77. How to teach the Catholic faith to kids at different ages

You can teach a child a thousand facts about faith and still miss the one thing that actually sticks: what faith and holiness looks like in the every day life of a Christian. Recording from the Catholic Creator Conference in Steubenville, Sheila  sits down with her husband, Joseph, a Religion teacher with 25+ years in the classroom, to talk about how families can transmit the Catholic faith to children from the early years through the teen years without turning the house into a lecture hall. 

We get practical about the stuff that tests real Catholic parenting: noisy toddlers at Mass, the temptation to stay home because it's easier to do so, and the quiet fear that we are “doing it wrong.” Joseph argues that bringing kids to Mass matters even when they do not understand the readings yet, because belonging comes before comprehension. We also dig into family prayer that feels normal, including how to introduce the Rosary with our kids in a way that builds love and attention over time, and develop a personal relationship with Jesus in adulthood.

Then we move into the pre-teen and teen shift where questions get sharper: "Does God exist? Who goes to heaven? Why does the Church teach what it teaches?" We talk about moving past a points system and into relationship, helping teens navigate online apologetics, and weaving Scripture and the Magisterium into everyday conversation. If you want a clearer, calmer approach to raising Catholic kids in a digital age, pleasehit play, subscribe to our family podcast apostolate, and please share this with a fellow parent. If this episode was helpful to you, please consisder leaving a positive review so more families can find it. 

Thank you + God bless!

Transcript

Welcome And Opening Prayer

Sheila Nonato 0:00

Welcome, Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Welcome to the Veil and Armour Podcast. We are coming to you from Steubenville, Ohio, the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and we are here for the third annual Catholic Creator Conference. I'm here with my husband, Joseph, and can you please start us off with a prayer?

Joseph Nonato 0:14

Okay. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Let's take a moment to remember that we are in the most Holy Presence of God Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, who has taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that by the gift of the same Spirit, we be always truly wise and ever to re- to rejoice in His consolation. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. Holy Mary, Our Hope, Seat of Wisdom. Pray for us Pray for us. In the name of the Father- Father and the Son And the Holy Spirit And the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Modeling Prayer In Early Childhood

Sheila Nonato 0:46

Okay, so I just wanted to re-introduce you to our viewers and listeners. Um, so you have 20 years of experience as a teacher-

Sheila Nonato 0:52

Over that. Uh, 25 plus

Joseph Nonato 0:54

Over 25 Yes.

Sheila Nonato 0:55

Teaching religion- Yes and social, social studies, but today we're gonna be concentrating on religion and how to transmit the faith to children, to students Um, so do you wanna start off with early childhood? How do we-- what are sort of the virtues, principles, approaches that- Okay parents can take?

Joseph Nonato 1:13

Good. So I think at the-- we could probably divide up the, uh, the approaches there from two different aspects, right? So we'll start off from, uh, early childhood, and we'll go all the way through to, uh, to late teens, and we'll see how that kind of progresses. And we'll try to approach this from three different perspectives. First of all, who the, uh, the child sees as their family, and then, uh, their cognitive ability, um, and how that sort of relates to the transmission of the faith or even the teaching of the faith.

Joseph Nonato 1:39

And then lastly, also how the fourth commandment is kind of applied, honor thy father and mother, and how that should be applied to them in relationship between a teacher and, and more importantly parent, um, and then, uh, with the child. Okay? So we'll start off with that. Okay. Okay. So, uh, if we begin first with the, uh, early childhood, there we understand that, uh, usually with the children, you know, their cognitive ability first of all is very s- is, uh, uh, their information, but their-- the impression that is being made is obviously from the family. So very much so at the very beginning, uh, everything has to be sort of exemplified. The kids will do what they see, right? So in other words, y- you can-- we can yak all we want about them. It's about the faith or whatever like that, but they will do what they see us doing, right? So it's very important that Jesus becomes-- Our Lord becomes part of the home, right? So therefore, that whole idea of, of, of, not even the idea, the practice of prayer has to be something that is part of breathing at home, right? Along with everything else.

