My Child Wants More Knowlege about the Faith

[Teelynn]

Hi All,

After many years of praying and asking The Blessed Mother’s help, a child of mine is showing most definite signs of wanting to know more about the faith. …actually told me the other day that she went online to find out how to pray the rosary and has said it a few times now. She has also requested a prayer book that I promised I would get for her. This all came about through circumstances that I am sure were orchestrated from above. Let me assure you that I have given her over to the Blessed Mother completely, and have no way been pushy about her (more total) conversion.

A little background: This kid was extremely rebellious as a teen, would go to mass with us protesting to the point of distracting everyone. She of course has received all the sacraments except for reconcilliation of which (if you can believe it) the head of her CCD made clear that when the children received their 1st communion the Church deemed them not yet ready for confession. She was Confirmed in this parish with the same mindset on the part of CCD instructors. I at the time, being nieve and blind and too accepting of these practices went along with the program. Consequently she has grown up with not a very extensive knowlege of the Catechism and just elementary knowlege of scripture.

OK…so now she has asked for a little help in learning more. Guess I should have been more prepared for this and thought ahead, but I am now in a panic (although a joyful panic) as to how to help guide her. Where to start!!! There is a scripture study coming up in my own parish that I was thinking about attending myself that is a 9 month study, maybe we could go together? I will go online to see what I can find in a basic prayer book (maybe at EWTN) but anyone have any recommendations for someone( in all practicallity) just starting? Somehow, I feel as if I am walking on eggshells here, if you know what I mean.

You cannot imagine how thankful I am to The Blessed Mother. I am sure she will continue to help her. And you can be sure this intention will continue to be in my daily rosary!

Any suggestions would be so appreciated!

 

[idrum677]

Prayers do work!. Its wonderful that your child is comming back to the church! It must also be exciting for you to share this spiritual journey with her.

If your’re looking for some basics about the church i suggest:

Catholicism for Dummies by John Trigilio and Kenneth Brighenti

• Why Do Catholics Do That?* by Kevin Orlin Johnson

Also, get yourself a copy of the catechism if you don’t already have one. It will go more in-depth on each topic.

It will be good for you to be as knowledgable as you can.

Also a good book which I have been reading is Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthey Kelley. He has a ministry devoted to bringing Catholics back to the faith. You can get a free copy of the book here catholicscomehome.org/

The most important thing now is to be there to answer her questions but don’t push and also keep praying. Let the Lord guide what you do. God Bless.

 

[jc-servant]

Check out www.phatmass.com where she might feel more comfortable looking things up on her own. Also for teens, the Fransciscan U. @ Steubenville does regional conferences in the summer where a lot of teens get great info that they can use to keep the fire going through the rest of the year. They will also get a chance to hang out and meet other teens who are really into the faith.

There are also some great groups of college-aged students who will put on a retreat at a parish if the local CCD is so-so. It is worth checking around because if one child got a poor education by the CCD, then they are probably not the only one.

My parish has Lifeteen with Parents for Life, so there is a built in lesson guide of topics. The parents study right along the same schedule with the teens by having their own meetings with our priests and others. The teens have 3 weeks of lessons with 1 social week in rotation. Some parishes don’t do a good job with this program, but it is worth looking around to see if you can find a good program for a teen to learn along with peers and share it with them at home.

Depending on the age of the teen, I would suggest that the parent get the book “Christian Courtship in an Oversexed World” by Fr. Thomas Morrow and read it now. The parent can decide when it is appropriate to discuss or provide it to the teen. It does get a little “specific” regarding what is appropriate with sex before and after marriage which is why I say check it out first. Although, most teens have heard far worse on TV.

It basically advocates doing activities in groups and saving one-to-one courtship for when the person is ready to find a spouse. It may seem old fashioned, but this is what a lot of our teens do who participate in Lifeteen at my parish. They will go everywhere in small or large groups (like mass and breakfast before school) and then go with a “friend” from church to dances like homecoming or prom.

 

[kage_ar]

Matthew Kelly’s “Rediscovering Catholicism”

You might check out Patrick Madrid’s “Search and Rescue”

 

[Teelynn]

Thank you all so much for the wonderful resources! Catholicism for Dummies is an absolute must. And yes I do have a copy of The Catechism that I have in my prayer section of the office. I use if often myself for reference. I think this is my fear, that I don’t know enough or maybe just know how to explain things the way I should. The Holy Spirit will help me though. And yes I will send her along to the sites you’ve all suggested. And no I am not going to push her, but I will always avail myself to her inquiries. In other words I will stay out of God’s way.

She is in my daily prayers especially my rosary. Even after all the miracles I have been blessed with because of the rosary, I am still at times blown away by how powerful this awesome prayer is! Can’t tell you how stunned I was when she told me she’d said the rosary a few times. By circumstances that would take too long to go into that shook her up, she felt drawn to say it. I asked her how she knew how to say it and she told me she looked it up online and kept the site in her favorites. And she wants to get a prayer book and maybe some resources to learn more. For many years I have prayed for her and during the last few years in particular, the 1st intentions in my rosary has been to bring her and her husband to “Jesus thru Mary and in full communion with the Catholic Church”. The Blessed Mother is definitely answering me when she was drawn to say THE ROSARY!! Not to learn more first or to go to mass more often but to say THE ROSARY!! If that is not an awesome answer, I don’t know what is!! Sorry for such a long blubbering post, but I am just so excited!! The power of the rosary never ceases to amaze me. As I’ve heard it said “Jesus never says no to His Mother.”

Thank you all again for helping with great resources. Blessings!

Tee