Advice to granddaughter going to college?

[JanetF]

OP, I understand your concern!

You might be surprised, but a lot of public universities have very strong campus ministry programs.

My daughter attends Ole Miss and absolutely loves the Catholic Church that is located just off campus. Their young adult ministry is very active. The priest is very approachable. She has gone on several retreats since last August including the FOCUS trip to San Antonio in January of this year.

Relieved mama for sure!

My advice would be to see what you can find out on your own about your granddaughter’s college’s campus ministry and then casually bring it up in conversation. She may surprise you and say she’s already looked in to it and can’t wait to get involved and meet fellow-Catholics!.

Best of luck to her!

 

[AdamP88]

My granddaughter will start college this August. She has always gone to catholic school from kindergarten and now graduating high school. All her life , her friends, relatives etc are all catholic. I am worried about secular influences now that she will be interacting with people who will try to sway her in her beliefs. I want to sit her down and talk to her about this but don,t know if I should “mind my own business”. I just want to warn her about others who think differently and raised differently. She is a very smart loving child. Should I keep my mouth shut?

No. Don’t keep your mouth shut. You are right to be afraid for your granddaughters faith. She won’t necessarily lose her faith, but it’s certainly possible. That said, it can also strengthen one’s faith to be exposed to views that are not the same as theirs. My own experience of being in a university class with people who are very catholic and others who would be vehemently pro-abortion or just care about partying is that it pushed me to be more Christian and discover more about my faith.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

When I was at uni the Catholics were the worst for this including some priests I have fond memories of a retreat weekend where the priest made his debut on the karaoke machine.

I was very lucky as there was a wonderful Catholic ministry at my university that really started me thinking seriously about my faith which up until then had been pretty lukewarm. Do you know if there is anything like this at her college? If so I would encourage her to take advantage of it.

I was really referring to binge drinking. Passing out drunk isn’t really the same as karaoke night.