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October 27, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — It goes without saying that things in the Church are a mess. It’s harder than ever to find a good priest or school to reliably teach your family the Catholic faith. 

But thanks be to God for my friends at Voice of the Family! They’ve just launched an outstanding new catechism series called “Our Lady of the Rosary Family Catechism” that’s sure to instill in children the truths of our faith in a way that sticks with them for the long haul.

Father Anthony Pillari is a good friend of mine. You might know him from having led the 54-day rosary novena for the 2020 election. He’s also attended our annual retreats, spoken at our events in Rome, and now, despite the fact that he’s studying for a Doctorate in Canon Law in Rome, he’s the host of Voice of the Family’s totally FREE catechism series, which you can read about by clicking here. Father sat down with me for my podcast this week to talk about the project. 

Father grew up in Ohio and attended the University of Notre Dame. When he was in his first year of studies, he read one of my all-time favorite books, “True Devotion to Mary,” and his life was changed. He told me he wanted to make a virtual educational series for children simply because there isn’t anything like it out there yet.

“The the whole program is designed to pass on faithfully what God asked the children of Our Lady of Fatima…it's designed for parents who are struggling, for children who are very ordinary children with their faults, with their sins. But to give them a chance to embrace the great mission that God is calling them to.”

The key teaching of the program takes the form of 41 online videos with 3 introductory videos, 37 videos of lesson content, and 1 closing video. The content for the 37 lessons follows the structure of the Baltimore Catechism, which is covered in its entirety. 

“The introductory lessons is just 15 minutes a week. It’s very doable,” Father said. “Each session thereafter is just twenty five minutes long…you’ll have a whole packet of activities that you can choose from. You can do some or all — whatever fits best for your particular child.”

Each video lesson begins with the prayer taught by Our Lady to the children of Fatima and a brief Bible story, normally taken from the Gospel. This is followed by presenting the questions and answers from Baltimore Catechism 1 and 2, drawing also on the teaching provided in Baltimore Catechism 4. Each lesson finishes by introducing the children to the life of a saint or another miracle from the history of the Catholic Church, such as a Eucharistic miracle. 

There’s also a reward program that gets kids excited for earning points each time they learn new material. 

Father said he has three hopes for the series. One is that children will become saints as a result of it. Two, that it will help adults in their efforts as the primary educators of their children. Three, that the series will help non-Catholics and fallen away Catholics learn that the Catholic faith is the one true faith.

The John-Henry Westen Show is available by video on the show’s YouTube channel and right here on my LifeSite blog.

It is also available in audio format on platforms such as SpotifySoundcloud, and ACast. We are awaiting approval for iTunes and Google Play as well. To subscribe to the audio version on various channels, visit the ACast webpage here.

We’ve created a special email list for the show so that we can notify you every week when we post a new episode. Please sign up now by clicking here. You can also subscribe to the YouTube channel, and you’ll be notified by YouTube when there is new content.

You can send me feedback, or ideas for show topics by emailing [email protected].

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John-Henry is the co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of LifeSiteNews.com. He and his wife Dianne have eight children and they live in the Ottawa Valley in Ontario, Canada.

He has spoken at conferences and retreats, and appeared on radio and television throughout the world. John-Henry founded the Rome Life Forum, an annual strategy meeting for life, faith and family leaders worldwide. He is a board member of the John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family. He is a consultant to Canada’s largest pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and serves on the executive of the Ontario branch of the organization. He has run three times for political office in the province of Ontario representing the Family Coalition Party.

John-Henry earned an MA from the University of Toronto in School and Child Clinical Psychology and an Honours BA from York University in Psychology.