Year of the Family

March 19, 2021 - June 26, 2022

The Year “Amoris Laetitia Family”

On 19 March 2021, the fifth anniversary of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, on the joy and beauty of familial love, Pope Francis will inaugurate the Year “Amoris Laetitia Family,” which will conclude on 26 June 2022 on the occasion of the X World Meeting of Families in Rome. The Holy Father will be present for the Meeting.

Amoris Laetitia

The Year “Amoris Laetitia Family” is intended to spread the message of Amoris Laetitia, and it is in that exhortation that the objectives of the Year can be found. The first is to share the content of the exhortation more widely, in order to help people “experience the Gospel of the family as a joy that fills hearts and lives (Amoris Laetitia, 200).” The brochure says, “A family that discovers and experiences both the joy of having a gift and of being a gift for the Church and society, ‘can become a light in the darkness of the world’ (AL,66).”

Helpful Resources for the Catholic Family

Check out these resources to help you learn more about Amoris Laetitia Family, build Catholic values into your family, and maintain a strong sense of faith.

Amoris Laetitia Family

The Vatican’s website about the Pope’s initiative and its goals.

Loyola Press - Year of the Family

Loyal Press offers a number of resources for families including prayers, catechetical resources, and parish materials, collected especially for the Year of the Family.

Loyola Press - Catholic Family Resources

Loyola Press also has more general family-oriented resources here.

Catholic Grandparents Association

This site is dedicated to helping grandparents pass on their faith to their grandchildren.

How To Raise Kids Who Care

How do you raise kids who care? Education professor William Damon says that one of the first and most important steps in raising moral children is to nurture their ability to feel empathy.

Ablaze Family Ministries

Though relatively new and still building its foundation, this non-profit is designed “to empower, equip, and accompany Catholic families as they embrace and live out the call to discipleship.”

Strong Catholic Family Faith

This site features a growing number of articles and resources “to empower and equip Catholic leaders to accompany and form faith-filled Catholic families.”

Understanding the Catholic Family

A number of video resources from the Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life regarding the role of family in faith formation.

Apostolate for Family Consecration

Provides prayers, videos, catechetical resources, and more especially for parents working to pass on their faith.

Growing Up Catholic

Catechetical resources for parents doing catechesis at home.

CathFamily

A site “dedicated to assisting families in making the home the living heart of the church” with various articles and resources for seasons throughout the year.

Domestic Church

Helps married couples grow in faith with long-term faith formation both as spouses and parents with articles, retreats, and multiple family circles at various locations.

For Your Marriage - Family Life and Parenting

Articles from For Your Marriage regarding parenting, family dynamics, the domestic church, caregiving, and more.

Christian Family Movement

This site helps families to form “small groups of Catholics/Christians and their families that gather for the purpose of Christian family discipleship” with a growing network of participating families.

USCCB - Tools for Building a Domestic Church

A short guide with suggestions on how to build your “domestic church.”

Prayer for Families

We bless your name, O Lord,
for sending your own incarnate Son,
to become part of a family,
so that, as he lived his life,
he would experience its worries and its joys.

We ask you, Lord,
to protect and watch over this family,
so that in the strength of your grace
its members may enjoy prosperity,
possess the priceless gift of your peace,
and, as the Church alive in the home,
bear witness in this world to your glory.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

—from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers

Learn More

Read the articles below for more information on the Year “Amoris Laetitia Family.”