First, follow the directives given by Pope John Paul II in Catechesi Tradendae, the most fundamental papal document on catechesis. I have added some headings to facilitate reading of the text:
1. SPECIAL CHARACTER. The family's
catechetical activity has a special character, which is in a sense
irreplaceable. This special character has been rightly stressed by the Church,
particularly by the Second Vatican Council.
2. THROUGH PERSONAL WITNESS. Education
in the faith by parents, which should begin from the children's tenderest age,
is already being given when the members of a family help each other to grow in faith through the witness of their Christian
lives, a witness that is often without words but which perseveres
throughout a day-to-day life lived in accordance with the Gospel.
3. EXPLANATION OF FAMILY EVENTS. This
catechesis is more incisive when, in the course of family events (such as the
reception of the sacraments, the celebration of great liturgical feasts, the
birth of a child, a bereavement) care is
taken to explain in the home the Christian or religious content of these
events.
4. REPEAT THE METHODICAL
TEACHING GIVEN IN CHURCH AND SCHOOL. But that is not enough: Christian parents must strive to follow and repeat, within the setting of family
life, the more methodical teaching received elsewhere. The fact that these
truths about the main questions of faith and Christian living are thus repeated
within a family setting impregnated with
love and respect will often make it possible to influence the children in a decisive way for life. The parents themselves profit from the
effort that this demands of them, for in a catechetical dialogue of this sort
each individual both receives and gives.
5. KEY IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY
CATECHESIS. Family catechesis therefore precedes, accompanies and enriches all
other forms of catechesis. Furthermore, in places where anti- religious
legislation endeavors even to prevent education in the faith, and in places
where widespread unbelief or invasive secularism makes real religious growth
practically impossible, "the church
of the home" remains the one place where children and young people can
receive an authentic catechesis.
6. HELPING PARENTS IN FAMILY CATECHESIS
IS PRICELESS. Thus there cannot be too great an effort on the part of Christian parents to prepare for this ministry of
being their own children's catechists and to carry it out with tireless zeal.
Encouragement must also be given to the individuals or institutions that,
through person-to-person contacts, through meetings, and through all kinds of
pedagogical means, help parents to
perform their task: The service they are doing to catechesis is beyond price.
To help parents to perform no. 5, to repeat and discuss the methodical teaching in the Church, here are sites where parents can find materials that discuss the Scriptural readings of the day.
Readings of the Day
Reflections and Homilies on the Readings
Parents can also use the Vatican's listing of Catechism points that are relevant to the Sunday liturgical readings: Sunday Liturgical Readings and Catechism Doctrine.
Since personal witness is important, according to the Popes, a key to Family Catechesis is Family Prayer, which is explained and taught in
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