LYDIA LOCOCO
SPECIAL TO THE CATHOLIC HERALD

I know why you are reading this.

I know why you are reading this because not that long ago, I sat where you are sitting. I was embarking on the greatest adventure known to man — to follow Jesus Christ and his way and to meet him in the mysteries of his Church through the particular vocation of marriage and parenting. The challenge for me was that the culture in which I lived was growing increasingly hostile to my little adventure. I had no training for this and did not have any real personal experience of Catholic family life.

I was terrified.

Fast forward and I am now the mother of eight millennials and expecting my 20th grandchild. I am only slightly less terrified, but I am writing this today because each one of my young adult children is on their own journey to follow Jesus Christ and his way: five are married to wonderful Catholic spouses, one is a diocesan priest, one is single, and one is a woman religious in a habited religious order.

I am living out my vocation as a wife, mother, Nana, friend and as someone who has worked full time in a large American archdiocese. Yet all people want from me is the answer to this one burning question: “How did you raise your children to grow up and remain in the faith?”

Which is why you are reading this, and why there is a chance that you are going to be disappointed in the rest of this article. Because I have a sneaking suspicion that what you want is what I wanted: the simple recipe. If someone could have told me the ingredients for the recipe called “a good Catholic family,” I would have sold all that I owned, bought the ingredients and made the cookie dough. Nothing would have been too hard, no pious devotion too tiring, no curriculum too obscure. I was ready, bowl in hand, and all I wanted was to be told what ingredients to put in. Oh, if it were only that easy.

People today write all kinds of books with various “options” as to what we are to do as members of his Body, living as we do in a world that is pretty foreign to us. We know we are called to engage culture on the one hand. We want to be witnesses and shining lamps to light the way for others. However, we also very quickly learn that to be “in” culture and not “of” culture is a difficult task. There are no recipes and there are no easy, cut-and-dried options. It is not only about the right devotional or about pious practices. What came to be in my life, gradually and without my even realizing it, was the intentional creation of “home as sanctuary.” By that, I mean that there was a feeling that our home, our family, our life and our faith were somehow a “place apart.” While we were in society and moved about in culture no different from the rest, we certainly felt different. We ran back to our little “snow globe,” our quiet faith village, where we spoke a vocabulary of faith with one another, with our friends, and within the community of our parish and other like-minded families. Home and family became an enchanted place of security and peace, even amidst the trials of this world, because we set ourselves apart for him, and we know that this is not a lasting city. We as Christians are not called to leave the world but to live in it; we must create homes — and faith communities — that allow our families to prosper and flourish and serve as a light of witness.

In the end, what you must know is this: You can do this! What is hard is that this vocation to marriage and parenting takes everything.

Resolve to:

  • Desire to have a peace-filled home.
  • Give this holy desire to Jesus Christ.
  • Ask him to help you create a nurturing and loving home, focused on him.
  • Surrender all and see where the adventure takes you!

Lydia LoCoco, D. Min., has worked in various capacities of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for the past 18 years. For the crazy antics of the LoCoco family, you can follow Fr. John LoCoco on “X” at Father_LoCoco.