Joseph Nonato 2:39

If we have particular-- if you have particular family customs that you're used to, part of those customs should be obviously prayer with the-- with our Lord and making sure that that is central. Even the kind of discussions that you're having around the dinner table, right? The young children have to see that, you know, the whole sc- sacred scripture and whatnot is, uh, uh, is at the center of, uh, of the marriage and of the family, and then this is what the family does, right? So obviously prayers at meals, Holy Rosary, obviously going to Holy Mass, uh, things like this should be part of the, the constant heartbeat, right? Cognitively speaking, when we, when we look at that, the children, obviously they're, they're exemplif- they're repeating what they have seen, that being exemplified from their parents, and so therefore they're gonna copy that.

Joseph Nonato 3:22

And then from the fourth commandment, obviously when we talk about the honor your father and mother, we're trying to form that in them, but shaping it from the perspective of our Father. When our Lord taught His, uh, His apostles and disciples to pray, He said, "Call-" You know, God, our Father. But as we know, "Abba" is what he says, right? Daddy. And so that come, becomes the same sort of reflection. Our children will call us in the same way, Daddy or Mommy or some sort of a diminutive. But then that close, intimate relationship, that friendship has to, that bond has to be, uh, strengthened as we, as we go along. Okay.

Bringing Young Kids To Sunday Mass

Sheila Nonato 3:58

So, um, in terms of, I guess, introducing, you said prayer and Mass. So when children are very young, it's difficult to bring them to Mass. And I don't know if people can hear, our son is making airplane noises. But during Mass, sometimes the children can- um they can't sit still, especially when they're younger, or they cry when they're babies. And some people, um, actually elect not to take the children to Mass. They take turns because they think it's too noisy or they don't wanna bother people. But what is your philosophy on taking children, especially young children, to Mass, and how do you- Help them be quiet or at least settled.

Joseph Nonato 4:36

Well, I think it would go back with the, uh, the common phrase, "If the church is not crying, it's dying," right? Um, I once... I can't remember who you are, the podcasts are out there, and if I... I'm sorry for, if I'm not, uh, uh, crediting you with this one, but I saw a beautiful, uh, sort of a meme that was out or some sort of a, a clip where there was a woman who was taking her child and walking at the back of the church. I remember that for our children, you'd al- I would always observe the mass through a crack in the door between two closed doors, but hearing the audio in the background, but then pacing at the back of the church. Um, this woman who was talking about this was saying that those are pilgrimage miles that are being made. That's missionary miles, 'cause you are actually taking your child to mass, and even if they don't see what's going on, they don't understand any of what sacred scripture is, is being said to them, they can see that this is a practice that's important for the family. We have to go to mass. We go through the trouble of that. Mom has to put makeup on, put a nice dress on. Dad has to put a tie on, put a suit on, and we're gonna go to Mass.

Joseph Nonato 5:35

It really doesn't, you know... And the, and the big struggle of this. Uh, for the child, maybe they may not appreciate the struggle, but the very fact that then the church becomes their home. This is something that they're used to, right? And then even the practice of at the, at the end of it, maybe light a candle, or sometimes the priest will say, "Okay, you get to blow out the candles." Becomes something that the, the church environment becomes familiar to them. So cognitively speaking, this is what they'll, they'll grasp on. But then what we're, we're trying to do is build relationship, right? It's not about in- indoctrinating the kids in such a way. It's about building that relationship with Christ.

Joseph Nonato 6:07

And the, the early communication that has to be given to our children is that Christ is our friend. Jesus is our friend and is your friend, right? And so this is the reason why we have to take your children to mass, even if it's a big struggle. Don't ever not take your child to mass. And then obviously for the, for people out there, you see it less and less, you know, people complaining about the kids at mass and the noise that they're making. They're welcoming the sin because, again, the church, if you're gonna, if you're gonna profess that we have to, to, uh, to transmit the faith to the next generation, how are you supposed to do that if the kids aren't at mass? Now, of course, you have to go and teach them how to behave at Holy Mass, because you have to teach them that there's something sacred that's happening in front of them. But, uh, try not to scold the parents too much, because they're doing their very best, right?

