Holier families

Bishop Yanta and the recipe for Holier families

Prayer topped the list of several practical tips for strengthening the Catholic family that the bishop of Amarillo offered in a recent pastoral letter.
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The bishop reminded parents of their responsibility to teach their children to pray. "No Catholic child," he said, "should be enrolled in a Catholic school or CCD program who doesn't already know by heart how to recite the Sign of the Cross, Our Father, and Hail Mary."

Sounds reasonable to me. If our children don't start picking it up by 4, then I start getting worried. My 20 month old keeps us chuckling with his attempts at the Sign of the Cross. The other day he got very close, but the touches across the back of his neck cracked me up.

And a Bishop Yanta also made a point that I like to rail on.

Bishop Yanta also warned parents to not make the mistake of asking their children what they want to be when they grow up, but rather to teach them to ask what God wants of them.

"Parents should remember and teach that the first calling of the Christian and Catholic is to follow Christ," he said.

The bishop said God "has a special love for every human person and a special plan for each of us."

"So the question becomes," he said, "What do you think God wants you to be in your life?"