Ultimate Guide to Parenting — Part 5

We have been journeying through Familiaris Consortio and focusing on each of the tasks of the family, promulgated by Pope St. John Paul II, opening up the treasure that we can refer to as our “Guide to Parenting” these past several months together!  For August, we will focus on the fourth and final task: Sharing in the Life and Mission of the Church.

Sharing in the Life and Mission of the Church

John Paul II asserts, “the family is placed at the service of the building up of the Kingdom of God in History by participating in the life and mission of the church.” He speaks of the family as the domestic church and a “Church in miniature.” The family is “above all, the Church as Mother, that gives birth to, educates and builds up the Christian family, by putting into effect in its regard the saving mission which she has received from her Lord.”¹

In one of the most beautiful and profound analogies, the pope maintains, “the Christian family is grafted into the mystery of the Church to such a degree as to become a sharer, in its own way, in the saving mission proper to the Church.” ² The Christian family is grafted into the mystery of the Church.  What an astounding realization!  To be grafted means to be cut away from all other roots and to be placed within and affixed to a “superior root system” ³ so that it can grow and mature to its greatest potential.  Our families must be cut away from the roots of the world and all its ideologies, selfish tendencies, and consumer mentalities and become affixed to the Church, the superior root system.  When plants are grafted, after being  joined to the new root system, “both plant parts must align and grow together.” ⁴ When families are grafted into the mystery of the Church, we continue to grow as a family, but we grow together with the Church, entering and participating in her saving mission.

How Do We Share in the Life and Mission of the Church?

First, we must be practicing our Catholic faith, continually making our own relationship with God a priority.  Second, we must bring the life of prayer to our families. That may look different for each family. Following the precepts of the Church is a must, but then what? Perhaps, we pray the rosary together as a family after dinner.  Maybe we pray just a decade of the rosary, night prayer, or the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  Do you love to sing?  You could sing a hymn together each night before bed.  You have to seek and find what fits your family.  One size does not fit all.

How do we reach outside of our family to share in the mission of the Church?  I recommend that you sit with the Lord and analyze your gifts.  Ask Him how your gifts fit into His plan.  For me, I teach at our local parish, mostly in the areas where my children are, but also participate through other opportunities.  I am blessed to be employed by the Ruah Woods Institute which gives me the honor of speaking regularly to Catholics about John Paul II’s profoundly beautiful teaching, the Theology of the Body, and how to live it.  My husband’s gift is more hands-on.  He volunteers with St. Vincent De Paul and helps with handyman-type job contributions that many folks don’t have the skills to do themselves. What are your gifts?  Are you musically inclined? Are you good with numbers? Are you outgoing and friendly?  Everyone has God-given gifts and can contribute to the life and mission of the Church.  We just have to give them back to the Lord and seek His counsel to know what He wants us to do with them. Our witness in sharing our gifts when our children are young will lead to encouragement for them to share their gifts as they grow.  Once again, our witness is essential.

“The future of the world and of the Church passes through the family.” ⁵

Families today are facing challenges that we couldn’t have imagined 30 years ago.  We are truly living in uncharted territory: from gender ideologies to the interpersonal issues emerging from the overuse of technology to the culture of death and rampant individualism; all falsely viewed by many as a necessity for their own happiness.  We may despairingly believe that if the future of the world and of the Church really does pass through the family, as JPII attests, then all hope is lost.  In fact, checking current trends and data may cement this opinion.  However, analyzing that same data with the lens of the teachings of the Church, reveals what the Church tells us is true and that God’s natural law is written upon every human heart.  What the Church asks of her families will indeed lead to their good (“good” as determined by God, not the world) and is our best chance at living joy-filled, flourishing lives.  But it takes work.  We must resist the urge to sit back and allow our society to descend into ruin.  We must do the work, sacrifice for our families, and live our faith personally and in communion with our family, our Church and the world. Remember, the battle has been won.  John Paul II knew there would be a major conflict and it would involve marriage and the family, but he also knew the victor as reported by Fatima’s Sr. Lucia, “those who will work for the good of the family will experience persecution and tribulation. But do not be afraid, because Our Lady has already crushed his head.”⁶

If we can receive these tasks that have been laid out for us and live them with the joy that comes from being sons or daughters of God, witnessing to the truth of the Gospel, we have hope for the future of our families and, subsequently, hope for the world. Let’s get to work.

Written by, Kathleen Cory,
Sales, Training & Implementation Specialist — South

(The final article in a series of 5 articles leading up to our fall ’25 banquet themed, Family as the School of Love.)

¹ “Fatima visionary said final battle would be over marriage and family,” Aleteia, accessed January 27, 2025
² Familiaris Consortio 49
³ Second Vatican CouncilLumen gentium, 11 as quoted in Familiaris Consortio 49
⁴ Basic Grafting Techniques,” Mississippi State University, accessed January 27, 2025
⁵ IBID
⁶ John Paul II, Address to the Confederation of Family Advisory Bureaus of Christian Inspiration (Nov. 29, 1980), 3- 4: Insegnamenti III, 2 (1980), 1453-1454 as quoted in Familiaris Consortio 75