Sheila Nonato 6:51

And it, it seems like while there might be sort of a change, you know, maybe little small change, but I just remember when, uh, one of the kids was, was a baby and I was in the back nursing with a cover, you know, nursing cover. Um, and I was really very worried about what people are gonna think, but I was really at the very back, and this lady was coming towards me and I was thinking, "She's definitely gonna say something," and now I'm gonna cry- I remember this. Yeah. Yeah because she's going to embarrass me and say, "What are you doing? This is gross." But actually she came to me, and everything's covered, okay? So everything's, like, discrete, but she... Even with the nursing cover. But she saw the nursing cover, she looked at me, and then she said, "That's too hot for the baby" and then threw it like this, and thankfully nobody was around. But like, again, it's, it was discrete, so it's okay. But I just was so surprised that that lady was very charitable- Yeah and very kind and very pro-life, I would say, welcoming to, to kids, because Jesus did say, "Let the little children come to me." Right. Right? Not to hide them away 'cause they're making too much noise.

Joseph Nonato 7:51

But- And as they say- Yeah it does take a village to raise a child. But it... I remember when I served in Africa- Being at a Holy Mass at, uh, St Mary's Parish in, uh, in Yambio, Western Equatoria State there. I remember seeing this child getting passed around from mother to mother to mother, and the child, like, crawling around, uh, on, on the floor of the church, and everybody sort of taking care of this child. I didn't even know who the mother was, but everybody took it upon themselves to take care of the other children that were there. Right?

Joseph Nonato 8:16

And it was, it was nice because you could see that, uh, everybody cared, and this was something that was important to the whole community, and they understood that that little child is gonna grow to be one of the rest of them, and that strong faith is then transmitted. But also that, that sense of charity that is there, right? I mean, we could talk doctrine all we want, but at the end of the day, for somebody who doesn't know anything about the faith, that charity is what they're gonna see, right? And that, that love of Christ has to be transmitted through the love that we show one another.

Making The Rosary Stick

Joseph Nonato 8:42

All right. Good.

Sheila Nonato 8:42

Yeah. And so, so that concept of takes a village- Yeah as you were saying, that everyone's kinda taking care of the children. Mm-hmm. Um, let's bring it back to, I guess, Mother Mary. Yeah. You know, spiritual motherhood, Mother Mary, and the rosary. Is it too difficult for chil- young children to do the rosary because it is long? I do remember as a child, "Oh, it's so long. It's boring. It's..." But actually, that, that kept me from leaving the Catholic Church. I almost became a Protestant. Right. But I remembered our mother, our spiritual mother- Yeah and, uh, I did not leave. So it... My mother, who did that every day boring exercise, actually, um, I think it left an imprint, a spiritual imprint on my soul that, you know, God was not gonna... Our Lady was not gonna let me go that easily. So what, what do you think about the Rosary? How do you teach it in a way that children will appreciate it and understand in their, in their own way?

Joseph Nonato 9:34

Well, I think that, uh, as long as they get the, the practice of, of, of doing it, right?

Sheila Nonato 9:38 Sheila Nonato 9:38

So they see the parents, and especially they have to see the father, right, seeing that this is kind of important. Uh, it's not just a s- one of the parents, like, praying it, but obviously th- they'll take the leadership that the father is, is showing there, that this is important for the family, then this is part of the brand. This is our brand. This... To be a part of your family means we pray the rosary because we have a relationship with our Blessed Mother who takes us to our Lord. It's almost like that whole idea that if you, you... Once you start praying the Rosary, our Blessed Mother will take you the rest of the way. You're kind of... Y- y- you know, she'll do that. But the-- even if a child, I think it was the, uh, the, the three children of Fatima at the very earliest stages, they couldn't say the entire, you know, uh, Hail Mary, and they were just even repeating Hail Mary, full of grace. Hail Mary, full of grace.

Sheila Nonato 10:21

Even at that, that has got to be pleasing to our Blessed Mother, right? In some cases, more effective than, as St. Josemaria says, you know, the, the clattering of tin cans that some people will say when rambling off their prayer. Mm-hmm. Now, of course, prayer is defined as raising your heart and mind to God. So if we can just get the kids to raise their heart and mind to God for- Mm-hmm a moment even. You know, here's holy, here's a ho- a rosary. Just hold the crucifix and, and, and be silent and remember that, you know, we're, we're praying or even light that candle in, right, in the, in the family room- Mm-hmm so that the kids are, are, uh, are used to the practice of praying the rosary.

