Fit the pieces together
Father Marty often joins our men’s leadership program, That Man Is You! Recently, I asked him about the gap many cradle Catholics experience as they move from childhood into adulthood. They no longer attend mass, practice the sacraments and leave the faith – sometimes forever. I suggested that the Church could bridge the gap with education programs for young adults.
Fr. Marty responded with his observation and in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus offers another through two parables where he compared seeds and the Kingdom of God. In the first parable, the seed grows itself – despite the best intentions of the sower:
“This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the s eed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”
In the second parable, the mustard seed – “the smallest of all the seeds on the earth” “springs up and becomes the largest of plants…”
In both cases the seeds grow of their own accord and as Jesus stated: “This is like the Kingdom of God.”
At times Christian parents like me wring their hands about the frequency, depth, and effectiveness of the transmission of our faith to our children. We know that outside our homes is a secular world that is often ignorant, dismissive, and even hostile against Christian theology.
Fr. Marty observed that the parental obligation of catechesis is to provide enough information so that our children are able “fit the pieces together.” What came to me today after reflecting on today’s Gospel reading is to offer four pieces to help our children fit together an accurate understanding of the Gospel:
Received – Like the sower of the seed, parents can try to cultivate an environment where our children grow to love our Lord. However, it is through the grace of our Lord, that our faith “grows of its own accord.” We can pray that our children will be open to receive grace for such growth..
Relevant – It took me a while to figure out that I need to demonstrate to my children the reasons why Christianity is relevant to my life. I look for opportunities to explain things from the point of view of Jesus and it surprised me that these often lead into longer conversations where I can answer questions about our religion.
Regular - Catholicism is a lifestyle – not a one hour obligation on Sundays. For example, we take time before dinner to pray as a family. Often this can take more than 5 minutes for the four of us to show our love for one another and thanksgiving to God for our blessings.
Relaxed – I have read many blog posts of “former Catholics” who were turned off by their well-intentioned but over-zealous parents. Perhaps we can remember that our children learn best from the example we set as parents because we undermine their faith if we do not model it.
As parents, our job is not to create small Christian robots who are uneducated in the mysteries of faith and the great and beautiful meaning of the sacraments and their basis in scripture and tradition.
Pray with me that we may offer for our children a model of love and acceptance of the faith of our children. Also a special prayer for Skyler – a man who was reading the bible in a coffee shop today. We chatted for a minute and I hope to learn more about his ministry.
†
You might also like these related posts from cinhosa:
What I am willing to risk
Given a choice, do you choose God?
There's something beautiful about the light
Balancing obedience and evangelization
Today we remember Saint Angela Merci
Related articles
- Memorial of St. Agnes (redemptoristpreacher.com)
I’m a cradle Catholic. From my perspective, cradle Catholics are having such a hard time because 1. we were given no guidance, no tradition, no education in prayer and in what the Church was actually teaching. 2. the people in our generation were born when most older Catholics were rebelling against anything Catholic…they didn’t want to hear it or were not really told what Rome was saying or they didn’t want to take responsibility for seeking what the Church was really teaching or they actually enjoyed becoming of the world. 3. being Catholic was like being a part of a club…John Paul II saw it when he came here,thus the changes in the Mass. I never heard any of his Encyclicals from priests. It is really sad. I feel like a lot of us were just left hanging. One thing I hope I can give my children is prayer. I have also consecrated them to Mary. I have often wondered what kind of program would help our generation to at least reconsider. BUT having said that, I was confirmed…the Holy Spirit worked extremely well in my initial conversion several years ago…the Mormons triggered that question to happen. I have a friend who was brought back to the Church, full of fervor, by a Buddhist…mysterious ways:) Pray on!
Posted by lamehousewife | January 27, 2012, 9:22 pmThank you for sharing what it’s like to be a cradle Catholic. I get the same impression from others and thank God for the Mormons in your life! I wrote about their influence on mine.
In terms of other resources for you and others who read this thread:
I like Matthew Kelly’s DynamicCatholic.org site for reading material. I have written about That Man Is You! a program that is offered at many parishes for men. It looks like they developed a program for families.
I understand that Robert Barron’s Catholicism series is intended for study. I recorded the sessions that aired on EWTN. I don’t have the study material but definitely awesome just to watch. His target audience is fallen away Catholics.
I live in Denver and our diocese sponsors the Living the Catholic Faith Conference each year that is intended for lay people. There are probably similar ones in other areas. They also offer audio recordings of the sessions. I put two lectures from Fr. Peter Girard on my iPod from the 2006 conference that bring me to tears.
Although it’s meant to receive new converts, Catholics can attend the RCIA classes and simply not participate in the 4 rites – kind of like ‘auditing’ a course in college – you show up for lecture, do the reading but don’t take the tests… My good friend was confirmed in high school (he’s in his 40s now) but his younger brother was not confirmed. His brother later confirmed as an adult through RCIA and his brother (my friend) sponsored him. My friend later told me that going through RCIA as a sponsor transformed his faith because he understood Church teaching as an adult. Now his family is devout to the point where they spend time with the Blessed Sacrament each week.
I also like BeginningCatholic.com.
Today, I found my way to Dr. Scott Hahn’s St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. They are “a non-profit research and educational institute that promotes life-transforming Scripture study in the Catholic tradition.”
Did I mention it is free?
I hope that my children will not feel ‘left hanging’ because they are cradle Catholics. Through my RCIA experiences, I am aware of some of these issues and and to them the gift of ‘why’. I also think the Church should make the point that understanding our faith is a life-long process – it doesn’t end when we were confirmed.
Prayers to you and yours.
†
Posted by cinhosa | January 28, 2012, 12:00 pmThe “relaxed” thing is a concern of mine; I know that can definitely be a turnoff!
The young adult gap is real, but I think another gap comes because when those people return, they don’t necessarily return for “real,” but just for sacraments. We’ve talked about a young family ministry, primarily social, in which we’d all just get together for dinner at each other’s houses. I think Catholics tend to talk Catholic stuff when they get together, and it would make a real difference. But right now I’m barely treading water with my current commitments, so I don’t know how soon I’ll be able to bring something like that to fruition. :/
Posted by Kathleen | January 29, 2012, 3:21 pm