Domestic Church Project Podcast Nancy and Bill Bandzuch

Welcome back to the Domestic Church Project Podcast!
This week we are chatting about practical and meaningful things that you can do in your Domestic Church to more fully enter into the Triduum. And in case that term is new to you, the Triduum is the time when we mark the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. The Triduum begins on the evening of Holy Thursday and concludes the evening of Easter Sunday.
How do we mark these days? Well, before we get into that, we want to stress our #1 tip. TAKE THE WHOLE FAMILY TO AS MANY OF THE LITURGIES AS POSSIBLE. If possible we take the whole crew to the Holy Thursday Mass, to the Good Friday Service AND to the Easter Vigil. And yes, our kids are regular bad kids. But, they usually really like to go to these special liturgies. They are unique and interesting! Feet washing! Candles! Touching the cross!
Anyway, it’s hard, and this year George is at a really tough age, but we plan to take everyone to everything anyway. And so, that is our number one tip!
Here is a quick list of possible things to do in your Domestic Church (meaning at home) each day of the Triduum:
Holy Thursday
Seder Meal 
Wash Feet
Good Friday
Fasting (even the kids)
Do all the miserable jobs
Pray the Stations of the Cross at 3pm
Holy Saturday
Day of quiet and preparation
Decorate Easter eggs 
Bake and cook for the following day
Easter Sunday
Sing Alleluia! 
Enjoy all the new life you can.
Feast! 
You, of course, are not limited to doing these things during the Triduum. We just hope this was helpful!
And, from our home to yours—have a blessed Triduum!
In Christ Jesus,
Nancy and Bill
https://www.domesticchurchproject.com

Welcome back to the Domestic Church Project Podcast. We hope that your Lenten journey is going well. We have had lots of good times and hard times, and we are all collectively yearning for Easter!
This week we are joined by Amanda and Chis Costello. They are a military family. They have two children and they are currently homeschooling. They are also graduates of the DCP Bootcamp.
We wanted to talk to the Costellos and just basically hear about their Domestic Church. After all, we all are called to lead a Domestic Church but that doesn’t mean that they are the same! They way we teach the faith, pray and have fun together can will be radically different and it’s beautiful to peak into another Domestic Church and observe how they do things!
We talk about a lot of things including their individual backgrounds, things that ignited their Faith and how they teach the faith in the home.
One powerful part of the conversation was when Chris shared how going through the DCP Bootcamp actually prompted him to go to confession. He hadn’t been to confession in years. Although he had undergone a reversion, something was stopping him from actually going to confession. And so, it took a ten year old daughter to get him there. Pretty amazing.
We aren’t currently enrolling families in the DCP Bootcamp or app, but we plan to open up enrollment right around May 1. so, if you are listening around that time frame, we invite you to click here to join us: https://app.domesticchurchproject.com/feed
In Christ Jesus,
Nancy and Bill

Welcome back to the Domestic Church Project Podcast. Today we are excited to welcome Jonathan Strate to the podcast. Jonathan is Ascension's New CEO and, as you will hear in this interview, he is passionate about Parish Life.
We found this conversation with Jonathan super refreshing. Across the Catholic World we have heard 2 pretty major extremes: that Parish Life is dead, and that all of our Faith Life should be lived in the parish (and we should ignore the Domestic Church). Jonathan, the father of 5 ages 8 and under, took a more balanced approached and challenged us all to reinvest in both our parish life and the life of our Domestic Church because it is only when we see these things as working together that they will thrive.
Our conversation covered topics from his own parish experiences, Faith Formation and small groups in the parish. In the end, we spent time discussion the ultimate small group: Our Family and how we evangelize the souls that God has entrusted to us.
We hope you enjoy this interview!
And, while you are at it, we encourage you to check out the new life of kids products from Ascension. We own everything, and we highly recommend them! https://ascensionpress.com/pages/kids
Have a blessed Lent!
Nancy and Bill

