My Child wants to leave the Catholic Faith

[Robaynne]

Don’t you think that if your daughter was serious about leaving the church she would bother to go to mass with you. Is she attending bible studies, has she mentioned been baptised in this church that she wants to join.

I have been very angry with the Catholic Church for a long time now. When I was going through a tough time I approached the church to try and speak to the priest without any luck. I could not even get counselling for what was happening with me. My husband had left me for another women and I was left with two small children. I went to church every sunday and still I did not get any joy.If you are not Portuguese or are known to the priest you will get no joy. I landed up in hospital for suicide and depression and a women came to pray for me. After that I felt so different. In the Christian Church you get so much support. Why do people feel the need to walk out the church straight after communion. Or they come to church dressed up like they are going to a club or party. Even when it is time for Confirmation kids are dressed up like it is a fashion show not a religious event. And they walk into church late and just have no respect.

They believe in the same things that we do God. I am sorry to say but since I have attended services at this church I have a interest in reading the bible I want to know more about God. I want to pray more. I was so angry at God I felt that he had abandoned me that I was so alone. Why was this happening to me what did I do to deserve it. And I could not even get support during this tough time from my parish. I could not go to another parish as I take public transport. Then I realised that I was angry at the wrong person. Not because I go to this church that I have forgotten what I learnt. There are prayer meetings every Wednesday and you walk out of there like you have been to church. I never read my bible during the week or weekends now I do. I listen to Hillsongs and I feel Gods presence in my life. That is what saved me from totally destroying myself.

When I went to meet this one lady for the first two a year ago she was not judgemental she listened to me and prayed with me and made me feel that I was not alone. During that time they never ever brought the Catholic Church done or expected anything from me even to join their church. This lady taught me so much but most of all to trust in God and have faith in him and believe in him.

All you can do is support your daughter make it clear how you feel but don’t isolate her that she feels that you are not there for her. Ask her if you can go with her to visit this church and then you can see for yourself. This is your child and she is the most important thing in your life and you do not want to loose her because of this. You never ever forget what you have been taught as a child.

I was listening to this guy on TBN yesterday and he was talking about this young boy of 10 years old who was very competitive anyway he went on camp with the church and there was this big trophy there and he wanted to win it and would do anything to win this trophy. What he needed to do is learn 38 bible scriptures off by heart and he did and he won the trophy. Many years later he had forgotten what he learnt and he wanted to play professional sport but got injured and could not. While laying in hospital he started remembering those scriptures that he learnt. Like “I can do everything through God who Strengthens me” and that is how it went.

The moral of the story is that you never forget what you learnt. And once a Catholic always a Catholic. Have faith and believe that God will guide your daughter in the right direction. She is craving for knowledge now and wants to learn more about God and she is learning that even though it is not from what we were daughter but at the end of the day it is still about God.

 

[Julianna]

wow, Robyanne…reading your post reminded me of two close friends who had experienced the same. I really thought they were overly hurt/wounded. But after reading your post, it reminded me of what they went through. One is no longer Catholic, and the other has moved to a more (how can I say), liberal form of Catholicism.

Same scenerio, both of their husbands left them. They went to the church for help (emotional)…didn’t get any. One had a child with cancer…and no one from the parish came to visit her while her child was in surgery. She had no insurance and her car had just died. When she tried to get insurance (she was a teacher), her son’s pre-existing condition would not be covered. Both her parents were deceased. She called the parish to have someone come sit with her while her son was in surgery. No one came. As she was sitting alone in the waiting room, an Episcopal pastor and his wife approached her. They struck up a conversation…and so on and so on. For the next week, the wife came to visit her every other day and pray with her. When her son was released from the hospital, the pastor and his wife presented her with the keys to a car. It was their son’s and he had gone off to college and didn’t need it. All she wanted was someone to pray with her, and sit with her. Her husband divorced her. She and her son went to mass, but she felt “alone”. Nuclear familes all around her, and people she had known, and knew her situation, seemed to avoid her. She left the church and went to the Episcopal church of the pastor and his wife who had been there for her and her son. She felt revived, alive, and welcome.

I was so taken aback that she had called and asked someone to come be with her and no one bothered. (I did not know her at that time).

The other friend had two kids. She went through 2 yrs of agony trying to get her marriage annulled. She was trying to get her kids into Catholic school, when her parish priest told her that she should leave this parish and join the other parish closer to the school because his parish didn’t have enough money (even though 3 parishes supported the school) to supplement her children. He knew as a single mom, her envelope would contain the bare minimum.

What gives? She cried for days.

 

[Alison]

Tell her about the Eucharist. Find simple reading material on the Eucharist. I am convinced that if one truly understood what they received in the Eucharist, that they would never leave the Church. The world would be on their knees if they knew what they were receiving at the Mass. I am praying for you and your child.
-Alison

 

[Catherine_S]

.
** How about a nice movie together one evening? **
**:newidea: ! Here is a wonderful new movie that was just released called The Catholic Mass …Revealed. **catholicmass.org/
It will take several minuts to download!
Than press DVD than parts 1 - finish for preview!
.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

I left home at 18 to attend a Catholic university. I became a Witch. I go involved with a man 10 years my senior and got pregnant. I left him and returned to my parents’ home with my daughter. I had rules I had to follow, REGARDLESS of my age and that face that I was a mother myself. I was in their home, they were providing me food, shelter, etc.

• They knew of my religious views, but insisted that I attend Church with them every Sunday. This was a rule when I was younger, it continued to be.
• And there were a host of other rules that they had.

Because I HAD to go to Church every Sunday, I started to see things I missed when I left. I had pagan ideas in my head and they had clouded what I already knew. From relearning the Mass, I went into the Catechism, Apologetics, Scott Hahn, etc.

If she is still living at home, insist that she continue to attend Mass with you. What she does after that is her buisness. Just insist that she go. She doesn’t have to participate, sing, Sign of Peace, nothing, she just HAS TO GO.
If she continues with this Protestant church and you continue to be unhappy with her involvement, remind her that she is of legal age. My parents did it to me when I first became pagan and refused to attend Mass. I had to fall on my face and foul a lot of things up, but I learned and came back. She may have to do the same thing.
And I should note that when I originally moved out, my parents and I still talked, they didn’t cut me off entirely

 

[drafdog]

I see by your post that your daughter is 19 years old. She has reached the age of majority and is therefore an adult. If you would insist that any other adult residing in your house must refrain from attending any but Catholic religious services, then by all means enforce such an injunction on your daughter. I doubt that you would do that, though.
You raised her and you must trust, as God trusts you, that she will work out her own salvation. I don’t agree with everything my adult children do, but as I gave each of them back to the Father at baptism, I trust God, who is a better parent than I, to look after them all.
You gave your daughter to God at baptism; leave her there.

Matthew