What his journey underscores is the need in our lives of a community of faith that regularly reinforces our faith in God. If that community is weak, or if its message is uncertain, our faith eventually dissolves and we are left defenseless against the “World” which each and every moment tells us that we are alone, that we live in the present, that there is no God and no future.
If, as too often happens, the church we attend is not only spiritually empty, but actually works to destroy our faith, the results can be devastating.
Worth reading, including the comments.
I also despaired over raising children in the Catholic faith. Julie and I decided not to put our kids in the Sunday School program at the parish when she learned that the parish was allowing women who didn't even go to mass to teach the faith to children, as part of their obligation to do parish service in exchange for reduced tuition at the parish school. This whole Sacrament Factory approach to living the Christian life left me ice-cold. I started to see my own faith and relationship to the Catholic Church as a purely mechanical thing. I'd go to fulfill my Sunday duty, receiving the Eucharist and then getting the heck out of there, wanting as little as possible to do with parish life. One day, in tears, Julie and I confessed to each other that we were afraid we were losing our faith entirely. This is not a place either of us ever imagined being. To know that you have the responsibility to raise children as followers of Christ, to say nothing about having responsibility for your own eternal soul -- well, to be in that position and to be so alienated from the Church you believe has the right to command your fidelity is a terrible thing.
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