WHEN MY PARISH approached me and other mothers in the neigbourhood to run a six-year home-based catechism class, we felt afraid. Some of us were working mothers, managing a career, home, children... the list is just endless. To take on an added task might have been just too much and we would be overstretching ourselves. We weren’t sure we had the time, commitment and stamina but, out of love for our children and wanting the best gift for them, the gift of faith, we nervously embarked on our journey.

Now, we are in our final year and our children are no more little. God has never failed us. He was there journeying with us, giving us courage and strength to continue. At times when we were tired and our list of things to do seemed so unmanageable. But God stepped in. His prompting was ever so powerful. My favorite saying is - “Do your best for God and God will do better for you.” What started six years ago as a gathering of anxious parents waiting for our primary one daughters to return from school has become a six-year journey of faith.

(By the way, all these girls are of the same age, in the same school, stay in the same estate, are all Catholics and are all first-born children. Was this a coincidence or did God put us together for the journey a lifetime with our young ones?)

What is Family Integrated Religious Education? (FIRE)

FIRE is conducted at home, unlike traditional catechism classes which are conducted in a classroom of perhaps 30 or more children. This is better as children may have had enough of classroom-style lessons having to go to school from Monday to Friday. Home-based classes are generally smaller, providing greater interaction. The parents themselves are the catechists, so they know exactly what is taught and can relate the weekly teachings to everyday life.

At the parish’s recommendation, we are using the Walking by Faith series. The parish keeps in close contact with all these different home-based catechism classes through regular meetings.

FIRE-power

Why is FIRE so powerful? Children look up to their own parents and mimic what they do. Volunteer catechists can do a fine job but may lack the experience of parenthood and may not be able to journey with your child for a whole six years. Through FIRE, parents learn more about their children and bonds between parents and children are strengthened as they make time to journey together, spending a regular designated time every week talking about God.

We should also realise that catechesis is the primary responsibility of parents, not the Church. Parents are “the first and most important educators of their own children” (Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, #16). When we get married, we are asked in church: “Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?” When we baptised our children, we, as parents begin taking the responsibility to teach our children our faith.