Forming Families, Forming Saints

How do we become saints?

From those two questions we draw our mission. As parents, our primary purpose is to raise children fit for eternal life—while we pursue the same for ourselves. If we succeed, it will be our greatest success. If we fail, there is no greater failure imaginable.

Fr. Carter Griffin treats the family mission with the gravity it demands. He considers it a work of deep formation, as crucial and as intentional as the formation of future priests.

In practical chapters, Fr. Griffin, a seminary rector, adapts the four pillars of priestly formation and applies them to family life. He highlights the key virtues that are essential for our children’s human, intellectual, spiritual, and apostolic growth.

These pages are rich with testimonies from Catholic parents, exam­ples from the lives of the saints, and other helpful resources to address specific challenges. Forming Families, Forming Saints offers a framework for children and parents alike to reach the heights of humanity and the heights of holiness.

Father Carter Griffin is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington. A graduate of Princeton University and a former line officer in the United States Navy, he obtained his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. After serving as a parish priest, he was assigned to the newly established St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, DC, where he now serves as rector. He is the author of several best-selling books, including Cross-Examined: Catholic Responses to the World’s Questions and Why Celibacy? Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest.

“Forming Families, Forming Saints is an excellent guide for any Catholic family. Written in a style to either read straight through or zero in on topics that are of most pressing interest, Forming Families, Forming Saints is filled with illustrative anecdotes and deep wisdom. Fr. Griffin’s years of faithfully shepherding future priests gives him ample insight to offer faith-focused parents who seek to elevate their child-rearing goals above secular standards and raise future saints. As founders of a Catholic apostolate that helps heal men and women wounded by broken families of origin, we applaud Fr. Griffin for providing such meaningful support to striving parents today and re-proclaiming the beautiful and lofty vocation of Catholic families. This book will heal many souls and prevent family wounds by giving a trustworthy, practical, and reliable blueprint for marriage and parenting that is so desperately needed today. We wholeheartedly recommend it!”

—Daniel and Bethany Meola
Co-authors of Life-Giving Wounds: A Catholic Guide to Healing for Adult Children of Divorce or Separation and Founders of Life-Giving Wounds Ministry

“Father Griffin has created a lovely collection of reflections on family life that will bring inspiration to many Catholic families.”

—Jennifer Fulwiler
Author of Something Other Than God and host of the Jen Fulwiler Show

“Forming Families, Forming Saints is a beautiful book. This is immediately evident in its design, but even more so through the wisdom that Fr. Griffin reveals in every page. Fr. Griffin draws from his many years of experience forming seminarians and from St. John Paul II’s teaching on whole-person formation (human, spiritual, intellectual, and apostolic). As a father, a grandfather, and a family therapist for many years, I have personally witnessed the power of living out these realities in raising healthy and holy children. I have also witnessed the damage when these principles and practices are neglected. I recommend this book to all families, especially those Catholic families who desire to raise well-balanced and wholesome children to become saints and apostles in this current age.”

—Bob Schuchts
Founder of the John Paul II Healing Center

“As a now-long-experienced parent and consumer of a great deal of Catholic and family literature, I cannot recommend this book enough. It will assist Catholic parents in guiding their children toward a love of the faith even in the world as it is, not the world as we wish it to be. Its proposal to instill a sense of ‘humble exceptionalism’ about the faith is spot-on. And it provides tremendous spiritual formation for parents as well.”

—Helen Alvare
Robert A. Levy Endowed Chair in Law and Liberty, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

“Forming Families, Forming Saints offers a compelling look at the virtues necessary for Catholic parents to shape their children as human beings and Christians. Drawing on his years of experience of forming young men for the priesthood, the Church’s tradition of spiritual formation, and the testimony of Catholic parents, Fr. Griffin has given us a gem of a book that is at once inspiring and deeply practical. A treasure for Catholic parents!”

—John and Claire Grabowski
Co-Authors of Raising Catholic Kids for Their Vocations

“Fr. Carter Griffin has added an insightful and genuinely new perspective to a discussion near to my heart—the hard work of raising a Catholic family. Drawing on the Church’s centuries of wisdom on formation of the whole person, Fr. Griffin offers a guidebook that is both deep and practical. For any Catholic parent concerned about raising children in the faith in the modern world, this book provides a guide and a boost of confidence. The Church really is our Mother; and she does know what is best for her children. If we follow her wisdom, good things will happen for us, and our children.”

—Patrick Kelly
Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus

“Fr. Griffin’s brilliant application of the four pillars of seminary formation to raising children is accessible and practical. His extensive knowledge of the Church’s wisdom about whole-person formation makes this gem of a book a uniquely powerful resource for parents.”

—John Cuddeback
Author of True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness and Professor of Philosophy, Christendom College

“As parents of fourteen and grandparents of thirteen, we are always looking for advice and suggestions on how to better form our family. Fr. Carter Griffin shares reasonable and practical guidance in his book, Forming Families, Forming Saints. The ideas for families on human, spiritual, intellectual, and apostolic formation are spot-on and doable for parents looking for balanced approaches to parenting.”

—Sam and Rob Fatzinger
Co-Authors of A Catholic Guide to Spending Less and Living More: Advice From a Debt-Free Family of 16

“Parents must read this book. We often point out to parents in our podcast that in our vocation we don’t have a seminary, we just have kids! But although marriage and family life is naturally designed for self-sacrifice, we all need formation. Parenting today is more difficult than ever, and although, as Father says, there is no manual for parenting, this book may be close! Drawing on the wisdom of the Church’s priestly formation, Fr. Griffin offers insightful and practical tools for the modern family that will encourage and inspire!”

—Mike and Alicia Hernon
Founders of The Messy Family Project