| Author | |
Angel
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 22 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2293
|
| Posted: Oct 31 2006 at 9:43pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Um, a little A, mostly E?
My biological mother was Catholic, so my father (who is agnostic) had me baptized in the Catholic Church as she wanted. He remarried when I was 4, and my adoptive mother was Catholic. I went to Catholic school, and my mother took us to church on Sundays (my dad didn't attend), but the extent of the Catholicism in our home was a few crucifixes on the wall, grace before dinner, a bottle of holy water my great aunt sent from Lourdes... nothing really talked about. (The school was supposed to handle that, I guess.) We lived in a small town in Tennessee, though, and the school only went to grade 6. After that I went to public school, and religion was still never really talked about. When I was 13 or 14 my mother asked me if I wanted to be confirmed and I said I wasn't sure, and so... that was it. I have never actually been confirmed. It's only in the past 3 years that I have really begun to come back to the Church, and only in the past year that I have done so without reservation. My husband isn't Catholic -- wasn't raised with any sort of knowledge -- and so we've been kind of stumbling along together .
--Angela
Three Plus Two
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kristina
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 24 2005
Location: New Hampshire
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 524
|
| Posted: Oct 31 2006 at 9:45pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
B and D
I was raised protestant - Methodist, then baptized at age 10 at a United Church of Christ church. I became the church babysitter as a young teen. My parents stopped going when I was an older teen, so I did, too.
I lived my early twenties by doing what I wanted, when I wanted, the way I wanted, taking my cradle catholic boyfriend (now husband, Thanks be to God!) along for the ride.
At age 26, a faithful Church of Christ Christian brought me to church with her in downtown D.C. at the Convention Center. She introduced me to scripture study and encouraged me to seek God's will for my life. I knew she was right about many things, but her "church" just did not feel like church at all. Much to her dismay, I discovered that God's will for me meant becoming Catholic two years later. Each year since, I am thankful to have grown in faith a little bit more. My husband has reverted and embraced his gift of faith. God is so good!
Blessings,
__________________
kristina
yesterthoughts
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
KC in TX
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 05 2005
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2621
|
| Posted: Oct 31 2006 at 10:20pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Cheryl wrote:
| I'm an A & E. I stopped practicing in college and returned to the Church when I was engaged to my dh, 10 years ago. |
|
|
That's me, too!! Although I returned to church off and on during college. Then when we married we went almost every Sunday, then holy days. Now, we are trying to be more devout and I'm learning more and more. It's been a steady climb for me.
__________________
KC,
wife to Ben (10/94),
Mama to LB ('98)
Michaela ('01)
Emma ('03)
Jordan ('05)
And, my 2 angels, Rose ('08) and Mark ('09)
The Cabbage Patch
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
kjohnson
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 26 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 669
|
| Posted: Oct 31 2006 at 10:45pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I was baptized Catholic at 6 weeks old and my parents left the Church when I was 3 or 4 and became Evangelical Protestants. They returned to the Church when I was 16 (bad age for that kind of change) and I half-heartedly came into the Church as a teen. 
My husband and I were married in the Catholic Church (We met at the Catholic university we attended.He was raised Southern Baptist and converted after we graduated.) We spent one year in the Eastern Orthodox Church and experienced ancient tradition and liturgy without a pope (chaos!)  And now, here we are...thank God! 
__________________
In Christ,
Katherine
Wife to Doug and Mother of 6
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Angie Mc
Board Moderator
Joined: Jan 31 2005
Location: Arizona
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 11400
|
| Posted: Oct 31 2006 at 10:57pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
E!
My mom was raised a strong Southern Baptist. She was attracted to a Catholic Church near her workplace then met my dad, a non-practicing cradle Catholic. When these two young people wanted to marry, two important things happened. One, my father said that he would never be anything other than Catholic (interesting, seeing as he wasn't practicing.) Two, the priest was very supportive of their pending marriage while the minister wasn't. Mom converted and I was born and baptized in the Church.
The location where I was raised was very Catholic in name but not in understanding. Think bingo, church picnics with beer tents, and finding the shortest Mass possible. I attended a small Catholic school through 5th grade. Our family went to Mass most Sundays without dad. Mom was a very prayerful woman while not well-versed in Catholic traditions. After my move to public school, my fragile foundation began crumbling rapidly.
