MFP 316: A Manual for Catholic Families

Messy Family Podcast : Catholic Conversations on Marriage and Family

“Catholic parenting is above all a work of grace” - Fr. Carter Griffin

We often say there is no manual for being a parent, but this book comes pretty close! In this podcast, we interview the author of Forming Families, Forming Saints Fr. Carter Griffin. Fr. Griffin has worked for years forming young men into priests in the seminary setting. In doing so, he saw many similarities between what he was doing with young men and what parents were doing at home. The four pillars of formation in the seminary - human, intellectual, spiritual, and apostolic - can be applied in the family as well! In both settings, ultimately God is the one who does the transforming in people’s lives, but He does choose to use us in the process. We believe this book is a valuable resource for parents that they will be able to refer to again and again.

Key Concepts

• Parents are proxies. God is the ultimate shaper of their hearts and minds, but He chooses to use us in the lives of our children

• In the past decade or so there has been an emphasis on the importance of childhood and parenting on a person’s life. This knowledge is good, but it also has put an incredible amount of pressure on parents to “do it right”.

• The four pillars of seminary formation - Human, Spiritual, Intellectual, and Apostolic can be applied for parents forming children within the home.

• The most successful parents create an environment of trust in the home through continual dialogue with their children while sending the message that they don’t just love their kids, but they like them too!

• Parents need to know they are not alone! There are many other families working alongside you and we have a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on.

Couple Discussion

1. Consider the four pillars that Fr. Griffith describes. How is our child doing in each of these? Can we make a goal for them in each area?

2. Are we overwhelmed by the responsibility of parenting? How can we rely on God more for the grace that we need and for the grace that our children need?

Resources

Father’s book: Forming Families, Forming Saints: https://stpaulcenter.com/product/forming-families-forming-saints/

Find out more about our UK tour in March - https://messyfamilyproject.org/uk-tour-2025/

Event in New Jersey with Array of Hope - Beloved https://arrayofhope.regfox.com/beloved