Michigan bishop invites Catholics to grow in holiness during ‘Year of the Family’

The bishop of Lansing, Michigan, launched a yearlong initiative Sept. 1 to strengthen Catholic life in the home and help families grow together in holiness through prayer, worship, and hospitality.

In a video accompanying the announcement of the Year of the Family, Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea invited Catholics to embrace the family’s place in the life of the Church.

“The family is the foundation of civil society. It’s where future generations are born, educated, and formed, and where vocations to the priesthood, religious life, and marriage take root,” he said in the video. “As the family goes, so goes the Church and so goes society.”

Throughout the year, Bishop Boyea will introduce a short film each week featuring a family from across the diocese and the ways its members strive to live the Catholic faith in everyday life. The series will explore family prayer, education, liturgical living, hospitality, discipline, and charitable works.

The Year of the Family builds on other efforts to support Catholic households in Michigan. The Diocese of Lansing also directs families to Compass, a resource database developed by the Archdiocese of Detroit that offers guidance on prayer, liturgical living, faith formation, and other challenges facing parents and children.