My dh was from the same area with even less understanding of the faith. Fortunately, God brought us together and as Angel wrote, dh and I stumbled along together, off and on trying to fit our old (pretty superficial) view of faith into our lives.
Looking for more depth, and after a derailing experience with a priest, I read an article in TIME in which then Cardinal Ratzinger said (to paraphrase) that I couldn't pick and choose what I wanted to believe and follow within the Catholic Church. It was all or nothing. Since I couldn't understand it all, I quietly (and sadly) left. I knew he was right.
Getting to know passionate people of many belief systems, helped me and my dh to eventually ask this question, "Is there a right authority when it comes to matters of faith?" This lead to the simple conclusion that either each individual has their own authority to discern matters of faith or there is an outside authority. This right authority, much to my surprise and joy, was the Catholic Church. We were home and have been learning about and growing in our faith ever since. Thanks be to God  .
Love,
__________________
Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
About Me
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Patty LeVasseur
Forum Pro
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: Ohio
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 238
|
| Posted: Oct 31 2006 at 11:37pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I am a "B". I was raised German and American Baptist. My husband was raised Catholic, but his mother and 3 siblings are all Protestant now (Luthern, non-denominational Bible church, or Assembly of God). I got a lot of my advice on how to "be a good Catholic" from my husband's family and most of it was pretty far off. When they all stopped being Catholic I started to wonder, but it wasn't really until I joined the Catholic Charlotte Mason list that I figured out just HOW far off. The only good part about that was that when my mil was getting rid of all the Catholic books that had been in the family for generations she gave them all to me because no one else wanted them.
__________________
Patty
mom to four blessings
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ALmom
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 18 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3299
|
| Posted: Oct 31 2006 at 11:42pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I guess A and E for me. I was baptized Catholic. My parents were active in parish life (even attempting to teach RE). My mom was very devout and full of faith - even when she couldn't answer our questions. My mom and my grandfather prayed the rosary daily. My grandmother on this side was Baptist. My other grandmother prayed the rosary daily as well. However, we lived overseas, so I only saw my grandparents for about a week once per year.
My dad would never leave the Catholic church - but was pretty thrown by the changes from Vat. II (and the sacrilidge that occured at our U.S. parish which wasn't a part of what Vat II said but was done claiming that Vat. II required it). I was born in 1960, so the changes started taking root just as I hit RE age, so I was in that "lost generation." I never stopped trying to find a RE program that would teach something (even after my mom gave us all permission to quit if we wanted), I never missed Sunday Mass and in college, I even went to daily Mass even when I was struggling to figure out what was true and what was not. I was a very confused Catholic. I was seeking for a serious walk with God - but RE classes gave us a dribble of nonsense (sum total was Jesus loves you as you are, be nice and later they started de-constructing the Bible to say that these miracles didn't really happen, etc. ).
The serious folks who were trying to live radically Christian lives that I knew were the evangelicals (and about 2 - 3 equally confused Catholics who joined them). I joined them in functions and I began to doubt my faith - but somehow just kept trying to untangle the tangle. So I ended up "accepting Jesus as my personal saviour (but somehow ill at ease cause I'd tried to listen to Him since I was small). My mom would alternately forbid and then let me go to these things. She saw the confusion it created and she had no idea how to answer the questions that came up and we were mostly just singing songs - though there was always a library of Christian hero/witnesses available and I read it all in hunger. But she also saw that they were actually encouraging the obedience to the Ten Commandments(RE didn't even mention them in passing)- including obey your parents when my mom forbid me to go to their things.
Anyways, I read all the stories of their heroes and I didn't even know about the Catholic saints then. I remember my dad being hurt and asking me if I would pray for him when he died (when I announced to my unsuspecting parents in 6th grade that I was going to become Baptist). I couldn't tell my dad that I would because the Catholics hadn't taught me anything about this and the Protestants saw it as almost devil worship. My poor mother didn't know how to answer questions - she had a profound faith and love of God. Anyways, she wisely told me I didn't really know my faith, that as long as I was living at home, I would remain with them in church.
