I'm afraid my adult children aren’t practicing the faith
It’s a common issue among Catholic families: When everyone was living under one roof, the entire family went to Mass and practiced the faith. When a child leaves home to attend college, however, attending Mass can quickly dwindle for him or her. That new routine of sporadic Mass attendance in college can then lead to zero Mass attendance after college and then to a nonexistent faith life.
With a growing number of Catholics, especially young adults, becoming former Catholics, many parents and grandparents are becoming more worried by the day about their children’s or grandchildren’s future. They want to talk to their children, but don’t know how. They want them to return to Mass and the faith, but don’t know how to approach it.
Watch this video by Chris Stefanik on what to do when your child leaves the faith
My college-age son or daughter doesn’t believe in God anymore.
- Eastern Illinois University - eiunewman.org
- Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville - siuenewmancatholic.com
- Millikin University - munewman.org
- University of Illinois - sjcnc.org
- Illinois State University - isucatholic.org
- Bradley University - ncbu.org
Smaller schools in the diocese with Catholic campus ministry/Mass:
- Illinois College
- Blackburn College
- University of Illinois at Springfield
- Pray before engaging with your child and pray that your child’s heart be opened.
- Don’t immediately start your conversations about faith, start with something else.
- When the time is right, be bold in your approach, asking him or her if they are willing to talk.
- When he or she is ready to talk, listen.
- Ask questions. Your goal here is to find out what deep down is causing your child to not seek out our faith anymore. Vogt says a question could be, “What is the biggest thing keeping you away from the church?” or “What is the one thing that bugs you most about the Catholic Church?”
- If you get to the core reason why your child is no longer practicing, then you can address those objections. Before you do, study those issues so you can arm yourself with proper information to offer him or her a new perspective.
- When those objections have been addressed, invite your child to have a conversation with your parish priest or check out the RCIA classes or come back to Mass.