Welcome back to the DCP Podcast! Life has been NUTS for us lately, and we are working hard to get back into the swing of things right now. What is craziest of all is that we have yet to talk about Lent on the podcast (WHAT!), and so, it is time to do just that.
But first, let’s acknowledge something. We are a little over 2 weeks into Lent, but if you are like me, you likely had the wrong goals in mind with your Lenten resolutions. At the start of Lent I always see Lent as an opportunity to curb some bad habits…but that is NOT the point of Lent.
The point of Lent is simple: Jesus.
Everything that we do this Lent should be about making Christ MORE the center of our homes and our hearts. And so, if you are taking a minute to reevaluate your Lent (like we are), here are some ideas about making Jesus the Center of Lent…because there is still a lot of Lent left.
Ideas:
Read the Daily Gospel as a Family
Do the Jesus Tree! https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/collections/jesus-tree
Watch the Chosen or Jesus of Nazareth
Do a Family Adoration Hour
These are just a couple of ideas and we pray that they help you lead your family closer to Lent this year.
In Christ Jesus,
Nancy and Bill

Welcome back to the Domestic Church Project Podcast. We are thrilled to be hosting the Sequieiras this week! Lourdes and Glen are the parents of two young boys, and they are also graduates of the Domestic Church Project Bootcamp. Along with roughly 100 other families the Sequieiras went through the DCP Bootcamp, a 6 week experience for the whole family, as par of our Beta test during the fall of 2020. we currently have over 500 families going through the DCP Bootcamp and in today’s episode they share about their experience. As you listen we invite you to ponder if this program is right for your family right now!
The Sequieiras live in California, and like many families there lives have been reshaped by COVID. Glen is a teacher, so he now works from home. The boys were both in public school and are home as well. During the first shut down the family started to listen to the Catholic Sprouts Podcast and it was through that that they become interested in doing the Domestic Church Project Bootcamp.
One of our favorite things to discuss with families is how the parents grew up—meaning did they grow up in a Domestic Church, or is this all new to them too!? And just so you know, both Bill and I had wonderful childhoods, but we can’t really say that we grew up in a Domestic Church—although we hope that our kids will say that one day! If you feel like you have NO IDEA where to even start when building a Domestic Church, you are not alone. Anyway, we also touched in this conversation on what Glen and Lourdes grew up seeing in their homes, and how they have worked to carry over some of those things and transcend others.
The Sequieiras families can say that the DCP Bootcamp was transformative for them, and they invite other families to come of this journey with them! We are currently enrolling families in our DCP app, which houses the Bootcamp. If you are ready to build and lead your Domestic Church, then I invite you to check out all of the details. Just head here: https://www.domesticchurchproject.com
We will be closing enrollment on Friday at midnight, and we don’t plan to open back up until roughly May 1.
Thank you for listening, and we hope to walk this journey with you. After all, we are all called to build and lead a Domestic Church, even you!
Have a blessed Lent!
In Christ Jesus,
Nancy and Bill

Welcome back to the Domestic Church Project Podcast! We are excited to share today about the 3rd week of the Domestic Church Project. During this week we ask families to get to work building their Domestic Churches by putting in place the key pillars that will support their little church. These are Obedience, Unity, Prayer, Seeking Holiness and Trust.
Now, that is an awesome list of virtues, all of which would define the ideal family. And, we are far from an ideal family. In our conversation we talk about out thoughts on each of these topics and how we strive to move toward these ideals, but we also talk about about how hearing about these virtues is hard! It’s hard because if you are like us, you can’t help but measure yourself up against the ideal and see how far you are from that ideal.
And this is where we remind ourselves of one super important point.
The world of building a Domestic Church is not really our work. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Through the goodness of God we are invited to be co-workers in the vineyard. He has placed our children in our care and we need to take that seriously, but when it comes to virtue, we need to rely on God for these gifts.
Also, it is important to note that when we seek to achieve these virtues, the best way to do that is through remaining close to Jesus. After all, He is the source of all goodness.
And so, if you too are an imperfect family struggling to measure up, know that we are right there with you. But even more than that, know that God is there with you, and that He can do all things.
And His grace is sufficient!
Finally, keep in mind that we will be opening up the Domestic Church Project Bootcamp for enrollment February 15th-19th, so if you would like to take your family through this remarkable program, I encourage you to do that! To sign up when the doors are open, just head here: https://www.domesticchurchproject.com/dcp-community
It is just such a joy to be here with you!
In Christ Jesus,
Nancy and Bill