newsletter article

Sue says I can use other writing (like this article I wrote for our parish newsletter) as blog entries, and that counts... so here goes:

When I was young, every time I got into the car with my parents, they turned on their favorite radio station. It proudly proclaimed to play “The Music of Your Life”- which for my parents was the dreaded Big Band Jazz. I hated it, and whined and complained every time, but every time we would ride along listening to Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters. I seethed along to the music, vowing that someday I would have my own car with its own radio and I’d never listen to the Chattanooga Choo-Choo song again.
I grew up some and went off to college, and did finally get my own car and radio, and set all the buttons to my favorite stations. But somewhere in my 20’s, I was flipping through the radio dial and heard one of those Big Band songs that I had hated so much. I found that I remembered all the words, and before I knew it, I was singing along with this really great music. I must admit (although don’t tell my parents please!) that I now have a big band station programmed into my radio, and I just love that music, the songs that have now become the Music of MY Life.
Studies have been done over the past several years to figure out how we can raise our kids to be Catholic adults. They came back with so many suggestions and ideas for programs to use, and lots of interesting data. But the overwhelming conclusion to this challenge of keeping kids Catholic was this: parental involvement. Specifically, families who attend Mass together regularly (that is, weekly) create young people with strong faith and Catholic identities.
I have related that fact to many parents at speaking engagements, and am always met with looks of dread. Parents say to me “my kids won’t go”, or “my kids are too busy”. Some parents say “I’m too busy to go to Mass every week with my kids”. They ask, “How am I supposed to get my kids to go to Mass?” They worry that if they haven’t been to Mass with their children since First Communion, they won’t be able to start again, and get their kids on board.
But the reality is this: it is vital for kids to see and know what is important to their parents. If you are not attending Mass regularly, your kids know that, and understand that it is not a priority for you. If you are attending Mass regularly, your kids know and understand that too. And even if they grumble about going, you can have faith that they are absorbing something each and every time your family joins the community in prayer- much the same way that I was memorizing the words to those songs years ago. Kids will have their own phases and stages in their faith development, and may celebrate their first week at college by sleeping late and skipping Mass. But your example will stick with them, and will come to them again at surprising moments in their adulthood- just like my parents’ big band music did for me.
If you haven’t been going in years, come on back. Your kids may give you a TON of grief for adding this habit to your life- they may call you a hypocrite- they may refuse to go with you- but because you know that your actions affect the faith of your kids, keep on going, and keep on inviting them to go with you. It’s a one-hour-a-week investment in your child’s faith.