My experience with the "domestic church"

Family is, as you stated, "the place where love, forgiveness and trust should first be encountered." Yet in my own experience, this was far from the case. I was raised into a Catholic family where you did what was right and that was it. You said your prayers, went to Mass each week, volunteered your time at the local food pantry, and kept your heels in check. Despite my constant attempts to be fulfilled, I did not get that from my family. Rather, I was "hypocritical" if I went to Church/youth group too often, and "a bad Catholic" if I didn't do all those things. My experience with the domestic church has actually made it more difficult to have a close relationship with Christ. The lack of communion that I have with this domestic church makes it hard to see that family is the primary vessel. I have to be honest in saying that I believe we experience the domestic church more from our peers, the people we surround ourselves with who choose to treat others as the children of Christ, embedded with dignity and respect. The cons of the family as a domestic church is the arousal of Catholic guilt and feeling that if you aren't the holiest or most active, there is something wrong with you. From my own experience, I can't see any pros to the family as a domestic church. I feel that marriage is a sacrament and we have to respect that, but I feel calling us to evaluate the impacts outside factors can have makes our fears of divorce stronger. It is an illusory correlation. Marriage is all about communication and willingness to live in companionship with another. Adding up the outside factors only makes it more likely that divorce will happen. The problem we face today is not in more or less education but rather more or less communication skills, necessary tools that help couples work through challenging life events. I don't want to confine the domestic church to my future home but rather have it radiate through my words and actions. As a result, I plan to make the domestic church more of a lifestyle than an at-home job.