Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless E-Book

Sarah A. Reinhard

• Herausgeber: anna ruggieri
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Looking for a way to bring your family together in faith and fun, but not sure where to start?
Discover how game night meets Catholicism in this guidebook of activities with strategies and suggestions for fun family engagement— with one another and with faith!
Adaptable ideas for storytelling, arts & crafts, meals, outdoor adventures, places to go... these are just some of the ways families can bond and deepen their faith, building a "domestic church" of their very own!

Leseprobe

CATHOLIC FAMILY FUN

A Guide for the Adventurous,Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless

Sarah A. Reinhard

Foreword by Greg Willits

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reinhard, Sarah.  Catholic family fun : a guide for the adventurous, overwhelmed, creative, or clueless/ Sarah A. Reinhard.        p. cm.  ISBN-13: 978-0-8198-1604-7  ISBN-10: 0-8198-1604-3  1. Families--Religious life. 2. Christian life--Catholic authors. I. Title.  BX2351.R45 2012  248.4’82--dc23                                                            2011036158

Many manufacturers and sellers distinguish their products through the use of trademarks. Any trademarked designations that appear in this book are used in good faith but are not authorized by, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Cover design by Rosana Usselmann

Cover art: www.jimhunt.us

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

“P” and PAULINE are registered trademarks of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Copyright © 2012, Sarah A. Reinhard

Published by Pauline Books & Media, 50 Saint Pauls Avenue, Boston, MA 02130-3491

Printed in the U.S.A.

www.pauline.org

Pauline Books & Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation of women religious serving the Church with the communications media.

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To Bob

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

PART 1Are We Having Fun Yet?

CHAPTER 1Silly Things to Do Together

Be “Crazy”

Sing a Camp Song

Joke Time

Unbirthday Party

Opposite Season

CHAPTER 2Story Starters

Create a Skit

Silly Story

Spotlight Storytelling

Puppet Show

Pantomime

PART 2At Home

CHAPTER 3Craft Projects

Family Scrapbooking

The Great Canning Jar

Placemats

Nature Hunt Creation

Homemade Greeting Cards

CHAPTER 4Meals to Share

Restaurant

Dinner with a Twist

Picnic

Mystery Food Night

Sabbath Meal

PART 3Out and Around

CHAPTER 5Outdoor Adventures

Treasure Hunts

Scavenger Hunt

Backyard Circus

Water Fights and Fun

Obstacle Course

CHAPTER 6Places to Go

The Zoo

The Library

Horseback Riding

Hiking

Traveling Dinner

PART 4Faith with Fun

CHAPTER 7Saints to Celebrate

A Mary Garden

St. Lucy: Eyes and Fires

Holy Card Heaven

Saints Calendar and Saints Celebration

Saint Poster

CHAPTER 8Ways to Serve

Pregnancy Center

Food Pantry

Soup Kitchen

Nursing Homes or Neighbors

New Baby or Surgery Supper

CHAPTER 9Praying Together

Hands-On Decade

Eucharistic Adoration

Stations of the Cross

Ora et Labora

Tea with God

Afterword

Acknowledgments

Appendix

At a Glance

Activities Organized by Prep Time

Activities Organized by Duration

Activities Organized by Cost

Foreword

I imagine all parents feel like this from time to time: We clothe our kids, give them food (frequently in “nugget” form), try to address their basic needs, take them to Church, and aim them down the sometimes difficult pathway of life, all the while praying and hoping and praying some more that we gave them all we could to help them be successful.

But what is real success when it comes to raising children? How do I know when my wife and I have been successful in helping our kids to be successful? It all depends on what you think “successful” looks like.

My definition of success has changed drastically as I’ve gotten older. When I was thirteen, success meant being a well-paid novelist selling as many books in a week as Stephen King does in a year. When I was in my early twenties, success meant simply supporting myself and being able to pay my rent each month by waiting tables. In my thirties, with a wife and children, success meant a mortgage and a dog and a paid-off car. Over time, monetary concerns have become less important to me, less central in my life.

