Lukewarm Family

[JohnMPhilomena]

I now make the effort to wake them up early during Sundays so they won’t feel too lazy to go to Mass. They’ve been going with me and that’s great.

Lent is coming up soon and you’re right, I should lead by example, so I’m going to make sure that we follow the whole no meat and fasting practices. Maybe even invite them to mass on Ash Wednesday.

Also, my dad invited my mom to go confession, but she jokingly argued that she confesses directly to God, I can’t find any “solid” biblical reference about confessing to priests. What do you think I should say to convince her to go to confession?

Thanks for your help.
Gob bless!

When Jesus handed Peter the keys to the church, he gave the church the power to forgive sins.

Matthew 18:18
I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

I wouldn’t get into a big argument about it. Just quote it and let God’s word do the heavy lifting.

Keep up the good work, you’re doing great.

Peace,
John

 

[Lucid_Panda]

I know exactly what you’re going through. My family is also a lukewarm Catholic family. They go to mass every Sunday and that’s about it. At home, the topic of God or church rarely comes up. We have never once prayed together as a family. I honestly don’t even know what my parents’ prayer habits are- for all I know they could only pray on Sundays during mass. They absolutely REFUSE to get involved in any kind of ministry at church. Their excuse is that they don’t have enough time, but I know it’s because they just don’t want to. We have been going to the same parish for about 10 years now and they haven’t made friends with anyone. They just keep to themselves. They also hate to read, so reading the bible or a Catholic book and learning more about God and the faith is out of the question. It’s more than a little concerning for me that my family thinks it’s enough to just go to mass every week and put money in the basket.

My advice to you would be to get your hands on a book called “Four signs of a dynamic Catholic” by Matthew Kelly. The book talks about four steps to get people more engaged both in their own personal relationship with God and in the Church. Read it, and kind of outline to your family what the book says.

Prayer and patience are going to be most important here. I pray that both of our families as well as other lukewarm families will some day be inspired to do more and live out their faith to the fullest capacity.