Are/were your parents Catholic?

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Mom is Catholic but doesn’t know the faith well, more of a “cultural” Catholic. Dad converted when they got married but never really practiced it much.
 
I am a convert to Catholicism. My mom converted after I did but doesn’t attend regularly. My dad was baptized as a Catholic, as he was born to an Italian family in Italy, but he wasn’t raised in the faith and doesn’t practice.
 
I am a convert. Neither of my parents were Catholic. I was raised in a bible church.
 
jmcrae said:
I’m a convert. Before I converted, the last time anybody was Catholic in my family was in 1560.
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And you know this for sure? I’m very amazed at the records your family kept. Since most of us have had about 14 ancestors since 1900 or so, about 100since 1800, and about 800 since 1700, that’s around 6000 (allowing for normal levels of inbreeding) since 1600, around 20,000 since 1560. You have church records on every one of them? :eek:
 
strngrnrth said:
And you know this for sure? I’m very amazed at the records your family kept. Since most of us have had about 14 ancestors since 1900 or so, about 100since 1800, and about 800 since 1700, that’s around 6000 (allowing for normal levels of inbreeding) since 1600, around 20,000 since 1560. You have church records on every one of them? :eek:
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We have a family bible that dates back to the early 1600s, that records all of the baptisms and marriages in our direct line of descent, going back to the beginning of the Reformation in Scotland. My cousin currently has it, so it will pass out of our line of descent and into hers, but my father did mark the fact that I was confirmed in the Catholic faith on April 14th of 2000. 🙂
 
I’m a convert - my mom’s Lutheran and my dad doesn’t go to church.
 
strngrnrth said:
And you know this for sure? I’m very amazed at the records your family kept. Since most of us have had about 14 ancestors since 1900 or so, about 100since 1800, and about 800 since 1700, that’s around 6000 (allowing for normal levels of inbreeding) since 1600, around 20,000 since 1560. You have church records on every one of them? :eek:
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I know this wasn’t addressed to me, but I can tell you that some families do have great records and/or oral histories. My own family has retained wills, Bibles and other documents that in a couple of cases go back as far as the 17th century.

It’s also easy to guess what religions your ancestors may have been based on ethnicity and location, if known. Most of my ancestors were English and Scottish, and the majority of them were in the southern American colonies prior to the Revolutionary War. Just those two things pretty much rules out any possible Catholicism among that crowd, since Catholicism was illegal down here before the US became a nation.

As for more recent ancestors, my grandparents knew that stuff first hand. All their grandparents were various kinds of Protestant: Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian.

So I feel I can pretty safely say I’m the first Catholic in my family in a long, long time.
 
I would call my parents Sunday Catholics. They attend Mass every weekend, go to the Communal Reconciliation Services during Lent and Advent, but outside of that never did much. We said grace before meals but that was pretty much the only prayer in the house. They did the motions because it was expected of them rather than because they really believe. Two of my three younger sisters left the Church when they were in their teens (my mother allowed this) and I think my youngest sister is Sunday only now as well, if that. I think if you were to ask them anything about the faith, they would be unable to answer. I think my mother is only Catholic because she was raised that way and she doesn’t want to bother learning either about her own faith or about other faiths. Myself on the other, well look where I hang out:D .
 
My parents and grandparents were Catholic until the early 1980’s, when they left the Church. In my parents’ case, they just didn’t believe, so they stopped attending shortly after I was baptized. I am not Catholic (yet) but I am dating and planning to marry a Catholic man. His family has been Catholic for as long as they can remember.
 
I am not Catholic and neither of my parents are/were Catholic

that’s what i “voted”😉
 
danimay said:
My mom was Catholic…boy did she drop the ball with us, though.😦
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I hate to say it, but me too. My dad was catholic too and really no example there. They had their own struggles and problems with the church, but I feel like so many things would have been different had they turned TO God in their struggles instead of turning away.
 
I’m a cradle Catholic, my father was Catholic, I don’t ever remember him being in a Church. My mother was not Catholic, never converted, but raised us in the Catholic faith. She made sure we went to Mass every Sunday, went to confession. etc.
 
My parents are Catholic, I’m Catholic, my entire family is Catholic (except for DH and some of the ILs)

But my parents (my mom and stepdad) aren’t practicing. They do consider themselves Catholics though. They aren’t married in the CC so they can’t participate so they don’t attend unless it’s a big feast such as Easter or Christmas.
 
I am the only liveing person in my family that even considers themselves a christian, and the youngest of seven. There is one exception which is my sister whou has severe and profound downsyndrome, she lives in a Catholic home. All my other siblings are uber liberal highly educated and “too smart” for that religiouse stuff. Two of my siblings are professors at well known universitys. Makes for…exciteing…reunions. Poor simple backward sister that I am.
 
Both of my parents were cradle Catholic but didn’t raise me Catholic. We almost never went to Mass and I knew nothing about the Church. While in college I decided on my own to go through RCIA. It really lite a fire under my parents and I don’t think they’ve missed a Mass in 15 years. 👍
 
danimay said:
My mom was Catholic…boy did she drop the ball with us, though.😦
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I know what you mean there - my dad is Catholic, but when I was a baby, he was a teenager. He had some very big things to deal with in his life, being a husband and father at 17 pretty much too his Faith out of the picture. My parents were together for 10 years then divorced. I can’t ever recall my dad taking me/us to Mass, maybe Easter once, but I don’t really recall. Mostly I went with my grandfather on my dad’s side. There was never any mention of God or religion that I recall, but I always said my prayers at night. Hmmm - wonder who taught me that? I’ve never considered that before.:confused:

I thank God for my grandfather - he gave me my Faith by his example.

My dad is back practicing his Catholic Faith now, and I’m so happy and excited about it!

My mom is an atheist and never gave any religious influence in the home. Other than letting me go to Protestant Bible study after school on Wednesdays when I was about seven. :rolleyes:

~Liza
 
I am Catholic, and my parents are Catholic. However, my father didn’t practice his faith for about 48 years of his life, in part to the influence of a very obnoxious stepfather and lazy mother. You can read about his exploits in other threads. He’s been back for about 6 or 7 years. He even got confirmed finally!
 
My parents were both raised Protestant, but have lived as agnostics. They took us to a Unitarian-Universalist church when we were kids. Dad really emphasized “free thinking,” but he wasn’t so thrilled when his daughter thought for herself and converted to the Catholic faith! 😃
 
My dad was a Catholic. He and my mom are both atheists now.

My brother’s just become a Catholic though and maybe someday I’ll be one too. I think it will be kind of funny if it turns out that way.
 
My mom’s parents were Catholic, and my mother made her First Communion in the Catholic Church. This probably means she was baptized Catholic. However, my grandparents stopped going to church, I think because of something with Vatican II. My parents ended up non-denominational and went through a slew of denominations (see my signature, excepting Methodist and Foursquare!) before saying they were agnostic and atheist.
 
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