We need to do more to keep our kids Catholic

CatholicAnchor.org
In preparing for a talk I will give in Anchorage this month on how to keep our kids Catholic, I decided to do some live research with the six missionaries that have come here to Magadan, Russia, from Ohio’s Franciscan University of Steubenville.

These young people are so deeply in love with the Lord, especially in the Blessed Sacrament, and so clear about their commitment to the Catholic faith that I felt they could shed some light on how other young people can find the church. They might also be able to show how parents might find some hope in helping to keep their children in the church.

If you are convinced there’s no better way to live than in union with Jesus Christ and guided by the wisdom of the Catholic Church then of course you would want this for your child which is the very deepest way to live. The stark news, however, according to Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) is that roughly 53 percent of Catholics leave the church before turning 21.

Religious education methods from 50 or 60 years ago simply aren’t working now. Millennials don’t accept church doctrine and authority just because it’s what they’re supposed to do. They need more. They need reasons to believe and causes to believe in. Unfortunately many parishes fail to offer either.

So how to keep your kids Catholic?

From some of our young missionaries I see that parents are the most important assets. Your faith, your life and your witness play the largest role.

Here’s what one young woman — Kaitlin — had to say: “My parents underwent a conversion of sorts after they married. Their new outlook on life caused them to raise us very intentionally Catholic. They home-schooled us and did their best to instill a true devotion in us and make our home a place of prayer. In all this, my parents still were not overbearing. I never felt that religion was forced upon me.”

This from Anna, who spoke of the freedom her parents gave her: “They enriched me by bringing me to Mass every Sunday. After high school I had the freedom to choose what I’d do. At this point it would have been easy to throw away all that had been given me and seek freedom in all the wrong places. My parents couldn’t force it on me. They allowed me stray so that I could come back and discover Jesus on my own. After these profound encounters with the Eucharist in adoration, I couldn’t pick anything but a life in Christ.”

Joe said the Eucharist helped keep him a Catholic: “When I was young, maybe 10, my dad took my brother and me to daily Mass for one summer.”

Joe also mentioned the impact of praying the daily rosary with his family as far back as he can remember. He also mentioned receiving a Catholic education.

Ben spoke about not just surviving, but “thriving as a Catholic, saying he “took the faith of my parents during my adolescent years and made it my own.” Today it is something he treasures and nourishes.

“I grew up in England, which has become an aggressively atheistic country,” Ben relayed. “I was by no means particularly virtuous growing up, yet I never even entertained the idea of rejecting Catholicism. From the age of 16 on I became increasingly committed to living an authentic Catholic life, to the point of resolving, at the age of 18, to give my entire earthly life to Christ — possibly as a priest. My parents also ensured that I gained an intellectual cognition of the faith. We had family readings from the Children’s Picture Bible, allowing us to have an understanding of salvation history. They also guided us through a catechetical series which led us to an understanding of the Catholic doctrine. This was significant because it taught me that submitting one’s life to faith made sense from a rational viewpoint. I have always been a ‘head-to-heart’ person, so it was extremely important for me to develop an appreciation that to be a faithful Catholic was to be faithful to the truth. This study led me to a greater love for Catholicism, for I found in the church’s doctrine an inner harmony, the beauty of authentic truth. I am especially grateful that my parents encouraged (and sometimes, if necessary, required!) me to attend Catholic youth festivals, retreats and pilgrimages. Here I met other young Catholics who faced similar challenges in remaining true to the faith and were discovering the same joy in choosing to be Catholic.”

Many Catholic parents aren’t interested in being part of their children’s faith formation. I understand. We’re all busy but I’m talking about your children’s future. And here is the truth — the current system of Catholic religious education is not working. We are not forming our children in faith. We are not teaching them to find God, so they are leaving. Half are going to Protestant churches and finding relationships with Jesus there. The other half are doing nothing, casting their lots with the culture and betting there is no God.

All Catholic parents need to hear and understand this message: You can make a difference. You can help your children know God and have his power working in their lives. Come and hear more on August 26, 7-9 p.m., at Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral.

The writer is pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Magadan, Russia.