Sheila Nonato 10:55

Then it becomes very effec-efficacious, right? Yeah. And so the Rosary, I, I've seen it firsthand as, um, when I was about 11 years old, 10, 11, in the Philippines- Mm-hmm People Power Revolution, 1986. This is a while back now. But I remember the image of two nuns kneeling with their rosaries in front of tank, military tanks. Yeah. And it stopped the tanks. Yeah. They did not fire. It was actually the first peaceful revolution in Asia- Right the People Power Revolution. And I could see how power, the power of prayer was, is, is true, is alive. Yes. And how does... And I guess it's part of also a family's-- the Rosary can be a part of spiritual armour for the, for the families.

Joseph Nonato 11:35

Well, the Rosary is a weapon system, right? So yes, in essence, when I love that image where you have the tanks there and then two nuns. Uh, I think that, uh, the tank was a little outgunned at the time, right? So, um, you know, when you're talking about the, the Holy Rosary, it is spiritual armor. Obviously, it's an, it can be used as a defensive weapon, but spiritually speaking, it really is an offensive weapon. How many, how many people have been converted and even countries, you know, changed simply because of that, uh, people praying the rosary?

When Teens Start Asking Why

Joseph Nonato 12:03

So, I mean, i- if we, we go to the next stage of, of a child's life when we take a look at, uh, you know, pre-teens, that whole practice of the rosary, as, as the child is growing older, you have to start making that practice theirs, right? And there's a, uh, a colleague of mine at this, at the school that I teach at, right, uh, who does a wonderful practice. Well, we're gonna go pray the rosary, and in order to make it something that's really great for them, like an enjoyable experience, he would say, "Okay, well everybody gets to go down to the cafeteria, and you get to buy a cookie," or, you know, "We're taking time off from class." And the kids look forward to this. Or since we're Canadian, you know, the, uh, the teacher will go and buy a, a box of Timbits or something like that and share it with the kids. Mm-hmm.

Joseph Nonato 12:42

So, and the kids will, will, will take to this, and it becomes a very enjoyable thing, right? The, the rosary, right? And so, yeah, I've-- just like every kind of pre-teen- Mm-hmm or teen, like praying the rosary, it's a bunch of, of droning on and on of like, you know, praying the same thing over and, over and again. Mm-hmm. But they have to realize that in prayer, right, we teach the rote memorization of those prayers, which then as we know, yeah, that's praying on one level, but then your mind drifts. And if you can just teach them to grab those thoughts and bring that to God, now you're praying on two different levels, right?

Joseph Nonato 13:15

And so therefore... And then, and then making sure that you, you, uh, you teach them that bring your aspirations, bring your intentions there through the rosary to our Blessed Mother, and she'll take them to their Lord. One of the things that I found that was very effective with that is if as you're going through the Rosary, dedicate a Hail Mary to a particular intention, right? And so go around the class or ask your children, "What do you wanna pray for?" Okay, well this Hail Mary is dedicated to that intention. This Hail Mary is dedicated to this intention. And so therefore, they can see that, okay, they're actually moving, they're progressing. And so children tend to, you know, look at scores and, uh, you know, fairness and like that, and if you can see that there's that progression that's there, sometimes that becomes very effective in, in communicating to them we're doing something that's very worthwhile, right? Especially in terms of love.

Joseph Nonato 14:01

And it-- Uh, other ways that I've seen some teachers do it is, okay, we'll have a basket of actual roses, right? And transferring them from one basket to the next. The basket that's empty then gets full of, of Hail Marys, like ten rosaries- Mm-hmm then you, you bring it to Our Lady, into a statue of Our Lady. That's, uh, it's-- what's one way of, of showing it. Otherwise, you can, you know, just use the, the, the rosary beads, and at the end of it, showing them this is the progression of the-- of what you just accomplished in terms of trying to come closer to Our Lady. So I don't know, as we go through, through in the, in that pre- that young childhood age to, to pre-teen, cognitively speaking, you know, the, the, in terms of transmission of the faith, the only thing that they can actually do is like memorize, right?

