Hi, I’m Lisa Price, a dedicated wife, mother, and primary educator of my 4 beautiful kids. I consider these roles the most important ones I will ever have in this life and remain committed to learning and growing in ways that help me to be the best version of this, especially as it relates to passing on the faith to my kids. I consider my faith to be one of the most valuable gifts given to me by my parents, and I’m eternally grateful to them for this. 

'Ecclesia Domestica' was born out of a need, a huge one. It is safe to say that the 2020 pandemic lockdown challenged us all in ways that we never thought possible. For our family, one of those challenges related to the faith of our kids. With the creature comforts of celebrating our faith in ways we always knew, and dare I say, had maybe taken for granted, suddenly taken away, we began to observe our kids struggling. I could clearly see that they did not truly know Christ, fully understand the Mass, or why any of what we were doing was important. They are kids. I know. But deep down I knew that they were capable of much more.

I had assumed that by catechesis, praying together as a family, modeling the faith for them, and attending Mass each week, their faith would magically fall into place, and that their relationship with Christ was a guarantee. That they would develop a personal relationship with Him through a process of "osmosis" perhaps? What I perceived in that moment, was that they were merely spectating, not living the true faith, in relationship with Christ. That is a very hard thing to admit as a parent.

With every challenge comes opportunity. My husband and I huddled together in response to our call to be the Domestic Church! This led to our Sunday Tea-Time Devotion, where we would gather around and introduce Jesus to our kids through Sacred Scripture in a way that fostered a deep encounter with him. Inspired by the practice of Lectio Divina, Latin for ‘Divine Readings’, we began using the gospels to teach our kids to converse with Jesus using the steps Read, Reflect, Respond, Rest, and finally converting faith in to action through the last step, Resolve, by challenging them to decide firmly on an action to focus on or practice in the week ahead to live the gospel message. We created worksheets specific to their ages to help them to focus and create a tactile experience of the gospel through art.

This marked the beginning of what is now ‘Ecclesia Domestica: Family Conversations with Jesus', a practice of reading or listening, reflecting and digesting the words of Jesus through sacred scripture and responding to him through prayer and action. It is produced by families for families, appealing to persons of any age and stage, from 0 to 100+. 

“ Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, 

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,"

Matthew 18:3

One of my fondest memories of doing this program was with my then 8-year-old child. After listening to guided meditation, he gasped and said to me, "Mummy, this is a true story!?!?" It was both an exclamation and a realization that Jesus is in fact very real. That the gospels aren't just stories, but eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus, the way he lived, the things he said, the way he loved and still loves us. 

It is our heart’s desire to share this program with other families in their quest to be the Domestic Church - Ecclesia Domestica - that God has called us to be. To foster a deep relationship with God and a living faith. As with everything, change is hard, and the one thing we all lack is time. There never seems to be enough of it, and that is true, there is never enough. But what we are encouraging families to do is to make space. Space for the things that are of most value to you. Hopefully, your faith and a personal relationship with God is one of the most valuable things in your life. I hope that this encourages you to make space for God and help your kids to grow in their faith and authentic relationship with Christ.