Research indicates that parents are the single most influential factor in the faith life of a child, and that for faith to “stick”, children need parents who not only talk about, but MODEL an authentic, lived faith in Jesus. They also need a “cloud of witnesses”; other people who share the same faith, but who can model and talk about it from their own authentic experience.

We want to give parents tools and resources to not only make this possible, but exciting and enjoyable for every member of the family.

(Research can be found here:  https://ablazefamily.org/family-and-middle-school-ministry-matters/)

“Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than he does to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” (Pope Paul VI, Evengelii Nunciandi)

Because we all need witnesses, we want our content to bear witness to the Person of Jesus Christ and his real, amazing love for each one of us.  So we start with testimonies from real people, who’ve encountered a real God, and are responding to his invitation in their real lives. Then we help our viewers to see, through short, digestible teaching segments, that what the testimony-giver is expressing and experiencing, is meant for all of us; it’s rooted in the truth of Who God is and how He acts. It’s rooted in what we believe as Catholics, what we find in Scripture, the way we worship in Sacraments, the witness of those who’ve come before us, the saints.

As they view the videos, families are offered journals with simple reflection questions aimed to help every member of the family prayerfully ponder what they’ve heard, and to more fully recognize God’s loving presence and action in their own lives. Families are encouraged to discuss their own insights, giving each person the chance to share and take ownership of their faith. In short, they are guided into being witnesses to each other.

Next, we offer suggestions for sharing and living faith together in community with others; simple ways to put into practice what the testimony giver talks about, within the context of a family small group. This allows communities of families to grow in faith and fellowship together, and provides for children the important dynamic of a “cloud of witnesses”; other people, outside their own family, who share the same faith in Jesus and desire to follow Him, but who can talk about Him and model what life as a disciple looks like in their own authentic way.

Families can purchase a 1 year subscription to any of our series, or ask their parish to purchase a group subscription that the parish can then give to all of their families.

Each family creates a personal login on grow.ablazefamily.org platform, and can access all purchased content and subscriptions there. If the parish has purchased the subscription, families will be granted a unique access code to enter at checkout, in place of payment information.

Families can then move through the content at their own pace, accessing all videos and accompanying materials/ resources that go with each series.

Families are encouraged to invite 2-4 other families to join them in a Family Small Group (FSG), or the parish can assign families to FSGs. These FSGs can either meet virtually or in person (at the parish or in homes, at the discretion of the parish). These small groups will journey through the video content at home with their own families, and then meet once per month for fellowship and some sort of living out of whatever the content for that month covered. While we offer suggested ways to pray and integrate the faith that are related to the content for that month, FSGs are encouraged to “think outside the box” and come up with their own ideas too. Share your own passions, pray in the way that works for your group, do something that YOU were inspired to do while reflecting on the content. Give the children in the group an opportunity to “connect the dots” and plan a gathering.

A parish subscription allows parish leadership to share the content with a specific number of families within their parish. 

All of our evangelizing content offers foundational catechesis in accordance with God’s pedagogy; personal, relational, incarnational, perpetual, systematic, gradual. Our testimonies lead to catechesis to help families see how what we believe is made manifest in real and beautiful ways, in the lives of ordinary people just like them.

Because our approach is intentionally gradual, allowing users time to integrate truths into their lived reality, our series will most likely not cover the quantity of catechetical content that other resources might provide. Instead, it allows the time needed for conversations at home, ongoing conversion of heart and mind, and courageous ownership of the Catholic Faith.

Check with your own Diocesan office to see if our content can be used as primary catechesis.

Beautifully!  Whether you choose to use an Ablaze Series as the primary catechetical content for the year, or as a supplement to it, by choosing to make Ablaze content available to your families, you are empowering them to do what the Lord is calling them to do: bear witness to the Person of Jesus Christ, in word and in deed, in the home, the “domestic church.”

We believe strongly that both the PRIMARY WITNESS of the family, and the CLOUD OF WITNESSES of other faithful people is necessary for faith to “stick” in our children and youth, so all suggested models incorporate both.