Joseph Nonato 14:42

Okay. So I don't know, oftentimes we as Catholics get accused of not really understanding what our faith is, but we would've memorized a lot of Catechism. Well, I think that that's because at some point the stunting of some of the, of the kids' growth stopped at the pre-teen level, right? And then, and what ha- what happened was is that you memorized so much, but then you don't get to the answering the why of where that faith is. And so as the teen s- starts coming, like around 11, 12, and then getting into 13, 14 years age, you could start to see that there is a, um, a rebellion that comes about, right? I don't know, up until that par- a particular age, 11, 12, they're willing to do what a parent asks. And then 13, 14, all of a sudden they start asking, "Well, why? Explain to me why I have to, I don't know, do X, Y, or Zed." And that then becomes something that challenges them with the faith. Now, the catechism teachers, and especially the parents, remember, the Catechism teachers are there in order to support the parents at home. The parents and the Catechism teachers and whoever's teaching the religion has, their faith, has to understand that at that age, they're gonna push the envelope. They will. They have to, and it's natural. But so you have to have somebody who's skilled enough and, uh, to answer the questions for them, and even invite those questions, right? And saying, "Okay, well, you know, if you're, if you're respectful and you have a, you know, a challenge to the faith or you don't un- understand why, I'm not gonna yell at you. You're not gonna get, uh, uh, castigated for it. But l- please, like say what, what your, your, your thoughts are." Right? And so even for the parents to, to have that exercise of, you just ask me anything you want about the faith, or even I find it very, very useful, um, for the, for the students to have a, a day that's reserved for ask anything, right? And have their, their, their questions answered.

Joseph Nonato 16:32

Students really love that, right? And so therefore, you, you cannot get anywhere without grace, but you also cannot get anywhere without, uh, the doctrine or e- the intellectual. Faith and reason, right? So building up grace through prayer, right? Mm-hmm. The Holy Rosary, and definitely the Holy Mass, right? Reading Sacred Scripture, and then obviously cognitively helping them, uh, to progress, uh, with their, uh, their intellectual growth. Okay. What's, what's a common question that students have been asking you recently, um, that- They're, it's, that's on their mind, and maybe is a little challenging for you or surprising for you?

Joseph Nonato 17:11

Oh, well, I don't find it very surprising at all, but it depends on the part of the year. At the be- very beginning of, uh, like since I teach grade eight religion, oftentimes what the, the questions that I start to get is, "How do we know that God actually exists?" Or, "How do we know that God exists?" And then they're willing to say, "Okay, well, Jesus," they, they, they understand that He is God, but how do we know that that's actually real? How do we know that sacred scripture is real and whatnot? And I think that at that particular point, if they, if they're treated like adults, right, by an adult, right, then, then they, they s- And, and, and they understand that they're being ta- they're treated seriously, then they kinda look at it and they respond in, in such a way.

Joseph Nonato 17:47

But in terms of questions, it'll progress from something simple like that to one of the, uh, th- things that I notice is that kids are very, I guess- Centered on fairness, right? They understand that they, they want things to be fair, and they wanna understand, look, why is it that certain people, you know, their relationship with God, in some cases they look like, you know, uh, that if they might be outside of the faith or whatever, are they still gonna be okay? Who gets to go to heaven? That's the big one, right? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. How, how do I help people to get to heaven? Does that person get to heaven? Am I gonna get to heaven, right? That kind of a thing. And so the... I, I find that a lot of students, if, if they're not taught, you know, they're, they're taught well, but they ti- tend to fall back on a points system, right? This whole idea that if I do this, I'm gonna get that, right? Inputs, outputs, and they wanna know whether they're on the right side of the, of the fence or whatever. But the, the thing to reinforce with them is that it's a relationship. It's al- it's about a relationship. And then always bringing it back to love, right? And then getting them away from all of that and saying, "Remember, it's about love." So how do you love, you know, in the different ways, like your mother, your father, your siblings, your friends, right? And then, and then taking that same love and saying, "Okay, well, our Lord isn't sitting there with a tally sheet counting things." It's like, "Well, ha- have you loved? Are, are you, are you actually trying to grow to love to become our Lor- you know, come close to our Lord Jesus Christ?" And the ne- I think that they respond well to that, right? And so, yeah, helping them to see that. Th- those are the things that I normally get.

