Monday, August 28, 2017

Teenagers and Mass

From our friend Katrina at Aleteia:
Children may not love school, homework, chores, or even vegetables but we make them go to school, do their homework, clean their rooms, and eat their veggies. Healthy food makes for a sound body and an education makes a sound mind. Church, therefore, nourishes the soul. It’s our parental duty to see that their spiritual development isn’t neglected. I would place a higher importance on faith than I would on vegetables, a clean room, and yes, even good grades. So when a parent asks me if they should require that their child go to Mass, my answer is always “absolutely.” I have heard the argument that if you force a child to go to church they will grow up hating it, yet we refuse to apply that same logic to other areas of our children’s’ lives. If we force a child to go to school they will grow up hating learning, said no parent ever. I think the difference here is that children know why we force them to eat vegetables and study hard — they know it’s ultimately for their own good. What as parents are we doing to ensure our children know that going to Mass is also for their own good? (Read more.)
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