CGS in the Home

Parenting is a ministry, a service to life.

Each child is an important person to you as parents and to God. You as parent have the dignity of being the “original and irreplaceable” person in your child’s religious journey. The family is the primary community in the faith journey of the child; it is the “domestic church,” because it is within the life of the family we find the first and privileged place of the Christian community lived. Here, you as parents are “the first heralds of the faith.” Here “faith works through love” and a relationship with God can begin to be nurtured. You, as parents, have shared the gift of human life with your child, and through Baptism, have enriched your child with a share in God’s own life. Your faith, your attitude toward others, and your trust in a loving God strongly influences the development of your child’s faith. We offer these suggestions to help you nurture your child’s developing relationship with God.

An Open Letter to Parents of Young Children from a Parent of Teens

Praying with Your Child

As parents, we find that we pray often and earnestly for our children. We ask God to keep them safe, to make them well, and to help us as we care for them. But there is another gift of prayer that comes to us: the gift of praying with our children. There is a big difference between the child’s prayer and that of the adult. It is precisely this difference that makes it such a privilege to pray with little children. They lead us to an enjoyment of God that we may have been missing. When allowed to pray naturally, their simple words come straight from the heart.

What is prayer? We have probably been told that prayer is talking to God. But talking is only one of the ways that young children communicate with God. They help us understand a broader and richer notion of prayer: to pray is to listen to God and to respond to God, to receive God’s gifts and to respond.

Praying With Young Children

The Good Shepherd and the Child: A Joyful Journey, Revised and Updated

Now revised and updated with reflections by Rebekah Rojcewicz, this foundational text outlines the trusted methods used for training those in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program.

The Religious Potential of the Child

This book describes an approach to religious formation that is biblical, sacramental and, at the same time, deeply respectful of children.

God and the Child Collection

Written for home use by parents and adults who want to help children’s religious life, but also for home schooling parents, an adult waiting to take the Level I course, catechists or formation leaders who do parent education.

Ways to Nurture the Relationship with God

The meditations in this book explore and illuminate the Christian message and are the fruit of Sofia Cavalletti’s meditations with adults gathered together as listeners to the Word.

Little Gospels: Infancy Narratives

Each book in this five-book set contains the Scripture passages of the Infancy Narratives and is illustrated with simple, beautiful drawings. With very readable font, the presentation of these individual Infancy Narrative stories in beautifully bound books allows the child to interact with the Word in a profound way.

A Is for Altar, B Is for Bible

Each letter has a beautiful image from the atrium and a prayer from Scripture or the liturgy.

A Walk through Our Church

This book is a reverent, child-led tour of an empty church, giving names to its furnishings. Perfect for ages 5 and up. Written and illustrated by a CGS advisory board member.

The Seed of God: A Series of Books for Children Age 3-7 (5-BOOK SET)

A beautiful set of five bilingual books presents the essence of the Gospel message to young children in a simple, but powerful way. Written in simple, clear language by Genelda Woggon, the series presents the Gospel message in five thematic books that fit a small child’s hand. (For children ages 3-7.)