Guiding Online Faith Questions

Sheila Nonato 19:22

Yeah. Okay. And so right now, a lot of kids, I guess older kids, are online, and maybe they might encounter reels from Catholic Answers or Trent Horn or, you know, seeing the faith in that way- Yeah or hearing about apologetics that way. W- how can parents help guide, you know, teens who might have questions and they might, maybe they might be confused? How, how would we navi- navigate the online world?

Joseph Nonato 19:47

We- we- well, it's kind of im, uh, a good question that you asked, and that goes to that other point I was talking about family. When a child is growing up, up until maybe around 10, 12, 10, 11, 12 years old, their family is actually their biological family.

Sheila Nonato 20:01 Sheila Nonato 20:01

But at some point, you're gonna start to lose that. And, and what happens is the progression then becomes they start to detach from their family because the influence even that a parent has over to- over them starts to depart. The interests become unique. They become individual. And then the child themselves starts to see their peers as their, their family, and they start to identify with their peers. So I don't know. Y- you say, you see how sometimes, you know, teenagers will wear, uh, T-shirts of particular rock groups or, or, or something like this and, and because that is their identity. That's what all their other friends are, are going with. That's how they're identifying themselves.

Sheila Nonato 20:41

So they're starting to depart from that. On the online world, they're doing the same thing, but they're just doing that in a less visible way. So understanding that they are already bonding themselves to a particular family- I think the way to sort of counter that, as has been suggested many- with many, is that if your brand of your family is the faith, and this is who we-- this is our relationship, we don't depart from our, our relationship. So therefore, yeah, go ahead, find your identity, 'cause you're gonna have to find your way in your, in, in the world, uh, uh, who you, of who you are. But that can never depart away from, just like you're never gonna get rid of your mom and dad who love you, you're never gonna get rid of our Lord who loves you as well. And then understand that, yeah, you can stray, but you're always gonna have a home with our Lord.

Sheila Nonato 21:29

And so I think that a lot of the students that sort of understand that, sort of, you know, i- initially, because of the black and whiteness of if you, if you, if you think about it, they like to see things in, in black and white, especially at the pre-teen age, uh, becoming a teenage, you know. They will also pick a team, right? They will say, "This is my, my brand," or whatnot, right? Um, and then hopefully at that particular point, the faith then becomes part of who they ident- identify with, right? And so going to, like, a Catholic Answers or whatnot, it's, it's good to suggest to them, right? "Go find the answer on yourself-- uh, like, on your own." And then even to encourage groups of kids to say, "Go find the answer together," right? Uh, obviously youth groups and, uh, clubs and, uh, and things like this are very, very important so that they can find their own way on their own, right? As a group. And-- okay. That's, yeah, that's good to know because it's, uh, we are living in the digital

Scripture And Charity At Home

Sheila Nonato 22:24

age. Mm. So wh- how, how-- what role does the Bible and the Magisterium have in educating, ed- educating our kids? How do we, if we're not biblical scholars-- I mean, you have more knowledge than me with apologetics- Mm um, and the Magisterium, church teachings. But how, for the average parent, how do we incorporate that w- without making it, like a, like a, ano- another thing to study, you know? Like, how do we incorporate that in the family life? Well, well, just like you don't set any si- any time aside to go talk about grandma or, right? You don't set any times. That grandma's part of the family or your own family history is part of your family, so is sacred scripture. And we're just ta- we're just bringing in Christ into the regular conversation at the dinner table.

Sheila Nonato 23:06

The dinner table, as the Lord taught us with the Holy Mass, that is the place where the family gathers together. And so therefore, even with your family meals at night, that is an altar as well, where faith gets transmitted, you know, stories get shared, and then the faith gets strengthened. And so therefore, this is, this is something that, it should be just absolutely natural, right? There was something else you asked there About the magisterium- Oh, yeah also, 'cause that could be a little complicated for the younger ones, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, if you, if you really think about it, uh, in the old, in the older days when nobody... when there were times where people couldn't read, it was the magiste- or the, the, the teaching authority of the church transmitted through obviously the bishops, but especially the priests that were... Nobody knew how to read, but the gospel was, was still being transmitted through the community.

