, all of the monastic hours for every day, plus the saint of the day and a bit about his or her life. You can also get rosary apps, Divine Mercy apps, and confession apps where you can record your sins, all ready; they are password lockable and some new confessors might find them helpful. You can also get a lovely app which lets you light a virtual candle to any one of a number of saints.

I hope this helps...

[Rolf]

great list - thanks very much

[sieglinde]

Thanks in turn for your blog link, Rolf. I'm finding it very useful already - love the idea of the O foods!

[mollysmum82]

Thank you all ever so much for all your help, I can't wait to have a good look through the links you've posted and books you've suggested. I really appreciate it :)