Sojourner Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 Something homeschoolmom said in another thread made me think about this. For those of you who converted as adults and also had young children, how did/is the adjustment going for them? How old are your children? What did you tell them? Do they understand, and if so, do they agree with your decision? To what extent did you directly include them in your decision-making process as you moved toward joining the church? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleflower+JMJ Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 heres something i remembered from what patty bonds has in her conversion story.... [quote]My youngest daughter asked for some Mother-Daughter time on Oct 10th and we agreed to get an ice cream cone down the street and have some girl talk. As we sat down on the bench outside the store I asked her what she wanted to talk about. She said, "I want to talk about the Mass." It had only been about a month before that she had come to me crying and saying that she was trying to learn to be a Christian and now I wanted her to learn to be a Catholic. Now she was sitting with me licking her ice cream and calmly asking about the Mass. I silently gave thanks for God's grace and prayed for the right words. I walked through the Mass for her and explained what happened and what we believe about the Eucharist in general terms that a twelve-year-old with a Baptist background would understand. Her eyes lit up and she took in everything I said. When I finished she told me she wanted to go to Mass with me the next time I went.[/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolmom Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 I must read more of this! What's it from? Our daughter just turned eight, our elder son is 5.5 and our baby is 7 months. They had no say in our decision. For their benefit and out of respect for their feelings, we are continuing at our Baptist church until Memorial Day. That's when the Sunday school year, clubs, choir etc. is finished. We thought it would be wrong to pull them out abruptly. The attend Mass in the evening as well. I bought a curriculum book (you know me... the homeschooler!) that decribes the mass one piece at a time. There are worksheets to do to help them understand. My daughter cut out all the people in the mass, the alter, vessels, etc. and enjoyed playing with them paperdoll style. My kids are not happy to leave... PS is it wrong that I "bribed" my dd with a beautiful 1st communion dress if she will attend classes without a fuss? It's my first ever big ticket bribe.... Not my normal parenting style... (It was pretty subtle... "You know honey... the girls that go to [i]this[/i] class get to buy pretty dresses for the celebration....") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleflower+JMJ Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 [quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Apr 18 2004, 01:53 PM'] I must read more of this! What's it from? [/quote] its from the coming home network, and its an excerpt from patty bonds conversion story. [url="http://www.chnetwork.org/pattybondsconv.htm"]http://www.chnetwork.org/pattybondsconv.htm[/url] +JMJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellenita Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 I don't know if this counts, since they are not my children.... My niece and nephew both came to the Easter Vigil and were facinated....This was the first time either of them had been inside a Catholic church let alone attend a Mass! Neither of them have been baptised so they were especially enthralled in the baptism of one of our RCIA class. They thought it was most wonderful when the priest later sprinkled Holy water on everyone in the congregation! They had loads of questions afterwards. My nephew especially wanted to know 'how to pray the Rose Mary!!' I had to explain what it was and gave them a set of rosary beads each - when I went to tuck them in bed later, I found my nephew using the beads to pray. He won't have been able to say the Our Father or Hail Mary - he doesn't know the words but I think his prayers will have pleased God and I certainly think the Holy Spirit has begun something inside him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhatPhred Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 My preteen daughter is still a Baptist, so when she comes to Mass with me and her step-mother, she goes up to get a blessing from the priest. She did say that she liked going to the Catholic church better than going to the Baptist church, but it turns out that was because the service was shorter (1 hr vs. 1 1/2 hr). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolmom Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 Just like a pre-teen! How does her mother feel about her going to Mass? And what if she wanted to convert? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhatPhred Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 [quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Apr 19 2004, 10:09 AM']Just like a pre-teen! How does her mother feel about her going to Mass? And what if she wanted to convert?[/quote] Her mother has threatened legal action. Needless to say, my ex and I do not get along very well at all. Right now, we are fighting about whether to send her to Baptist or Catholic private school. All you-know-what would break loose if my daughter were to announce that she wanted to convert to Catholicism. But it wouldn't be so much the religious issues as that she would be choosing sides in the divorce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 [quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Apr 18 2004, 03:53 PM'] I must read more of this! What's it from? Our daughter just turned eight, our elder son is 5.5 and our baby is 7 months. They had no say in our decision. For their benefit and out of respect for their feelings, we are continuing at our Baptist church until Memorial Day. That's when the Sunday school year, clubs, choir etc. is finished. We thought it would be wrong to pull them out abruptly. The attend Mass in the evening as well. I bought a curriculum book (you know me... the homeschooler!) that decribes the mass one piece at a time. There are worksheets to do to help them understand. My daughter cut out all the people in the mass, the alter, vessels, etc. and enjoyed playing with them paperdoll style. My kids are not happy to leave... PS is it wrong that I "bribed" my dd with a beautiful 1st communion dress if she will attend classes without a fuss? It's my first ever big ticket bribe.... Not my normal parenting style... (It was pretty subtle... "You know honey... the girls that go to [i]this[/i] class get to buy pretty dresses for the celebration....") [/quote] Patty runs a website for persecuted catholic converts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now