Building the Domestic Church
What is the Domestic Church?
It is believing that how you live your faith in your councils, families, parishes and community has a ripple effect that changes the world. It is the council, the family and the parish that knows that everything they do must be based in surrendering prayer. It describes the imperfect family and council who deliberately chooses to live contrary to what seems like a Godless world and says, “In our home, council and parish, we choose to live our faith.”
It is the family and council who prays together, goes to Mass weekly, frequents the Sacrament of Confession and (because they realize they are powerless without God), deliberately avoids that which pollutes their minds and hearts. It is the imperfect, humble and joy-filled family and council that rarely preaches the faith because they are too busy living it.
Introducing the new Building the Domestic Church series, a collection of popular Catholic Information Service “CIS” books focused on issues of vital importance for Catholic families seeking to build up and strengthen the church at home.
The following CIS booklets cover topics of current applications in the day to day lives of Catholic Families:
304 – Lord, Teach Us to Pray
To answer the question “What is prayer,” we must realize that our search leads, not to an activity, but to a way of being. Prayer is less a function and more a disposition.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis304.pdf
309 – Prayer Time
Prayer Time is a wonderful companion for families to use in order to grow in the spiritual life. How wonderful if families throughout the world would spend time together each day offering prayers found in this wonderful volume. It goes without saying, that Prayer Time is a useful guide for anyone who truly wants to grow in holiness.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis309.pdf
310 – Letter to Families
Before his election to the papacy, Karol Wojtyla, as priest and bishop, spent long hours counseling young adults and newly married couples; as poet and playwright he explored the challenges confronting couples in dramas such as The Jeweler’s Shop; as a professor of philosophy he examined ethical decisions faced by couples within marriage in such works as Love and Responsibility.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis310.pdf
315 – The Good Life, God’s Way
This booklet is an introduction to the good life—the really good life—for Roman Catholics. Jesus Christ is Himself the Way (John 14:6), and to follow Him means to take up a holy manner of life and to become the kind of wise, strong, pure, and good men and women that God wants us to be.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis315.pdf
318 – The Family in the Modern World
In Familiaris Consortio, Pope John Paul II asks us to be realistic about the situation of families in our time. Not every new development has been a positive one, nor has every social change had a negative effect upon family life.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis318.pdf
319 – A Scriptural Rosary for the Family
The Rosary is a school, that is, a method of prayer for all times and seasons. For many centuries, Catholics have turned to the Rosary to learn the Gospel, to contemplate the face of Christ in their ordinary lives, but also during times of conflict and danger.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis319.pdf
322 – Becoming a Real Man of God
The author discusses the challenges of forming Christian men today.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis322.pdf
324 – Mary, The Mother of God
Mary as the mother of God; her Immaculate Conception, perpetual virginity and Assumption.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis324.pdf
327 – Saint Benedict for Busy Parents
This booklet introduces the reader to Saint Benedict, his Rule and his spirituality with the aim of providing a means for spiritual advancement amid the bustle of family life.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis327.pdf
328 – Saint Joseph: Our Father in Faith
This booklet discusses Saint Joseph as a “man of faith” and “the just man,” providing a timely reflection on Saint Joseph as a model for all Christians.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis328.pdf
333 – God’s Plan for Love and Marriage
This booklet provides an introduction to some of the key concepts of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, as well a reflection questions and recommendations for further reading.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis333.pdf
390 – Faith: Questions and Answers
This booklet contains 101 questions and answers concerning Christian doctrine and practice.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis390.pdf
10168 – The Gift of Fatherhood – What Every Man Should Know
This booklet discusses three focal points of Fatherhood: (1) the crisis facing fatherhood in our country and our culture, (2) an approach grounded in God’s fatherhood and what that means for human fathers, and (3) an action plan designed to make us better fathers, better sons, better brothers, and better husbands.
View or Download the PDF to Learn More:
https://www.kofc.org/en/resources/cis/cis10168.pdf