Raising children. - Atheist vs Christian

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Maybe I went about this thread in the wrong way… Lets say, a catholic man was going to marry an agnostic woman. The woman had a 6 year old child. The childs father was an atheist and very much involved with the child. Both the agnostic mother and atheist father were very kind and good people and very good parents. The child is very smart and seems to be developing fine with a few behavior problems in school. The child actually believes in God, probably because his grandma told him he had to. How should the catholic man go about his role as stepfather? (I’m pretty sure we all know I’m talking about myself here now) :blushing:
 
frankblahnik said:
Maybe I went about this thread in the wrong way… Lets say, a catholic man was going to marry an agnostic woman. The woman had a 6 year old child. The childs father was an atheist and very much involved with the child. Both the agnostic mother and atheist father were very kind and good people and very good parents. The child is very smart and seems to be developing fine with a few behavior problems in school. The child actually believes in God, probably because his grandma told him he had to. How should the catholic man go about his role as stepfather? (I’m pretty sure we all know I’m talking about myself here now) :blushing:
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My dad remarried 13 or so years ago to a wonderful woman. I was ~10 at the time, but here’s a few suggestions:

Love, support and validate the child. Go out of your way to insist that his mother’s love for him is still as strong as it was before you entered the picture. Insist that the child’s biological father loves him. Insist that you love the child, too. Be open and honest about everything (including your religion). Teach Catholicism thru your love & actions, but be careful to not accidentally pit yourself against the boys’ biological father. If the boy is curious about specific things, he will ask you. Oh and love him with all of your heart!!

Will you be taking the family to Mass with you on Sundays?

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EmBee said:
My dad remarried 13 or so years ago to a wonderful woman. I was ~10 at the time, but here’s a few suggestions:

Love, support and validate the child. Go out of your way to insist that his mother’s love for him is still as strong as it was before you entered the picture. Insist that the child’s biological father loves him. Insist that you love the child, too. Be open and honest about everything (including your religion). Teach Catholicism thru your love & actions, but be careful to not accidentally pit yourself against the boys’ biological father. If the boy is curious about specific things, he will ask you. Oh and love him with all of your heart!!

Will you be taking the family to Mass with you on Sundays?

–
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Thank you. If my computer exlodes and I don’t every go on CAF again, I don’t think it would matter, because you just gave me the best advice I could have ever asked for.

Love and God bless to you!
 
I sort of see this in my workplace…i work with a gal who was raised in a good Catholic family-she’s the youngest of 9. She has two girls of her own who are now 21 and 19. She chose to raise them outside of any church. She repeated to us over and over thoughout the past 10 years “I don’t want to force the Catholic religion on them like it was on me. This way they can decide for themselves what religion to be”. Okay, well neither of them have any interest in any faith, and they’ve both said to a couple of us “How can we choose a faith when we were never even given the basics of ANY christian faith?” So that sums it up for me. I feel like if I don’t raise my kids in some form of faith, then I am responsible for what happens to their souls. To me, I would consider myself an irresponsible parent if I didn’t give my daughter (and future kids) some faith formation. twk
 
oh, and frank- kids learn by observing. the kind of man you are in the presence of this child will help to form the kind of man that he will be. if in the end you decide to NOT raise him in church, i’m sure many of your good qualities will surface in him also. you may be surprised that if you just simply take him to mass, and answer his questions as they arrise, he may choose the way of the church and solve your dilemma. twk
 
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