CONTINUING THE JOURNEY
“The Lord says: …
Stop your crying and wipe away your tears,
All that you have done for your children will not go unrewarded…
There is hope for your future:
Your children will come back home.
I, the Lord, have spoken.” ~ Jeremiah 31:16-17
This is the hopeful epigraph to Brandon Vogt’s book “Return – How to Draw Your Child Back to
the Church”. The hope is that God will provide the grace, not only to your child, but to you. God
may use you to be the instrument of grace. Vogt helps to guide you.
Around the holidays parents come to me and tell me their sad stories, the hurt they feel,
because all the effort they exercised bringing their children up in their faith seems fruitless. We
all have fallen into a world of skepticism. We have learned
to question. Even the revised Catechism of the Catholic
Church is not accepted as authoritative.
Most parents know that you cannot win your child over by
arguments. We need to understand them and that takes
prayer and patience. The story of Monica and her son,
Augustine, is very instructive. Monica never gave up on
prayer and love. She stayed with her son as he grew to
become a teacher and a scholar. She encouraged his
studies and was patient in the hope that God’s grace would win out. Augustine’s conversion was
a process, albeit a slow process, but he finally became one of the great Fathers of the Church.
As you pray, don’t just sit there; take action. You may go to ReturnResources.com to get a plan
of action. Look at the material. Is this a program you may participate in? Just a few of you can
get the conversation started; then we can help our children and each other. Remember we are
a community that shares a faith. We all have different gifts. Some find learning together is their
gift. Once they learn they can share with their neighbors. Sharing is action and our Christian
duty. Mary Mauer and I are interested in hearing from you.
Let’s start by better preparing ourselves to help our children. Invite others to join you and let’s
together get a plan.