Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Feast of Blessed Marie Rose Durocher, Virgin
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Welcome to the month of October and to Week Five of our Year of the Family. Last month we focused on eating and nourishment, both physical and spiritual. This month we are going to learn about, well, learning.
Bishop Boyea's Year of the Family | Week Five | Parents as First Teachers
It was Pope Saint John Paul II, in his 1981 apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, who hammered home the idea that parents have sacred responsibility for raising their children in the Faith. Before any school, there comes the school of the home. And that school is never truly “out of session,” as it were.
Now I know this may not apply all the way, but I learned from my dad how to change oil in a car. I never learned that at school.
Now, in the world of Catholic education, we like to say it is not our teachers, but rather our parents who are the primary educators of children. And while, yes, certainly our Catholic schools partner with parents in that quest to form children in the Faith, it is parents who have the first and foremost responsibility.
So this week, we put that to the test. Who better to ask about this than our Superintendent of Schools in the Diocese of Lansing, Tom Maloney, and his wife, Michelle. The Maloneys have been a mainstay in Catholic schools within the Diocese of Lansing for decades, but what is more, they are parents to four children - the youngest of which just graduated from Hillsdale College in Michigan. Let’s take a look! See below. Viewer Advisory: Do have a big box of Kleenex at the ready!
What a touching tribute to the love of the Maloney family, and thank you to the Maloney children for helping us with our top-secret surprise.
In reflecting on Tom and Michelle’s message, I am left thinking about the vocation of marriage. The primary function of that vocation, Familiaris Consortio says, is “to participate in God’s creative activity: by begetting in love and for love a new person.”
Vatican II continues:
“Since parents have conferred life on their children, they have a most solemn obligation to educate their offspring. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children.” (cf. Gravissimum educationis, n. 3, Second Vatican Council 1962-5)
I want to emphasize that doesn’t necessarily mean sitting your children down and instructing them the meaning of various Biblical passages or catechism teachings. One of the best and most lasting ways you can educate your children in the Faith is by living it out fully and unapologetically, yourselves.
I think we have all seen examples of this in our lives but, in many cases, children eventually become “versions” of their parents in their own adulthood. If parents love going to Mass, love the Church, and love living out the Faith in practice, then we can place our trust in the Lord that those seeds will be planted in their children. They may not immediately come to love all of these things, but you can be assured they will remember and appreciate as life goes on, just as Jake Maloney alludes to in the video.
My encouragement for you this week is to stay the course! Think of one way you can live the Faith more intentionally as a family this week. That could be going to one daily Mass. Perhaps if your children attend one of our Catholic schools, make time out of your day to go to Mass when the school does. For a child, seeing a parent at All-School Mass goes a long way. Or maybe it’s doing an extra work of charity for someone in your life this week and offering that up to the Lord. Take it to prayer and follow where the Spirit leads.
Until next week, may God bless you.
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
P.S. Please do try to invite at least one friend or family member to join us in our Year of the Family. Thank you. God bless you.