Last night I sat down with Suzanne, Joseph, and Andrew to walk them through what I've been working on - family meeting style. Thomas and Matthew are next.

I walked them through the vision - the pieces, how they connect, where it's going.

When I finished, Joseph looked at me and said:

"This is amazing. This will make you a Doctor of the Church someday."

🤣 From his mouth to God's ears. But I reminded him: what matters is that we all become saints.

Last week, I wrote about what Disneyland gave me - clarity about the second half of life. Walking Main Street, I finally saw how the pieces fit together.

Walt Disney understood something profound: everything feeds everything else. Movies create characters that fill parks. Parks sell merchandise that funds movies. Families have formative experiences together. It's not a collection of products - it's an ecosystem.

I kept looking at all the things I've been building: Emmaus Disciples, Deacon Life, content for families and teens and elders - and thinking they were too scattered. Too many things pulling in too many directions.

Then it clicked: they're not too many. They're disconnected. What I needed wasn't subtraction. It was the hub.

A formation house serving the domestic church across generations.

St. Catherine of Siena said it: "Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire."

St. Pope John Paul II put it another way: "Family, become who you are."

Formation is how we become who we are.

And this might be how our family comes who we are in the back half of my life and Suzanne’s.

Since I landed at St. Elizabeth five and a half years ago, my pastor has often said something to me: "You're a natural teacher of the faith. You should eventually find a way to just teach the faith."

I think this is me finding a way to do that. I hope. I pray.

But here's the problem: for most Catholics, formation stops at Confirmation - or grade school or high school graduation. The Church spends 14 to 18 years forming us through childhood (if that)... then largely stops.

Adults are left to figure out faith on their own. At the dinner table. In marriage. In aging. In leadership. In grief.

Parishes lack daily formation resources that actually fit people's lives. And the result? Catholics drift. Families struggle to pass on faith. Generations disconnect.

So I'm building something to address that.

It's called Domus Formation - from the Latin word for "home." Because the home is the first school of faith. And Domus exists to serve that mission.

Here's the vision: brief, beautiful, theologically grounded content delivered daily. Formation delivered through a rhythm of daily prayer. Designed for real life - 5 minutes at the dinner table, 3 minutes on a teen's phone, 2 minutes with morning coffee. Not curriculum. Not courses. Daily accompaniment through prayer.

And it's not one thing. It's an ecosystem - each piece feeding the others:

Someone who learns to pray through Fons might eventually join Emmaus Disciples. A teen in Young Disciples Society becomes the kind of adult who raises a Hearth & Altar family. Grandparents on Eventide gift subscriptions to their children. Deacons bring Emmaus to their parishes.

It's all one thing. One formation house. Serving the domestic church across every generation.

I'm calling February Formation February - and I need your help.

If any of these resonate with someone you know, I'd be grateful if you'd look at them, try them out yourself, but especially pass them along to a few others:

For families with children at home: Hearth & Altar / Hogar y Altar (en español)

For Catholics in the second half of life (60+): Eventide & Altar / Ocaso y Altar (en español)

For teens: Young Disciples Society

For young adults at the gateway to adulthood: Ostium (coming soon)

For someone exploring faith or learning to pray: Fons

For a 15-week Scripture journey (alone, with a partner, or in a small group): Emmaus Disciples

You can learn more about the whole vision at WeAreDomus.com.

They’re largely ready, but I’m smashing the bugs from each of them as the first people come aboard.

I'm excited. And I'm nervous. Both feel right.

This is what I'm building for the second half. A formation house for the domestic church - consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Joseph thinks it might make me a Doctor of the Church. I just want us all to become saints.

And I'd be honored if you helped us grow this.

If this resonated with you, I'd be honored if you shared it with someone who might need to hear it.

Michael Halbrook is a Catholic deacon, husband, and father of four. He writes at DeaconMichael.net and sends a weekly email called Wednesday @ Lunch - reflections on faith, family, work, and life. Subscribe here.