Family faith formation is the beating heart of parish ministry. If you can engage the energy and spirit of your parents and children, it will fuel your whole parish-wide effort. We encourage you to make family faith formation the core of your creation care approach and to build your other initiatives around it.
This simpler VBS kit also teaches Pope Francis' encyclical, On Care for Our Common Home, in an engaging and age-appropriate way. The Scripture-centered approach incorporates additional stories that bring the covered topics alive.
A Growing Up Catholic VBS theme • Sold per-parish as downloadable ($109) and/or physical ($69) kits, with add-on options.
This program will give your parish families the experience of service, justice and discipleship. Our event kit will help you facilitate a local service project with an ecological basis and learn about Pope Francis' Laudato Si'. In addition to hands-on service, families will participate in retreat-like sessions to pray, learn, have fun, reflect, and share meals.
Not only will families grow in faith as they serve and learn together with other families from your parish, but your parish will also be recognized as an indispensable resource in your local community by meeting real needs. Lasting relationships will be formed among the families and between your parish and service agencies in your community.
By the Center for Ministry Development • Sold per-parish as downloadable ($59) or physical ($79) kits.
The LearningCycles series offers a creative approach to faith formation based on different learning styles, appropriate for K-5th graders. This unit is a toolkit of ideas for holding eight workshops: Art, Story, Drama & Activity, Music, Kitchen, Movie, Publishing, and Garden. It works well for child sessions or whole family/intergenerational catechesis.
This simple resource focuses on the creation story. Teach children that we live in a magnificent, intricate world brought into existence by a loving Creator who has now given human beings the responsibility to care for this wonderful creation.
By Tracey E. Herzer • Sold per-parish as a downloadable/reproducible resource. • $9/parish
Thirty short lessons that will engage children, catechists, and families in the good work of keeping our planet livable and sustainable for coming generations. Inspired by passages in Laudato Si’ (On Care for our Common Home), the lessons and practical activities are fun and thought-provoking.
The reflections and prayers in each lesson help connect our practical actions to the gospel and deepen our spiritual sense of our common home. From activities for conserving water to developing a greater awareness of all of God’s creation, this book is a great resource for catechists and families.
By Sr Mary Elizabeth Clark, SSJ • Paperback book •
Laudato Si' calls on all of us to work through our political system to promote the common good: for all people and the rest of creation (especially see Chapter 5). Pope Francis says that change will not happen unless we influence those in power. Likewise, he urges us to work through community organizations and other groups to create a better world.
This guide will help parents and teachers nurture a child's Christ-like compassion and to develop a sense of political and community responsibility. It provides tips for three age groups: preschool through grade 2, grades 3 through 6, and middle through high school. Specific suggestions are made for school and religious education classes and at home.
By Anne Neuberger • Downloadable eResource • $11/parish
This resource includes ideas, links, resources, and questions to help kids learn about people who have taken action to care for our common home. This extensive classroom tool will help you design lessons or guide children in directed study. Includes: "Heroes for Animals," "Big Name Hunters" (famous creation caretakers), "Creation Care Communion of Saints," "Kid Fixers," and more!
By Anne Neuberger • Downloadable eResource • Free
This ancillary curriculum has been designed to be flexible, formatted in short segments that can be added to your existing catechetical program, incorporated into the school day, or combined into longer sessions.
Based on the same core content as the EarthKeepers VBS, it includes eight sessions of 20 to 45+ minutes. Each session comes with a two-page child handout and a leader handout with talking points. Editions are included for both ages 5-8 and ages 9-12.
By Paul Canavese & Anne Neuberger • Sold per-parish as a downloadable/reproducible resource. • $24/school or parish
One year of paragraph-length reflections. Challenge your parishioners and families to take actions inspired by Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'. Tips are correlated to the lectionary cycle and/or calendar year. Paste them right into your bulletin, social media feed, email, or newsletter.
By The Pastoral Center and Green Churches Network • 16 pages • English & Spanish • Downloadable, reproducible eResource • $12/parish
(Global Weirding, Katherine Hayhoe)
Embark on a whimsical journey to encounter and protect the majesty of Earth. With rhyming prose and a call to simple but impactful action, this book invites young readers to serve as caretakers for the natural world around them.
By Lisa M. Hendey
A simple and enchanting book that invites children to see themselves as both descendants and ancestors, and caretakers of our beautiful planet.
By Laura Alary and Cathrin Peterslund
This Living Faith Kids sticker book captures the awe and joy of the Creation story as found in Genesis 1. Children learn about God’s loving goodness as they read through the days and phases of Creation, including his design of human beings—the pinnacle of his Creation. Filled with practical activities to stir a child’s appreciation of both the gift of life and the wonderful world we live in, the book closes with a call to care for the great gifts God has given us.