In the two parishes that the bishops have entrusted to them, Jesus of Nazareth and Saint Andrew the Apostle, the Doctrinaries Fathers propose family catechesis in preparation for the sacraments of first Confession and first Communion.
An experimentation that began in 2013 in Turin, which is now consolidated. Families – including younger and older brothers and sisters – meet one Sunday a month. They attend mass and then stop in the parish. A community game and then the parents-catechists, supported by a priest, live with their children the activity prepared to get to know Jesus well, focusing a lot on participatory animation, in order to make known the Words of Jesus and what he offers to each of us, his friends, to live our lives as Christians.
The community lunch cements fraternity, and then again the game to have fun together, and other moments of prayer and catechesis before saying goodbye with a homework assignment. We will meet again, in groups of 3-4 families, one evening in the same month to have dinner together and return to the theme of catechesis.
Parents have the honor of being the catechists of their own children and of others, as they pledged to do during their children’s Baptism, and the burden – but also the possibility – of forming themselves, always with the help of a priest, to be better and better.
Father Andrea Marchini, parish priest at Gesù Nazareno, strongly believes in this proposal which involves over thirty families, as does Father Ottorino Vanzaghi who had launched it in Turin and is now proposing it in Rome, where about fifty families have joined .
Family catechesis can take root in the Church today, in fact the auxiliary bishop of the northern sector of the diocese of Rome, mgr. Daniele Salera, asked Father Ottorino Vanzaghi for information because he is thinking of proposing similar forms of Family Catechesis in other Roman parishes. From a small seed…

Discovering Jesus with mum and dad

Daniela Mogavero talks about her experience as Federico’s mother in the parish of Sant’Andrea Apostolo, in Rome.
I commit. Sharing. Rediscovered. These are the three words which, reflecting on almost two years of family catechesis, best describe my direct experience of this “experimentation” which started in Turin and landed in Rome
But before explaining what the three concepts I have chosen to tell this story mean for me and my family, it is also worth remembering how it began, because sometimes uncertainties and perplexities hide surprises and unpredictable treasures that you wouldn’t even have looked for. .
When in 2022 it was time to enroll my son Federico, the youngest of the house, in catechism to begin the path to Confession first and then Communion, I imagined that everything would take place in the wake of what I had experienced for the eldest, Francesco . His journey had been a beautiful one, which is now continuing with the approach to Confirmation, but, perhaps, more traditional at least in terms of methods. In between there was a pandemic, the Masses on YouTube, the reduced catechesis, the meetings with the mask, the day of the First Communion, of the Eucharist, with the places counted for each family. A moment of joy, a little stifled, but joy nonetheless. Francis had arrived there with us, but also in some ways alone: by participating in his meetings with the catechist and the parish priest, by sharing what he had learned and by his moments of prayer. We as a family have experienced the joy of completion, but much less the journey. This is precisely the real change.
But, going back to the beginning, in 2022 I discovered, together with the other families of my classmates and other eight-year-olds, that it would be different for us. The feelings were mixed. On the one hand, surprise, on the other, doubt. No afternoon meetings for the kids, no traditional catechists, not one meeting a week but one a month and with families.
And as often happens in life, everything is done for children and so why not try this too? A simple continuation of Sunday Mass to better understand the parish to which I have belonged for a decade and which, perhaps, I have not yet really met. That’s what I thought when we started. I gave myself and I gave it a chance.
And the first year was truly a discovery. Being able to support my son in truly understanding the Mass, the sacrament of Confession, the reflection, the gestures starting from the sign of the Cross onwards. And here is the first concept I mentioned at the beginning: commitment.
Yes, because it took a lot of effort to take my faith back and be able to live it with Federico. Commitment to being an example of that faith, first, every day, as I could and as I can. Showing how simple it is to begin to let being a Christian enter into the little things. And also with the commitment to always or almost always be there, not to get caught up in laziness, work, or other things, when Sunday morning arrives. It was easy, however, to be welcomed back into this flow.
And so the sharing began. Meeting with other families, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Different stories, same neighborhood. And listen to the explanations, but participate in the reflections. Confronting each other, each with their own doubts, also joking, organizing games and “skits” sometimes comical and sometimes more serious to talk about forgiveness, sins, miracles and how to say thank you, learning every Sunday what the signs are and what they are moments of participation.
And in the second year this sharing grew, it increased, thanks to the commitment of other parents who made themselves available by being guided by the Parish Priest in the management of some meetings: becoming the catechists of their children, before the curious and amazed eyes of their children. And the red thread that is created in this way necessarily continues even when one leaves the parish hall.
This was probably the most difficult part and it ties into the third key word: rediscovery. Having to face catechesis, we parents have opened ourselves up again to learning, to understanding, to the challenge of being Christian in a world where it is a little out of fashion and it almost seems like we have to justify ourselves. Personally I have rediscovered the elements of the Mass, the gratuitousness of the gift of Jesus, of the sacraments, the need to read the Bible and the usefulness of prayer.
A path that will lead us to Communion this year: for many a point of arrival, but I hope, for my family, just a stage in a long journey, in which in my own way, in our own way, we will try to be part.