For background, I am 19 and I just moved back in with my parents for a while after dropping out of college.
We have never, not once, spoken of religion or God in my household. We would occasionally (Christmas, Easter) attend our local mega-church service, but beyond that there was no mention of Christ. As far as religion was taken up in my house, it was my mother who took the initiative to do so, and it seems to me that my father only really went along with it insomuch as he didn't want to have any conflict about it with his wife. My father was raised Catholic by his parents, but his mother died when he was a teenager, and he began to fall away from the Church. I think that my mother supportive of religion, and I don't even think that Catholicism would be excluded from that, but only insomuch as one is able to conjure up some hope from it, not in the sense it should affect one's way of living. Her mother was the most religious person in my extended family, and as far as I can tell, her death a few years ago has made my mother see the necessity of faith in God.
As far as I understand, all of my siblings are atheists, but again, it never really gets brought up in family conversation. If it were to be spoken of, I suppose that my father would take consolation in his children being atheists, and my mother would be sorrowful to find that out, but not say anything to the contrary.
I want to become Catholic but I feel like doing so would necessarily imply that my parents failed at raising me, and I don't know what to do about that. If I am to really say that living for Christ is the meaning of life, it seems dishonest, if not an outright lie, to say that they didn't fail me and my siblings in a real way by neglecting this responsibility that they have for their children. I don't think that I have the fortitude to make that kind of claim against my parents, especially not in my current situation where they are supporting me financially.
We have never, not once, spoken of religion or God in my household. We would occasionally (Christmas, Easter) attend our local mega-church service, but beyond that there was no mention of Christ. As far as religion was taken up in my house, it was my mother who took the initiative to do so, and it seems to me that my father only really went along with it insomuch as he didn't want to have any conflict about it with his wife. My father was raised Catholic by his parents, but his mother died when he was a teenager, and he began to fall away from the Church. I think that my mother supportive of religion, and I don't even think that Catholicism would be excluded from that, but only insomuch as one is able to conjure up some hope from it, not in the sense it should affect one's way of living. Her mother was the most religious person in my extended family, and as far as I can tell, her death a few years ago has made my mother see the necessity of faith in God.
As far as I understand, all of my siblings are atheists, but again, it never really gets brought up in family conversation. If it were to be spoken of, I suppose that my father would take consolation in his children being atheists, and my mother would be sorrowful to find that out, but not say anything to the contrary.
I want to become Catholic but I feel like doing so would necessarily imply that my parents failed at raising me, and I don't know what to do about that. If I am to really say that living for Christ is the meaning of life, it seems dishonest, if not an outright lie, to say that they didn't fail me and my siblings in a real way by neglecting this responsibility that they have for their children. I don't think that I have the fortitude to make that kind of claim against my parents, especially not in my current situation where they are supporting me financially.
