Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I was wandering down nostalgia lane a few weeks ago looking at family photos of long ago. Among them were a number of wedding photos. At my father’s sister’s wedding in London in 1952 I notice in my mother’s hand a black prayer book. In it there were always memory cards little novena prayers and mementos. It is still in the house, among various items, that the family held on too. The Liturgy changed but that prayer book remained in the bedside drawer. Over the years she used new prayer books but always came back to that old black one. I do not know when she purchased it, but I suspect it was with one of her early paychecks and may have cost her all of that check. It was important to her and she continued to use it throughout her life. She had her devotions, and her favorites Our Lady of Lourdes , Our Lady of Mount Carmel and she made her annual trip to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Knock. She had been taught to pray by her parents and she did the same with us. One of the reasons I like the family centered faith program is the fact that it involves the whole family. Faith is not just about learning a lot of facts. It is about a way of life and attitude and above all the belief in the saving life of Jesus Christ who came “that we might have life to the full”. The prayer taught by the parent, the sign of the cross with holy water taught by the family is of more value than all the catechisms or the computer programs. These are the things that faith is about: Your example, your attitude, and your Mass and prayer life in the midst of your family Yes they will be bored at times. Yes they will rebel. Yes they will and may fall aside, but if you have lived the faith and practiced it, you will have done what Jesus called you to do, taught them to pray and to live well. Let the journey continue, Fr Karl