Catechetical Sunday

We encourage using Catechetical Sunday to publicly commission and pray for those who will serve as catechists and teachers in the parish community. A commissioning rite is available for use at Sunday Masses or in a special prayer service: https://www.usccb.org/resources/commissioning-service-2

Catechetical Sunday also offers an opportunity to recall that all the Baptized have roles in handing on the faith in their daily life, families, work, and church involvement. Some parishes include a rededication of all parishioners to catechesis in addition to the commissioning of those called to the particular ministry of catechist.

As you prepare to celebrate, pray for, and commission those engaged in formal parish catechetical ministry this year, we encourage you to find opportunities to remind parents of their indispensable and God given role to form their children in the faith.
 

Quotes from A Report on American Catholic Religious Parenting

2017 Barkus & Smith, University of Notre Dame

https://churchlife-info.nd.edu/a-report-on-american-catholic-religious-parenting

“The crucial location where youth’s religious outcomes are largely decided is not the congregation or the parish, but the home.”

“Generally speaking, no religious influence besides mom and dad is positioned to demonstrate convincingly to children the desirability of practicing the Catholic faith.”

“If children do not 'see' Catholicism in the 'face' of their parents, they will likely never gain sufficient familiarity with it to commit to practicing the faith in the long run.”

“Rising above the everyday hubbub of domestic life, parents must consider how they wish to channel religious activity in the household purposefully in accord with their values and goals.”

"'I am the religious formator of my children' should be a primary point of parental self-identity and responsibility.”