Should I force my son to become Catholic?

[alclemens]

My wife and I have recently converted to Catholicism. We were Evangelical Christian, our whole family always went to church, and our three sons never said a word about not wanting to go. I guess they thought that’s the way it is. But being Catholic and having only one 15-year-old boy at home now, should I let him have the freedom to choose to go to church or am I supposed to make him become Catholic also? I’m not sure what to do.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Your son is of an age at which he is able to decide on his own whether or not to become Catholic. If he chooses not to do so, you and your wife must respect that decision. However, if it was always a “family rule” that the family attends church on Sundays, you can insist that he go to church and that he continue his religious education until he is out on his own. Since he is unable in conscience to become Catholic at this time, and since you chose to raise him Evangelical during his formative years, that would mean that you should arrange for him to attend your old Evangelical church on Sundays and continue religious education at that church. So, basically, the choices you can offer him are not “to go to church or not,” but to go to the Evangelical church on his own or to your parish with you and your wife.