Households on Mission: The Catholic HOM App

Karen Estep reviews the new app available that helps guide families in our domestic church life. 

When my husband and I first “came home” to the Catholic faith (I prefer this term over “converted” since we were both Christians prior to going through RCIA) our first big question was, “How are we going to raise our children in this Christian faith when neither of us was raised this way?” Although we both came from Christian households, the Catholic faith has some beautiful traditions that are unique. We want to make sure that we are not just relying on our children’s Catholic school to provide all of these traditions and foundations.  

The CatholicHÔM app is just the thing that is available to help my family, as well as all Catholic families. HÔM is short for Households on Mission. The main goal of this platform is to help families celebrate the beauty of domestic church life and to love Christ more deeply while being at home. Their belief is that faith is not just something we feel at church or while celebrating the Mass. The founders, Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak, as well as several trained moderators and a couple of priests help guide families through struggles of everyday life or even the next liturgical season. They give tips, advice, along with sharing some discussions on favorite ways to celebrate our faith.  

The foundation that the platform uses is called The Liturgy of Domestic Church Life. It focuses on three main rites: The Rite of Christian Relationships (priest), The Rite of Family Rituals (prophet), and The Rite of Reaching Out (royalty). When you first sign into the app there is a small quiz that you answer about your family. Don’t worry, this isn’t a pass/fail quiz, it just gives you a bit more understanding of ways your family can grow together. There are also some videos you can watch as a family. Out of curiosity, I put the videos on while my children were playing in the other room to see if they would notice and want to come watch without me pulling them to the table to “make” them watch. My daughter was over in a heartbeat and was paying close attention and making comments like, “See Mom, we can do that!” The videos are short, about 15 minutes, and are engaging: Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak interact with the cartoon family.  

Each day a moderator posts an item for discussion. During the time of my free upgraded trial there were a few articles/discussions on the importance of Lent and how we can incorporate some sacrifices into our daily family lives. What I really appreciated was the fact that most of the articles/group discussions are about how we can show love in our everyday lives because that is truly the center of our Christian Catholic faith.  

I actually found myself using my computer for the app over my phone. It is much easier for my kids to be involved with the videos when they both can see them rather than fighting over the phone. Trust me, there is no love involved between a brother, a sister, and trying to watch the same video on the same phone… no matter what morals the video is trying to teach! I was able to read the articles posted and group discussions better using my computer over the phone as well.  

If you chose to upgrade your subscription you will get these benefits: personalized support, live monthly Q&As, HOM Builder animated courses and videos, exclusive monthly downloads, access to the CatholicHOM podcast, encouragement from other members and families, CatholicHOM resources to help support your local parish or community, discounts to the HOM store, and you can make appointments with their coaches/pastoral counselors. I really enjoyed the group discussions and my kiddos liked the videos. They really liked when the baby of the family did silly things. The videos are also an easy way to open up further discussion in your household about why we do certain things as Christians.   

Whether you choose to buy a subscription or do the free version, I think the Catholic HOM app is an important tool for Catholic families in the culture that we live in today. After attending one of the Q&A events and listening to Dr. Greg and Lisa speak, I was astonished to learn that only 15% of children raised in a Catholic home will continue on to be practicing Catholics as adults. Studies have shown that the quality of relationships in our homes will help lead our families to want to continue their faith journeys even when they have left our homes.

Any tool that can help our families in forming relationships and deepening our faith is a tool worth having at our fingertips.   

Copyright 2023 Karen Estep
Images: copyright 2023 CatholicHOM, all rights reserved.