Family Life

Building the Domestic Church – New & Easy!!!

By now, you’ve learned this new category has been added to the Columbian Award requirements, but before we panic, let’s take a look at a couple of those BTDC projects.

Consecration of Parish Families to the Holy Family. Our Supreme Knight wants this to take place at Mass on or about the Feast of the Holy Family which falls on Friday, December 30th. What’s your part? Talk to your pastor to arrange this and see when he wants to do it. Maybe he’d prefer the vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Mary or some other Mass during the Christmas Season. Which Masses? What languages? That done, all you’ll have to do is order the prayer cards and have a method for distributing them at the Masses your pastor has selected. (Items 10371, 10371-S)

By now you’re thinking, “It just doesn’t get any easier than that!” Uh …. well ……. actually, it DOES!

Affirmation of Marriage Vows. This is to take place during Masses on Fathers’ Day in June but you can arrange this at the same time you talk to your pastor about the Consecration. The best thing here is that you don’t even have to order or hand out any prayer cards! (You may want to remind your pastor in April or May, though.)

So now you’ve got two of the four requirements you can complete with no trouble at all. But wait, your council may already be doing some of the other things on that list! Do you have Hispanic members in your council and does the Hispanic population celebrate “Las Posadas”, a devout re-enactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem? That’s essentially what ‘Journey to the Inn’ is all about so ask your Hispanic brothers if they can take the lead in making ‘Las Posadas’ inclusive for the entire parish – maybe that will entail adding some English hymns and prayers or even play-acting characters. Ask what the council can do to actively help. ‘Keep Christ in Christmas’, a poster contest for the kids, is another option in the requirements. You may be doing this already but in any case your Council Youth Director can run it like the other poster contests and kits (item: CPC-Kit) for this particular project are available from Supreme. Do you have a food drive for the needy? Make it a ‘Food for Families’ effort by submitting the appropriate reports and you’ve got another! Does your council conduct a ‘Fifth Sunday Rosary’ (or, better yet, a weekly parish Rosary!) before Mass? That’s on the list, too.

There are more projects within Building the Domestic Church (with more likely to come) and I encourage you to look over them at your leisure with an eye toward implementing some over the next calendar year. Bring them to your pastor’s attention and ask which ones he favors. In the meantime, you’ll have no trouble completing this year’s new BTDC requirements for earning YOUR Columbian Award!

May Jesus Christ be praised and His Blessed Mother honored by all we do.

Fred Burton

NC Family Director

#October2016