Any Young Catholics in France?

[Catholicguyteen]

I’m an 18 year old American who is a huge Francophile. I love France. I’m fluent in French. I’m part French. I love the language, the culture, the history, and everything French. I wanna move there one day, marry a beautiful Frenchwoman, and start a family of my own in France.

However, after I found out about the huge decline in religion there, I
became kind of depressed. One thing I’ve always loved about France was its devoutly Catholic history. This seems to be going away. I’ve been polling French people my own age on ask.fm, and there doesn’t seem to be many Catholics anymore. I could still find a lot of devoutly religious people, but they were mainly Muslims. The rest would either say they have no religion, or they’re “technically Catholic because they’re baptized, but they don’t really practice it”.

This makes me feel hopeless. Will I ever be able to find a devout Catholic woman of my generation there? And if I do find one, will we be able to raise a devoutly Catholic family there? Surrounded by atheist peers, will our kids lose their faith?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m an 18 year old American who is a huge Francophile. I love France. I’m fluent in French. I’m part French. I love the language, the culture, the history, and everything French. I wanna move there one day, marry a beautiful Frenchwoman, and start a family of my own in France.

However, after I found out about the huge decline in religion there, I
became kind of depressed. One thing I’ve always loved about France was its devoutly Catholic history. This seems to be going away. I’ve been polling French people my own age on ask.fm, and there doesn’t seem to be many Catholics anymore. I could still find a lot of devoutly religious people, but they were mainly Muslims. The rest would either say they have no religion, or they’re “technically Catholic because they’re baptized, but they don’t really practice it”.

This makes me feel hopeless. Will I ever be able to find a devout Catholic woman of my generation there? And if I do find one, will we be able to raise a devoutly Catholic family there? Surrounded by atheist peers, will our kids lose their faith?

Undoubtedly there are some good women in France; likely in Normandy or perhaps Alsace.

But despite what some say, I think American women are the most desirable of all the world’s women. Why do I say that? Well, consider their history. They are the ones who braved oceans on tiny wooden vessels, ate wormy hardtack, fought off diseases without antibiotics, cut wood, hauled water, skinned and butchered animals for food, plowed behind mules, read the Bible, walked or rode through snow to go to Mass, fed work crews at harvest, fought not a few Indians themselves, and somehow managed to raise children well at the same time under extremely demanding conditions. Even De Toqueville, a Frenchman, admired American women for their character above all others.

Are some American women spoiled, bratty, immoral, of no account? Sure. But a whole lot of them are of as good character and high industry as were their forbears. Why would one want to seek a woman among the women who stayed behind when one could select among the strongest and bravest who didn’t?

And American women are, by and large, far more religious than their European counterparts.

“Stay west, young man.”

 

[ack]

France has been declining for many decades now…but they also started from a much higher base, so it’s not a total loss.

PS: Starting a family is hard enough; don’t make it harder on purpose by throwing a foreign country into the mix.

 

[Exiled_Child]

I’m an 18 year old American who is a huge Francophile. I love France. I’m fluent in French. I’m part French. I love the language, the culture, the history, and everything French. I wanna move there one day, marry a beautiful Frenchwoman, and start a family of my own in France.

However, after I found out about the huge decline in religion there, I
became kind of depressed. One thing I’ve always loved about France was its devoutly Catholic history. This seems to be going away. I’ve been polling French people my own age on ask.fm, and there doesn’t seem to be many Catholics anymore. I could still find a lot of devoutly religious people, but they were mainly Muslims. The rest would either say they have no religion, or they’re “technically Catholic because they’re baptized, but they don’t really practice it”.

This makes me feel hopeless. Will I ever be able to find a devout Catholic woman of my generation there? And if I do find one, will we be able to raise a devoutly Catholic family there? Surrounded by atheist peers, will our kids lose their faith?

That’s the most rational thing I’ve heard all day, Catholicguyteen, and I wish you luck! Don’t let anyone else discourage you or undermine your dreams or your resolve. If you could find a way to afford it, maybe the best idea would be to buy a plane ticket to France and pilgrimage around for a while and get to know what the French Catholic scene is like firsthand. In my experience, young American males traveling abroad by themselves meet tons and tons of cool people as a matter of course.

I’m praying for you.

 

[Deus_tecum]

Little brother; move to France. Find a Catholic woman or covert a woman to be Catholic. Have 12 kids, and instill in them to have 12 kids of their own. In the third generation there will be almost 1800 Catholics in France. The 4th gen will have over 21,000! Now if each of the original 12 convert 2 friends, and their 2 friends convert 2 more, and this happens which each generation…well…

 

[ack]

France has been declining for many decades now…but they also started from a much higher base, so it’s not a total loss.

PS: Starting a family is hard enough; don’t make it harder on purpose by throwing a foreign country into the mix.

I’m feeling a little more optimistic at the moment, so let me rephrase this:

Go to France! Find a university program that will allow you to study abroad there for a semester or a year. It might be one of the best experiences of your life.

Yes, France is not as Catholic as it used to be, but the same goes for the rest of the world.

Just don’t go overboard with any ideas of getting married there.