Just recently both my wife and I hit our forties, and my definition of success has changed once again. Now, I just want to get to heaven and make sure my wife and kids get there as well. Success, to me now, would be seeing my children grow into adulthood and not just going to Mass each week, but constantly seeking out God in their daily lives. I want them to want God. Not because their mother and I want them to, but because they have chosen to make God a part of their lives.

If that happens, I’ll consider my life a success, despite the bumps in the road I seem to keep driving over a wee bit too quickly. If my kids hit forty and (assuming I’m still around) they say something like, “The other day when I went to Confession,” then I’ll know I’ve done all right. If our children regularly seek God’s love on their own and by His grace, I’ll be grateful.

But what am I doing to get them to that place? In between the fast food and hand-me down clothes, in between bath times and Sunday Mass, how much time am I really investing in my children? And if I’m not spending enough time with them, how can I do better?

In today’s electronics-laden world, I’m as guilty as the next social media friend for spending far too much time on all the distractions life has to offer when I could be investing that time in prayer and with my family.

In the past decade, I’ve been blessed to work from home for seven out of ten years. While we save a ton on gas, and I haven’t had to worry about a commute since 2006, one of the problems with this scenario is that over the years I’ve had to fight to find balance in my life. While I’ve no longer had to drive 100 miles a day, instead of giving that extra time to my wife and children, I’ve often filled up those hours by working extra hours.

How stupid is that?

What if, instead, I took that extra time and put it toward my current definition of success? What if I found a way to carve extra time out of my busy weeks and give that time to my children for the benefit of their eternal souls?

Yeah, it’s easier said than done, but it is doable. And Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless helps to make this goal not just a possibility, but a reality. How? By giving concrete strategies, methods, and ideas.

Maybe you’re already doing some of the things Sarah A. Reinhard recommends in this book, but I can guarantee you, Sarah’s going to challenge you to do them even better.

For several years, our own family has had a “Family Fun Night” tradition on Fridays of getting a couple pizzas from a local family restaurant and watching a goofy family movie. While this has been a great way of spending time together, it doesn’t really offer our children opportunities to grow in holiness.

In Catholic Family Fun, Sarah equips all of us parents who share the goal of getting our families to heaven with the tools for making real progress. Instead of just weekly pizza and a movie, Sarah brings our faith into the mix in a vibrant and tangible manner by suggesting ways we can serve others, meals we can make together, and adventures we can experience hand-in-hand.

Most importantly, in this book Sarah outlines ways that—as a family—we can grow in our prayer lives and in our relationship with God.

What Catholic Family Fun provides is not a road map, for no two families are alike. Instead, Sarah provides us with a much-needed toolbox for Catholic families, one filled with spirituality, fun, and the kind of love that encourages each family member to be even more open to the closeness God has already given them.

If you’re like me, and sometimes struggle to find balance between spirituality and responsibility in your family, Sarah’s suggestions will be a wake-up call. In this book, you’ll discover inspiration to keep pushing forward, to constantly seek God in your family life, and to help your children seek him as well.

Sarah A. Reinhard’s Catholic Family Fun is the kind of book that sits on the kitchen table where it collects years of coffee stains in between laughs and life moments and memories. It’s the kind of book that gets passed around on family trips in the van, its pages folded over and marked with discovery. Each great idea Sarah gives us helps us to be not only more “successful” parents, but more faith-filled families.

GREG WILLITS

Co-Founder of Rosary Army (RosaryArmy.com)

Co-Host of Sirius XM’s “The Catholics Next Door”

(TheCatholicsNextDoor.com)

Introduction

Our family loves to spend time together, and that’s the underlying theme in these pages. Faith and fun are not exclusive concepts, though we often act as though they are.

The purpose of a Catholic family fun activity is to have fun together. Keep it simple and remember that there’s time ahead of you and no need to fit everything into a single time slot. You will have many more opportunities to tweak and add.

When you gather for family fun, you can include more than just your immediate family—why not invite grandparents, close friends and their children, or your siblings and their children? Ask everyone to turn off the electronics and join you for the present moment. Keep your phone on the charger and your earbuds in your pocket for a few hours. Find out what being really present to one another can do for your relationships.