Keep Your Kids Catholic

Every family will profit from this book. It doesn´t matter if you are a beginner in the Catholic Faith path or if you are far ahead and have a strong faith life. I consider being in this last category and started reading this book out of curiosity, not really thinking I could do more about passing the faith out to my kids. Then, I was surprised to see how much more I could do! I am equally amazed how Marc Cardaronella was able to talk about deep concepts in such a simple and easy way to understand. Everything he suggests has a solid reason and he had tested them all in his own family life.

The author stresses the importance of the parents as the primary teacher of faith for their children. This does not mean the parent has to be the only teacher but it does mean that parents cannot take a backseat as they hand the job over to someone else.
The book also stresses the importance of the parents own faith. You cannot pass on what you do not possess so this is also touched on in the book. Lasting faith cannot be built by only attending Mass on Sundays.

The book is separated into four main sections.... "How does faith work?", "Is your own faith secure?", "What kind of education fosters faith?", "How do you create and environment of faith?"

At the end of each chapter there are "Reflect", "Pray" and "Live" paragraphs to help you deepen and ground what you have just read. Reflect on what you've just read and how it applies to your life. Pray as you prepare to move forward. Live your life with a focus and purpose.

This was an enlightening and enriching read that is useful not just for keeping the next generation Catholic but building this one as well.

Once-local author Marc Cardaronella, who previously worked in evangelization in the diocese of Peoria, has written a remarkable new book called, Keep Your Kids Catholic: Sharing Your Faith and Making It Stick. [Cardaronella is now director of the Bishop Helmsing Institute for Faith Formation at the Diocese of Kansas City–St. Joseph, Missouri.]

The title of Keep Your Kids Catholic gave me the most worry, since any kind of parenting book or advice always strikes fear and sometimes amusement into the heart of many parents, myself included. Perhaps it’s because I, like so many others before me, vowed when I didn’t have kids that I would parent differently (and so much better) than all the parents I saw around me. You know, the statements like “my child will never eat candy before lunch” or “my children will never interrupt two grown-ups having a conversation.” Etc. And then you laugh at your younger self.

Keep Your Kids Catholic is by no means one of that kind of book. It could be titled, Keep Yourself Catholic more than anything else, since Cardaronella stresses the importance of personal witness and a vibrant Catholic home environment as being vital to fostering faith among young people.

You can read the rest of my review at the link below:

This is a simple, yet practical guide for parents about how to start and implement the family faith learning. Some might say it covers only the basics - and yet, these basics in reality are all that is needed! Because you can not "teach" faith as a school subject, its ways are both more mysterious and more simple. Learning by giving the honest example is often the most working way.
I would say that this guide covers all the main spots and its simplicity it actually addresses all what is basically needed to address (of course, for same concrete questions, say concerning the Catholic teaching about sexuality, one should refer to specialized book).
The language is warm and user-friendly and there are also recommendations for more resources in every chapter.

I would recommend this book as a basic yet working guide for all parents.