All of this week a Symposium is taking place in Barcelona in preparation for next year's Synod on Young People. The theme is "Accompanying Young People to freely respond to Christ's call." It's organised by the Council of European Bishops Conferences.
We were contacted by the Vice President the extraordinarily dynamic Dutch priest Michel Remery and author of a great book of apologetics for young people: Tweeting With God.
He wanted a 5 minute video of a family with children of various ages, talking about accompanying young people in faith and discovering their vocation. That seemed easy enough but if you're ever doing a video, leave at least five times as much time as you think you need!
We were on a tight deadline and finished the video after about 100 takes, at 2:30am talking about the joys of family life and wanting to strangle eachother!
We had so much more we would have wanted to say and say better but we think we managed to get something of value across... you decide!
Okay, I have watched this twice now. I loved the advice on how you guys view your family as an extension of the Church. I will need to keep that one in the forefront of my mind, as my kiddos get older! Also, I 100% agree with the concept that each individual is on their own journey of faith, and loved how you encouraged fostering that, but then also acknowledged that the family must also be a missionary unit together, too. I think often times, parents think it should be one or the other (everyone do their own thing, or everyone do the same thing together all the time). I like how you encourage both!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your insights - it was encouraging to see!
Oh indeed I think you conveyed much value across though this little video! I really love how you take any conflict within your family to confession. We also feel it is very important to have a connection with our family and religious, I want my children to know that a religious vocation isn't out of reach for them if they feel called to it some day. Your family is such an inspiration, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing you and the whole family! I'm especially drawn to the part about how we should notice how many opportunities we have to evangelize as a family just through the interactions we are likely to have in a given day.
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