| How does a child grow up Catholic? Well, one thing we know for sure is that Growing up Catholic cannot be the outcome of a few weeks of preparation for the sacraments! It takes an entire childhood - steeped in Catholic life, to reach adulthood as a well-formed Catholic. We know from studies that most active adult Catholics today were formed in faith in their household. Providing the support for this isn't as difficult as it sounds! Catholic parents need only a small amount of help to do this - with the support of parish leaders and staff. Catholic parents - including those married to people of other faiths - want to help their kids grow up Catholic! As you'll see when you look through these materials, Growing Up Catholic is a formation process which begins at baptism and results in adult Catholics of mature faith. It's "lifelong." Growing Up Catholic is a user-friendly resource for Sacramental Formation that webs into daily life and lasts a lifetime! This web site and these resources are your tools to assist parents in this process. You're gonna love the cost, the ease, and the way your parents respond. To see more features, click here. |
| Dear Parish Leader, Welcome to Growing Up Catholic. We write as the Team which provides support for lifelong faith formation at PastoralPlanning.com. We are committed to your success and share with you the hard work and great joys of this ministry. We also share the frustration of trying so darn hard to bring parents into the learning circle of the parish. Without those parents, we know we can't succeed with the kids. It's that simple. And what we're doing right now in Sacrament Prep, we know, is not working. To see why we believe that, click here. Growing Up Catholic is a carefully tested and well-crafted formation process designed for use within the parish or in home schooling. It provides the immediate preparation for First Reconciliation, Confirmation-in- restored-order, and First Communion. But it does far more than merely prepare a child for these sacraments. It also prepares children and their parents for a lifelong journey of faith as Catholics. And it does so in a way that is enjoyable, easy to do, and powerfully effective. To see more features, click here. Growing Up Catholic is a resource which comes to you electronically - shipped on a CD. (There is never a shipping charge for Growing Up Catholic materials.) Therefore, it costs you far less than the conventional "sacrament prep" books with which you're accustomed (about one third what you may now be paying, even taking into account your printing costs). Click here to see why this loose leaf approach to learning materials is so important to your success. Growing Up Catholic has three key elements: (1) A fully reproducible and beautiful learning guide for the parents and kids. We tested this learning guide with eight, nine and ten year old children & their parents, offering them a choice between Growing Up Catholic and three of the leading conventional sacrament prep books. We invited them to spend a little time with each and then tell us which one they liked the best. Growing Up Catholic was chosen first by 82% of the people we asked. Why?
(2) A web site loaded with parent/guardian information and background. Growing up Catholic depends on the parents or guardians of the child. No matter how well we do as a parish, the kids still learn at home by watching and listening to their parents. Many parents really aren't deeply enough connected to their own faith to guide a child. So on this web site, we provide them with a roadmap:
(3) A fantastic package of tools for you as the parish leader! When you buy Growing Up Catholic for your parish, you pay a fee based on the number of children in your program. For that single small fee, you get
mail support and backup by our Team. We will even attend your staff or committee meetings by conference call. To see more features, click here. Thank you for everything you do for your parish! You're the key link for those parents. With all good wishes and blessings, Bill Huebsch and your Team at PastoralPlanning.com |

| What does it take to help a child grow up Catholic? Engaged parents + The Right Resource + Parish Help = Fabulous Results! |
| Kids love Growing Up Catholic! It's actually fun to use! See a Sample. |
| Growing Up Catholic helps parents form their own kids! Which every parent really wants to do but most don't know how! See a sample. |
| Parish leaders: Growing Up Catholic is a dream come true! You get everything you need - and it's all electronic. It is sent to you via postal mail on a CD. It makes life easy for your catechists! Go to the Leader Pages |
| To order on line, click here. No credit card is needed. We'll send your parish an invoice! To download and use a paper order form, click here. You may also call us with your order: 8 AM to 4 PM Central time 612.220.6943 |

| The Growing Up Catholic Philosophy The faith formation of every child is found in the faith of the parents. We must coach the parents to form their own children in order to have formation that lasts a lifetime. By forming their own children, the parents themselves are formed more deeply in their own faith. We know that almost every active adult Catholic today is active because his or her parents had faith. Their faith did not come from a textbook, no matter how excellent it may have been. So we must shift our focus from placing everything in the hands of trained catechists to a real partnership between parish and household. That partnership needs resources. Growing Up Catholic is that resource and it is truly fantastic. No matter how well we may do with teachers and catechists (with the parents absent from the process) if the child goes home to a household that is lacking in faith, that child will - in the end - be formed by that household. Why not coach the household into greater faith? |
| No one is more important to the success of parish faith formation than the parish catechetical leader. Without you, there would not be vision, direction and outcomes. Thank You! |
| Questions? Use the Growing Up Catholic Hotline: 612-220-6943 8 AM to 4 PM CST, Monday through Friday |