Here are a few models that we suggest for parishes:

Family Small Group (FSG) Model: grant access to your parish families by purchasing a parish subscription.  Encourage them, or assign them, to form Family Small Groups which will meet either virtually or in-person, once per month. Designate one family to be the facilitator, in case any information needs to be gathered or communicated.

As each family journeys through the content at home, they’ll be preparing for how to spend their time together in their monthly FSG. Ablaze provides ideas for how to integrate and practice what they’ve spent the month hearing about and reflecting on, but families are encouraged to come up with their own ideas too!  This is a particularly good model to maintain social distance and keep group sizes smaller, and also make use of outdoor opportunities (hikes, games, picnics, outdoor rosary, etc.)

Mutual Reinforcement Model: if your parish is not ready to launch FSGs, or already has some other model in place, another option is to have a mutual reinforcement model. Similar to the FSG model above, each family would be granted access to content through a parish subscription. But instead of having families form and meet in FSGs, children and youth would go through the content both at home, and in age-specific parish small groups (for example, what would typically be formed as a parish faith formation “class”). This way parents have the opportunity to watch the content and reflect and discuss with their own children, who then have the opportunity to watch again and discuss with their peers and parish ministry leaders. This allows for the PRIMARY WITNESS of the parents to be partnered with the CLOUD OF WITNESSES.”

When using the Ablaze video content and reflection journals in a parish small group setting, 20-25 minutes could be allotted to view the video and discuss together before moving on to other content or activities, if desired.

Parish-wide Gathering Model: this is for parishes who aren’t planning to use an age-specific classroom/ small group model for the year, and will not be implementing FSGs.

As in all other models, each family is granted online access to the series that the parish has purchased.

Once per month, instead of meeting in FSGs, all of the families come together for a larger gathering (or several smaller gatherings of families, if one large gathering is unfeasible) for food, fellowship, and some sort of living out of content they’ve been covering. It is helpful, in this model, to still break families into small groupings of families within the larger group, to help form relationships and allow for deeper conversation as the “living out” happens. Each of these smaller groupings of families can then work with parish staff in a rotation to help plan and implement the large gatherings, so there is a sense of ownership and responsibility offered to the families.

The key to this model is making sure it is FUN, since it doesn’t as easily allow for the building of intimate friendships, and also making sure that families are *actually* involved in the planning process for the gatherings. It is also helpful to identify families who are particularly friendly and outgoing, and have them serve in a roll of welcoming, conversing with, and engaging people during gatherings, so that everyone feels seen. This welcoming role is more than just someone holding the door or handing out papers; they must be able to genuinely exude a spirit of hospitality.

We believe that fruitful accountability happens within the context of meaningful relationships; when you trust someone and know that they love you, you allow them to call you on, and vice versa. Because of this, the model you choose is key because it is the MODEL which allows for accountability. Families in a FSG are accountable to the other families, and work together to make sure that gatherings are fun, faith-filled, and fruitful for everyone. Families in a Mutual Reinforcement Model are accountable because their children’s small groups will be discussing this content and sharing insights in the coming week, so preparing in advance is key for that sharing in the children’s small group. Families in the Parish-Wide Gathering Model are accountable as they will be part of the planning and implementation process, and will have an element of being part of a “smaller group” built in.

Ablaze content should ALWAYS be used in cooperation with all diocesan and archdiocesan child and youth protection policies. To that end, each child who participates must participate with his or her own parent; there is no model in which children should be dropped off or formation should be outsourced, with the exception of the Mutual Reinforcement Model, in which the parish is responsible for screening and training it’s children’s small group leaders/ catechists. It is up to each parent to personally supervise their child at all times at each larger gathering, whether that be within a FSG, a parish-wide gathering, or any other model. Host families for FSGs should be compliant with the child and youth protection policies that are in place for their home diocese and parish. 

All of our online journals that accompany the series are pdfs, and they are printable! While they do not download directly to your computer, they will open in a separate tab on your internet browser, and from there, you can print by clicking the printer icon in the top right corner.