In the midst of all of this, I struggled with so many basic teachings of the church and yet I was Confirmed (someone explained Confirmation to me in a very Protestant accepting Jesus on your own now, so I didn't really have a clue what Confirmation was all about, though I had asked because I did not want to receive the Sacrament dishonestly (I was planning to become Baptist at the time). In college, I ended up at a Jesuit institution - a real confused group as well - but I did assist at Mass everyday(10PM Mass). I was still mighty confused but ended up back to Confession. I remember us having gone to Confession as a family every week for a long time - but somehow at some point, this practice ceased and I drifted from the Sacrament. It didn't seem very important to Catholics (and certainly ceased to be readily available) and Protestants considered it an error and encouraged confessing directly to God.
However, I was extremely lonely once we moved back to the states from overseas and spent many hours just sitting in the church in front of the tabernacle (didn't have a clue, but somehow I felt close to God there - wonder why?  )
In college, I began to think more along the lines of one church is as good as another. I was still trying to sort out who believed what and what of all the voices was really true. One of the biggest helps to me were the Protestant criticisms of Catholics as idol worshippers, pagans, etc. and their criticism of the Eucharist (this was the only clue I had that Catholics believed something different than the Protestants - otherwise they wouldn't bother to challenge it so heavily). A lot of explanations I got from Catholics (even clergy) sounded just like what the Protestants told me they believed. Anyways, the Protestants reaffirmed the strong moral beliefs while things were disintegrating around me - but it was a very long time before all the confusion sorted itself out - thanks to my grandmother's rosaries and a very holy priest and the graces of the Sacraments. In any case, through the grace of God, I never left the church or Mass.
I stopped receiving Communion at different points because I wasn't sure what I believed - and didn't get a straight answer from clergy on what the Catholic church believed. I was extremely confused and frustrated trying to get straight answers. I still kept searching and asking questions - and often getting incomplete or unclear answers.
I met my dh at a Catholic group and assumed he was Christian. We got very serious, obviously - and then I found out that he had not been raised in any Christian tradition and did not believe in God. That sort of put a damper on things for a bit but we obviously worked that out - I was still operating from a great deal of ignorance - but not through lack of trying to get answers.
God has a wonderful way of using whomever he chooses. As my dh and I tried to work through what we would do about our obvious religious differences, I asked the innocent question, "Would it help if we went to....?" I named any number of denominations that I thought I could live with - and my dh looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "If you believe in God, the only religion that makes any sense is the Catholic Church." I don't know what he knew about Catholicism or how he knew it - he'd never set foot inside a church in his life or even attended anything before this occassional social group (which had no religious activities associated with it except the Our Father to close the meeting which is where my dh learned it). Anyways, that settled it for me. Catholic was where I would stay. From the day dh and I were married, he attended Mass with me - and has since been baptized and received into the Catholic church. For years people assumed he was Catholic because he was always there. He was even asked to train the altar servers and join the Knights of Columbus long before he became Catholic.  Father was quite surprised, I think. Even when he was away on business, my dh found a Mass for Sunday and holy days long before he was ever baptized. I really think that the only thing that was holding him back was the confusion of what was being taught as "Catholicism" in the classes for converts - and he was thrown in with Protestants converting to Catholicism - but he really didn't have problems that they did. He needed things like CS Lewis's Mere Christianity (which one lovely, elderly man in the parish loaned to us).
I remember us taking any number of RCIA classes - most were deplorable. We learned most through teaching NFP (again my dh lead. I didn't know the church had a position and had never really considered anything anyways. I assumed I'd just have babies when we were married. Anyways speaking with Kipley on the phone going over our teacher trainer tests, he basically educated me into a lot of church teaching - which led me to sources of real information about church teaching in a lot of areas - including the sacraments. I remember my dh recognizing truth whenever it was presented and the more truth, the more he began to think that if they had all this right, maybe they were right about God, etc. Then when we had our first miscarriage, I pulled out my childhood rosary, and my 2nd grade book on how to pray the rosary. I returned to Mary, my mother. Then with the first live birth child, I was determined that my child would not have to move mountains just to find out what the church really taught - so I ordered every out of print book I could get my hands on - and the Baltimore catechism and read everything cover to cover. I remember staying up one night and reading the entire Encounter the Saints series. I remember laughing about having said that the Balt. Catechism was out of date - cause here I was finally seeing one for the first time and it was a breath of fresh air. My dh finally came into the church after the Catechism of the Catholic church came out 9 years ago, with the birth and baptism of our 4th child. The catechism gave him a concise statement of what the church teaches - and it was current so he didn't have to figure out whether I was still confused when I said basic doctrine doesn't change and other church "teachers" were saying things had changed or were denying what we knew as true in terms of moral teaching, etc. Before that time, we were given too much garbage (quotes from the American Communist party, errors taught as what the church taught, even told that you could join and change your mind ( a real turn off as if they were a recruiter just looking for numbers) and with the Catechism, he finally had something besides my word to begin to sort out truth from error.
