Forming Catholic Hearts
How to Teach Children (and Ourselves) to Seek Truth, Love God, and Live Out the Faith with Courage.
Many cradle Catholics leave the church because they don’t know what they are leaving. They were not well catechized, they didn’t see their family practice the full faith in the home, or they simply didn’t understand it deeply enough to know what a treasure they were leaving behind when they chose the shiny things the world has to offer.
Be diligent in the formation of a child’s heart throughout their childhood, especially in the adolescent years, when they are beginning to question and understand the inner workings of the world, so they can retain and build off of a solid faith foundation. Here are some ways to form their Catholic hearts:
1. Teaching the Foundations of Faith
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” - Proverbs 22:6
Pass on virtues, Catholic history, and the sacraments
Help young people understand what they believe and why, and how their faith should inform their decisions and actions
Prevent “accidental drifting away” by giving them real roots in the Truth
2. Encouraging Courageous Catholic Living
“Test everything; hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:21–22
Cultivate holy “intolerance” toward ideas that oppose the faith
(i.e., question everything that contradicts Truth)Teach children to discern God’s will in daily decisions
Help them see faith as a lens, a way of life, and not an accessory
3. Guiding the Search for Truth
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” - Jeremiah 29:13
Recognize that young people long for meaning, purpose, and the Truth, but often don’t know where to look
Show that Catholicism is a surrender to God, not a pursuit of extreme experiences (what the world offers)
Emphasize a relationship with God over emotional highs and lows
4. Witnessing Through Family Life
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” - Psalm 51:10
Say and show openly, “I love my faith”— people need to hear it
Share prayer life openly within marriage and family
Model Catholic meditation as self-emptying so God can fill us
5. Understanding Human Love and Vocation
“We love because he first loved us.” - 1 John 4:19
Teach that every person is created in love and for love
Explain how marriage and family reflect God’s creative love
Let them know an act of love between man & wife created them
Show how choosing to love God and others is the deepest human calling
“And these words… you shall teach them diligently to your children.”
-Deuteronomy 6:6–7