Sheila Nonato 23:55

But the community, right, uh, the gospel is read, but then the community lived the gospel, right? And so therefore, this was far more important that the, the, they, that everybody saw charity within amongst one another, right? And so therefore, in order for that transmission to be, to be made, the children have to see that charity within their own family. I don't know, are, are, are, are we doing things for the poor? Are we, uh, taking care of others? Are we concerned about not only our loved ones, but people who are outside of the family, right? In, uh, in your own neighborhood, do, uh, your neighbors see you as, as somebody who, who cares about them, right? And then when you, you're, you're really good at your profession 'cause you're offering up things or you're, you're doing things home or well because you're offering up things, when people start to ask that, then even the kids, they start to ask, "Why are we doing this well?" Because we love Christ. Then that becomes something that, uh, is a, is a very important message that they can take, right? That's how you transmit faith, right.

Summer Faith Habits And Closing Prayer

Sheila Nonato 24:53

Okay. And finally, so we're in the summer, coming to the summer months. Mm-hmm. And what... how can families make lasting memories without, you know, again, being too preachy, but like incorporating, you know, maybe a, a little pilgrimage or, um, prayer in the car while traveling if you're going on a road trip or even on the plane. How, how can we make lasting family memories and merge it with faith without being too preachy?

Joseph Nonato 25:17

Well, I think you just have to be absolutely natural about the whole thing, right?

Sheila Nonato 25:22 Sheila Nonato 25:22

If it's a Sunday, we're gonna go to Holy Mass. It, it's a good idea to take your children to daily mass, so we're gonna go, because this is what the family does. Or I'm gonna go and make the invitation to a young teen. If they're younger than a, than a teen, maybe you're saying, "Hey, look, we're, we're gonna go together," right? And, and we'll make a day out of it. Or make it, uh... Have something fun that's attached to it as well. So if you're gonna go on a pilgrimage where you're praying a rosary to a particular Marian shrine, one there, a Mar- another rosary when you're at the shrine, and then another when you're coming back, maybe somewhere in there, let's go get ice cream, or let's go get some cookies or doughnuts or whatever like this, and making it a good excursion, something that they can look forward to. And that can go with everything in the, in the, in the summertime, right? Just making sure, making it that your love for Christ becomes natural, that you wanna share with them because you love them- Mm-hmm and you love Christ, then you make the connection. Okay. And also take time to have a date night with your spouse during the summer- Yeah because I think it might be a little easier, not as stressful No, absolutely with all the activities and everything. But yeah, love of Christ, love of spouse, love of children, love of family. That's right, yeah. Um, do you want... What, did you... Was there anything else that I didn't mention? No, I, I think that if the, uh, the children see the love between the, the spouses there, then that sort of gives them a great, a great comfort, right? Especially if they, the hu- the mom and dad love each other, and they love each other because they love Christ, then that's something that they want to, uh, uh, to cling onto as well. Okay. You know? Do you wanna close with a prayer with the kids?

Joseph Nonato 26:50

All right. Come. Kids, come here. Come. Come here. Come here quick, quick, quick. All right.

Sheila Nonato 26:53

Let's say, um- Good what do you wanna say? What prayer?

Joseph Nonato 26:56

We're gonna say a Thanksgiving prayer, okay? Okay, let's- All right. Okay. Good.

Nonato Family 26:59

In the name of the Father- And of the Son- And of the Holy Spirit and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Amen. Okay. Together, let's say the Thanksgiving prayer. We give you- We give you thanks, Almighty God- thanks, Almighty God, for all your benefits. You, who live and reign- You, who live and reign worlds without end. Worlds without end. Amen. Amen. May the Lord grant us his peace. And life everlasting. Amen. And life everlasting. Amen. Good. And Holy Mary, our hope seat of wisdom- Pray for us in the name of the Father- Glory to the Father and of the Son- And of the Holy Spirit and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Good. And thank you to the Catholic Creator Conference, and Kyle, Andrew, and Catholic Answers. Thank you so much. Bye-bye. Thank you. Thank you. Right on.