It was a long hard journey. I spent some time very angry with the church at the local level (not the universal church magisterium) and often still struggle with this. We began homeschooling because I could not trust that truth would be taught - it had been held back from me, even when I honestly sought the answer. My dh kept getting different things from different folks. One dear priest recognized my sincere seeking, gave me straight answers but encouraged me to pray and read, trusting that God would lead me home - and so He did.
We continue to grow and learn. I feel like there are so many gaps. But when there is a doubt or conflicting information, I've learned to cut straight to what the Vatican has said in the multitude of documents. We keep trying to learn and grow. I think sometimes that I'm in a race to try and catch up for all that lost time. It is hard for me to trust after my experiences.
OOps, I've probably said way too much - and bored folks with a longwinded explanation. It is fascinating to see all the ways God has used to bring His family home.
Janet
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Erin
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 23 2005
Location: Australia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5814
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 5:24am | IP Logged
|
|
|
What a fascinating question.
I am an A. I remember at age 15 making a conscious decision that it wasn't good enough to be a Catholic just because my family was, I had to make a decision that was MINE. I did I knew that the Church was all Truth.
I am awed by the paths that have led you all to the Church and so very grateful for the gift of being a cradle Catholic.
__________________
Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Natalia
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Louisiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1343
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 7:25am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I would say A. When I was in high school and early college I really took an interest in learnig about the faith and in really living it. I was born Catholic and my family is a devoted family. Even so, the majority of what I l know about the Faith I learned after I was 18 (including all the things I've learned since starting homeschooling). My parents thought that sending me to Catholic schools was enough to be educated in the faith. They didn't realize that the nuns were going crazy after Vatican II! So my religious upgringing as far as Catechism was deficient. During my early years at the University I got involved in a prayer group for young people and that changed my life. Mass became alive, I started to read Scripture seriously. My life started to be center around the Faith. It was a glorious time where I learned about relationships, with the Lord and with others. That experienced has carried over into my adulthood and married life.
Natalia
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
mumofsix
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 205
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 7:37am | IP Logged
|
|
|
My upbringing was AAA! In fact my challenge is to try to do as well as my parents, which sometimes feels hopeless!
This is a fascinating question with some fascinating replies. I really expected most would be A, and the fact that few are is very, very encouraging. The halt and the lame ...
Jane.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
saintanneshs
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 15 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 591
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 7:38am | IP Logged
|
|
|
"A" ...with the "practicing" but without the "devotion" (or at least the not same degree of devotion as now  )
__________________
Kristine
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
mrsgranola
Forum Pro
Joined: Feb 17 2005
Location: North Carolina
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 442
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 7:57am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Wow! I've really enjoyed reading all these reponses. I'm a pretty boring "a", LOL... but a dash of "e" thrown in there, too. My mom was raised Baptist and I really didn't have a Catholic culture in my home but I had a grandmother across the road that let me see what Catholic decor was and what incorporating those things associated with devotions meant, kwim?
Now, dh is a different story... he converted in junior high and is the only Catholic in his family. I think he has lots of little Italian grandmas in heaven praying on his behalf... his dad died when he was a baby and his dad was his only Catholic family member...
JoAnna, recovering from our church's All Saints' party last night!
__________________
Mom to Jacob, Grace, Mary, Lucas, Emma, Carrie and Gianna
Parente Adventures
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Philothea
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 15 2006
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 824
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 11:27am | IP Logged
|
|
|
B.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
momwise
Forum All-Star
Joined: March 28 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1914
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 1:05pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
A up until about 1970. Then E about 14 yrs. ago, after marrying a nonpracticing Baptist and having 3 kids.
My parents were devout Catholics although we didn't pray the Rosary, we went to Mass and Confession, all 4 of us made 1st Communion, and I vaguely remember having a book of saints as a little girl. I went to Catholic school for all of 1 grade (1st)and it was such a disaster, none of us ever went to Catholic school again. We had a lay-teacher who was not just mean; she bordered on abusive and my mom just got tired of fighting with the school.
