The question "Why do people disaffiliate from the church and stop practicing the Catholic faith?" has many responses and few clear, direct answers.
St. Mary's Press a few years ago published and excellent study, "Going, Going, Gone," in which they present their findings after interviewing many in their 20s who had been conf…
The question "Why do people disaffiliate from the church and stop practicing the Catholic faith?" has many responses and few clear, direct answers.
St. Mary's Press a few years ago published and excellent study, "Going, Going, Gone," in which they present their findings after interviewing many in their 20s who had been confirmed and then drifted away. One interesting take away. Kids start questioning and doubting much younger. It's not that they go to college and "lose their faith." Many simply no longer have faith when they reach 18 years of age. See https://www.smp.org/product/5926/Going-Going-Gone/
It's impossible to disaggregate single causes for one's no longer considering themselves Catholic.
I stopped believing when I was 13 and asked my mother how do we know Jesus was God and her response was how dare you ask that question. I interpreted her answer as we don't know that.
So if a child asks you about some aspect of the faith give the kid a real and correct answer. That's one of the reasons there's a catechism.
Our relgious instruction goes thru Aquinas five proofs (I think they’re from Aquinas ? lol 12 years of catholic school here so I have no idea) of existence of God to Jesus to Church three different years (on deeper levels with more understanding etc) from junior high thru 12th grade.
For this reason. Your question is beyond a reasonable one. And we have answers from our fathers in faith 💚. If we can’t answer our kids reasonable questions how can we expect them to stay?
Exactly. By the time a priest gave me an answer, it had been years since I had believed and a few years of being completely separated from the Church. I did eventually return, but if I'd had that answer when I was 13 I would probably never have left.
I was lucky. I went to the Jesuit High School in Philadelphia. There they posed the questions for us and told us that in order to have a REAL FAITH we had to question faith. in 1969. We read the Documents of Vatican II as freshmen, and as Sophomores, in 1970, the Dutch Catechism. Lots to think about in those works.
The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certitude (or a mind-numbing recitation of words that have no meaning or are not comprehended by the person who says they believe those words).
God gave us minds and we are to use them. Aquinas and Lonergan realize that God is the mystery in which all that is known, and can be known, is known. We don't know God. We know and are/exist because God is/exists and knows us.
Our faith is a fascinating intellectual adventure of ever pursuing questions, inspired by the Holy Spirt, about the loving mystery revealed by Jesus as Our Father.
To Mr. Redding.
The question "Why do people disaffiliate from the church and stop practicing the Catholic faith?" has many responses and few clear, direct answers.
St. Mary's Press a few years ago published and excellent study, "Going, Going, Gone," in which they present their findings after interviewing many in their 20s who had been confirmed and then drifted away. One interesting take away. Kids start questioning and doubting much younger. It's not that they go to college and "lose their faith." Many simply no longer have faith when they reach 18 years of age. See https://www.smp.org/product/5926/Going-Going-Gone/
It's impossible to disaggregate single causes for one's no longer considering themselves Catholic.
The best book on this is Rev Robert Leavitt's The Truth Will Make Your Free. Well worth the hard read that it is for the average reader https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Will-Make-Free-Evangelization/dp/0814646689
Of course, the gold standard on these questions is Charles Taylor's A Secular Age on which relies Leavitt and anyone else tackling these questions. https://www.amazon.com/Secular-Age-Charles-Taylor/dp/0674986911
And if you really want to sprain your brain, tackle Bernard Lonergan's Insight and Method in Theology. Lonergan calls attention to the necessary conversions we must undergo in order to be consciously transformed in Christ on the intellectual, moral and religious levels of our graced humanity. https://www.amazon.com/Insight-Understanding-Collected-Bernard-Lonergan/dp/0802034551 and https://www.amazon.com/Method-Theology-Lonergan-Studies-Bernard/dp/080206809X
Thanks so much Father, although I did not ask the original question, this is a topic I’m interested in as well. I’ll check these out!
I stopped believing when I was 13 and asked my mother how do we know Jesus was God and her response was how dare you ask that question. I interpreted her answer as we don't know that.
So if a child asks you about some aspect of the faith give the kid a real and correct answer. That's one of the reasons there's a catechism.
Our relgious instruction goes thru Aquinas five proofs (I think they’re from Aquinas ? lol 12 years of catholic school here so I have no idea) of existence of God to Jesus to Church three different years (on deeper levels with more understanding etc) from junior high thru 12th grade.
For this reason. Your question is beyond a reasonable one. And we have answers from our fathers in faith 💚. If we can’t answer our kids reasonable questions how can we expect them to stay?
Exactly. By the time a priest gave me an answer, it had been years since I had believed and a few years of being completely separated from the Church. I did eventually return, but if I'd had that answer when I was 13 I would probably never have left.
Thanks Sue.
I was lucky. I went to the Jesuit High School in Philadelphia. There they posed the questions for us and told us that in order to have a REAL FAITH we had to question faith. in 1969. We read the Documents of Vatican II as freshmen, and as Sophomores, in 1970, the Dutch Catechism. Lots to think about in those works.
The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certitude (or a mind-numbing recitation of words that have no meaning or are not comprehended by the person who says they believe those words).
God gave us minds and we are to use them. Aquinas and Lonergan realize that God is the mystery in which all that is known, and can be known, is known. We don't know God. We know and are/exist because God is/exists and knows us.
Our faith is a fascinating intellectual adventure of ever pursuing questions, inspired by the Holy Spirt, about the loving mystery revealed by Jesus as Our Father.