The Year & Our Children: Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season [Paperback]

Mary Reed Newland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2007

For over half a century, Catholic families have treasured the practical piety and homespun wisdom of Mary Reed Newland s classic of domestic spirituality, The Year and Our Children. With this new edition, no longer will you have to search for worn, dusty copies to enjoy Newland s faithful insights, gentle lessons, and delightful stories. They re all here, and ready to be shared with your family or homeschooling group. Here, too, you ll find all the prayers, crafts, family activities, litanies, and recipes that will help make your children ever-mindful of the beautiful rhythm of the Church calendar. Learn how to make an Advent wreath and how to make it more than just a pretty ornament. Teach your children about the real Santa (the one who was a bishop) and how to celebrate all twelve days of Christmas, giving them a holy wonder that will continue long after all the presents have been opened and the wrapping thrown away. When Lent comes, read Newland s simple secrets to helping your kids embrace their sacrifices with enthusiasm. Then, let her show you how to make your home a place where Holy Week and Easter are duly treated as the highest, holiest days of all the year. She ll teach you ways to reclaim All Souls and All Saints from the popular occultism of modern Halloween. She ll also show you why Church tradition accords special meaning to certain foods, colors, and symbols, and how these add to the incarnational character of Catholic spirituality allowing children to experience the Faith through sight, smell, touch, and taste. Mary Reed Newland wrote numerous beloved books for Catholic families, but The Year and Our Children is her undisputed masterpiece. Read it, cherish it, share it, put it into practice and give your kids the gift of a fully lived faith, every day and in every season.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary Reed Newland was a wife, mother of seven, artist, storyteller, gourmet cook, educator, lecturer, and author of many Catholic books, including saints biographies and the ever-popular How to Raise Good Catholic Children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Sophia Institute Press (July 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933184272
• ISBN-13: 978-1933184272
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #348,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource for Catholic families, July 18, 2007

By 

Lisa M. Hendey "Mom, Blogger, Podcaster, Author" (Fresno, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Year & Our Children: Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season (Paperback)

I have enjoyed adding this newly released edition of Mary Reed Newland's work to my family library. The book walks readers through the liturgical calendar, suggesting activities, projects, devotional practices, and prayers to accompany Catholic families as they celebrate the course of the Catholic year from Advent through Thanksgiving. The book contains many wonderful ideas and traditions for celebrating the faith as a family.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Celebrate the liturgical year with your kids, March 5, 2010

By 

Karen in Mommyland (NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Year & Our Children: Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season (Paperback)

I recently had the opportunity to read Mary Reed Newland's The Year & Our Children. The book walks you through the liturgical year, starting with Advent and progresses chronologically through the major and popular feast days and seasons. The book offers a litany of suggestions for how you can help your child celebrate the Church year at home. The book was written in 1956 (pre-Vatican II) so some of the suggestions in this book seem a little dated, but there are still plenty of suggestions that are relevant for today's Catholic family. There are a few areas in the book where you can see how some Church traditions seem to have disappeared as a result of the changes brought about by Vatican II. I found those areas to be rather interesting.

For every season or feast day, the author offers many suggestions for introducing prayer into your daily family life. Some of it seems a little over the top, but much of it seems totally feasible. What you chose to incorporate into your own family's spiritual life will depend on what your family is up to trying. She also offers ideas for craft projects and treats. Some of the craft projects seemed a little difficult to visualize since there are no pictures or diagrams to accompany the suggestions. For that reason, I would not classify this book as a craft book. Many of the food suggestions have the recipes, but there were a few that simply suggested a treat. For the cooking challenged, like myself, I found the instances where a food was suggested but no recipe provided to be a little disappointing.

The book reads much like a modern day Catholic blog. The author walks us through how she and her family live out the liturgical year. She beautifully shows by example how using manipulatives like story telling, crafts and foods help children to understand their faith better. From personal, experience, I can say that I find this to be true for my own children as well. When the children have ways of connecting the celebrations of the Church in their own homes through a variety of activities and objects that help them to learn and live their faith, the results are amazing.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The tone was very pleasant, and I loved seeing how so many problems and concerns that many mothers have today with regards to raising their children in the faith were also concerns of mothers back in the 50's.

If you are looking for a book that will help you understand the liturgical year better so that you can be better armed to impart the faith in your children, then this would be a great book to consider reading.

I received a complimentary copy of The Year & Our Children from Sophia Institute Press in exchange for my honest review of the book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Catholic domestic spirituality., February 16, 2010

By 

PrairieRose - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Year & Our Children: Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season (Paperback)

I bought this book online, used; in its original printing about 10 years ago. It must have been in demand then because it was not cheap, but I really wanted a copy so I bought it. It was worth every penny to me. This book is not about FUN it is about the Christian religion in the home. It is about living the faith at a child's level in the domestic realm. Many people celebrate holidays without even knowing the original meaning. This book helps the Catholic family celebrate Christian holidays and feast days with an informed point of view. It adds meaning by providing the history and true spirituality of the celebration. I am glad it is in print again. I feel the previous reviewer dinged the book unfairly.