Around 1970ish my parents got involved with a "Vatican II" influenced Cana group and that's when they became much more relaxed and less devout. They let a lot of movies and tv come in that we shouldn't have seen. We still went to Mass on Sundays but not Confession and few of our friends were Catholic. My friends at P.S. were Unitarians or agnostics and all the kids on the block were just nothing.
Right around age 30 I received a tape by Scott Hahn called Protestant Minister becomes Catholic. What a bombshell! After that a lot of materials fell into my lap. As I began to be able to pray great graces began flowing into our family from Our Blessed Mother. It was just a couple of years after that when I decided to homeschool our then 7th grader that as I began to teach him our faith I learned the most.
__________________
Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 1:28pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Erin wrote:
What a fascinating question.
I am an A. I remember at age 15 making a conscious decision that it wasn't good enough to be a Catholic just because my family was, I had to make a decision that was MINE. I did I knew that the Church was all Truth.
I am awed by the paths that have led you all to the Church and so very grateful for the gift of being a cradle Catholic. |
|
|
Erin, I had a similar experience...where I knew I had to choose to practice the Faith myself, not just because it was the family line.
mumofsix wrote:
My upbringing was AAA! In fact my challenge is to try to do as well as my parents, which sometimes feels hopeless!
This is a fascinating question with some fascinating replies. I really expected most would be A, and the fact that few are is very, very encouraging. |
|
|
And Jane, my Catholic upbringing was similar...I just want to do half as well as my parents did.
And I expected the A to be the majority. I didn't think we'd be the minority.
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Marybeth
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 02 2005
Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1277
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 1:38pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Nina,
Great thread. Thank you!
I just came home from Mass and sobbed during the beautifully sang Litany of Saints. I have so many saints to thank for interceding for me in my most sorrowful and joyful times of life.
I would be A because God knows if I left it would have been a disaster. I,too,like Erin decided in eighth grade it is time to be serious and realize how much God wants and needs of me. Boy...have I stumbled and fallen many times on my journey!!!!!
Mb
__________________
Marybeth (Mb)
http://held-together.blogspot.com
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Maddie
Forum All-Star
Joined: Dec 27 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1804
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 1:40pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
B, via wild child days, via B again. You would have had to pick me up off the floor if you told me 18 years ago I'd be the mother of 7 and **Catholic**~~horrors! God is so good and Grace is REAL.
__________________
~Maddie~
Wife to my dh and Momma of 9 dear ones
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Rachel May
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 24 2005
Location: Kansas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2057
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 1:52pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'm an A somewhat like Kristine. We were solid faithful Catholics but with fewer devotions than Bill and I and the kids have. I think my whole family, my parents and my siblings, have grown in devotion over the years.
I did have a few bad years where confession was the primary, yet infrequent, sacrament for me, but I was still a practicing Catholic during that time.
__________________
Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
teachingmom
Forum All-Star
Virginia Bluebells
Joined: Feb 16 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2120
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 2:31pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I am a cradle Catholic from a strongly practicing family. I have to say that dh and I are much more traditional Catholics in practice and devotions than the family I grew up in was, though.
I made a conscious decision to live my life for Christ in my teens. In college, I was involved with a few Protestant campus ministries and had basically one foot in the Catholic Church and one foot out. But I never stopped attending weekly Mass. When I learned during my senior year of college that "born again Catholics" existed, I became a fully committed member of the Church once again and joined a wonderful Catholic ministry called National Evangelization Teams for a year. I think I got more solid Catholic formation during that one year than I had in the previous 21 years!
__________________
~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Christine
Forum All-Star
Joined: March 23 2006
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1151
|
| Posted: Nov 01 2006 at 5:13pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
A. Cradle Catholic, practicing and devoted
My parents (sometimes just my mom) attended daily Mass and lamented the fact that we could not do so even though we were in Catholic schools. Occasionally, my mom had us attend with her anyway with permission. We prayed the Rosary every night and whenever we drove anywhere that kept us in the car for more than 30 minutes.
__________________
Christine
Mommy to 4 girls, 5 boys, & 2 in God's care
Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother
Pretty Lilla Rose
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Quick survey ?--religious upbringing
