Pope Leo XIV celebrated a Mass for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly on June 1. “In the family,” he said, “faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts. In this way, families become privileged places in which to encounter Jesus, who loves us and desires our good, always.”
The next day, he addressed participants at a seminar on Evangelizing with the Families of Today and Tomorrow, where he called on the faithful – all of us! – to be “fishers of families” by promoting an encounter with God. “I ask you, then,” Pope Leo said, “to join in the work of the whole Church in seeking out those families who no longer come to us, in learning how to walk with them and to help them embrace the faith and become in turn ‘fishers’ of other families.”
“And this requires a readiness to be open, when necessary, to new ways of seeing things and different ways of acting, for each generation is different and has its own challenges, dreams and questions. Yet amid all these changes, Jesus Christ remains ‘the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Heb 13:8). Consequently, if we want to help families experience joyful paths of communion and be seeds of faith for one another, we must first cultivate and renew our own identity as believers.”
Families with children in preschool through high school are invited to develop, nurture, and live out your faith at The Basilica. Registration for our 2025-26 Faith Formation offerings is open at mary.org/faithformation with classes starting on Sunday, September 14. Classes for preschool through eighth grade confirmation will all be on Sunday mornings and the high school Y.E.S. youth group will remain on Sunday afternoons. Additional opportunities for Children’s Choir, Choristers, and Young Family Ministry will also resume in Fall.
Pope Leo closed by praying for the Holy Spirit to guide the discernment of “criteria and methods that support and promote the Church’s efforts to minister to families. Let us help families to listen courageously to Christ’s proposal and the Church’s words of encouragement!”
Melissa Streit
Director of Engagement