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llblarosa
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| Joined: | Thu Apr 10th, 2008 |
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| First Name: | Lisa | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Started Baptist, Tried Many, Converted to Catholicism |
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Posted: Wed Apr 16th, 2008 02:16 pm |
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I home school my two boys, and I am interested in your thoughts on making them attend daily mass with me. I vascillate. Some days I think that forcing them to go so often will harden their hearts against it, and other days I think God will give them the grace to overcome this. What do you think?
Lisa
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Ali
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| Joined: | Sat Jan 6th, 2007 |
| Location: | Ohio USA |
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| First Name: | Ali | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | JW, finally fully Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Apr 16th, 2008 02:37 pm |
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My first question is how old are they?
My 7 yo does not get a choice. My 11 yo does not get a choice. My 19 yo does have a choice (not Sunday Mass, but a weekday service that isn't a day of obligation).
Somewhere in between 11 & 19 they should choose to want to go on their own. Have they been attending Catholic church for very long and are they involved in Church activities? If Mass is still new to them, the perhaps forcing it on a daily basis may not be the best way to win them over
 I'd like to hear more details before I give a definate opinion 
Ali
PS -- I'm a hs'er, too  Welcome
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True Image
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| Joined: | Mon Apr 7th, 2008 |
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| First Name: | Anne | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Lifelong devout cradle Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Apr 16th, 2008 03:14 pm |
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How old are your boys?
I homeschool, and I have found daily Mass to be a wonderful teaching tool. Daily Mass is shorter than Sunday Masses, and not as crowded, so children tend to behave better, pay more attention and learn to participate in the Mass.
Daily Mass and reception of the Eucharist gives us the graces to live our vocation. Homeschooling, whether the homeschooling mom or the homeschooling child, is challenging; and we need those graces.
Do your children understand the Mass? Do they need books or videos to help them understand? What is their attitude towards Sunday Mass? How long have they been attending Mass?
Anne
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kimdyuma
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | Arizona USA |
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| First Name: | Kim | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | cradle Anglican, Episcopal /Catholic-04/07/07 |
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Posted: Wed Apr 16th, 2008 03:44 pm |
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When my kids were young I often incorporated "reward" trips for good behaviour after church or any extra services- like stopping for donuts or the dollar sundays at McDonalds- I didnt necessarily tie them together formally but It did tie the memory of church in with pleasure when they were very young. I didn't make it after EVERY church service either.
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llblarosa
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| Joined: | Thu Apr 10th, 2008 |
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| First Name: | Lisa | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Started Baptist, Tried Many, Converted to Catholicism |
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Posted: Wed Apr 16th, 2008 08:18 pm |
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My boys are 14 and 11. We are new converts (two years ago at Easter). They both like the Catholic Church and our traditional service, but they hate getting up early and having extra responsibilities, but I don't think that's necessarily a good reason.
Lisa
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Dave Armstrong
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| Joined: | Fri Nov 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Melvindale, Michigan USA |
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| First Name: | Dave | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Nominal Methodist / evangelical non-denom / "Bapticostal" / Catholic |
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Posted: Wed Apr 16th, 2008 08:32 pm |
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I would say no unless they express a desire themselves. You don't want to quench any further spiritual desire on their part, but you also don't want to force them to do what the Church doesn't require us to do.
Just my $00.02. Reasonable folks can certainly differ on this in good faith.
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I'm happy to offer whatever theological & personal assistance I can. My blog, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, contains 1900+ papers & web pages (absolutely free) & 16 apologetic books (for sale):
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
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| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Thu Apr 17th, 2008 03:15 am |
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llblarosa wrote: I home school my two boys, and I am interested in your thoughts on making them attend daily mass with me.
No. I do not think you should make them attend daily mass. I do, however, believe you should allow them to avail themselves of the opportunity to worship God in the liturgy on a daily basis, and to receive our Savior in the Eucharist as often as possibe, even if they may not be enthusiastic about it on a given day.
It's a matter of perspective.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
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ordinary means
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| First Name: | andy | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic in name only, now Catholic |
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Posted: Thu Apr 17th, 2008 04:21 am |
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Hi Lisa,
My experience with girls is that I just went. They were never required or even asked to go. After about a year they started making comments (not negative) in conversation with friends or at the table about dad going to daily mass. This caught me off guard. Now occationally they will ask to go. Sometimes I'll get rather deep questions from thier friends that I don't think they have brought up to thier parents.
Setting the example and taking the long view on this worked for me. I'm sure God knew all along.
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llblarosa
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| Joined: | Thu Apr 10th, 2008 |
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| First Name: | Lisa | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Started Baptist, Tried Many, Converted to Catholicism |
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Posted: Thu Apr 17th, 2008 09:50 am |
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Thank you all for your responses. I think I have decided to make them attend once per week. They seem happy with this decision, and I am as well. The main reason I considered it in the first place is because I have noticed that on days when we do attend, our home school day is much more productive. But I think it is enough for me to go daily. Sometimes, I am more of an autocrat than I care to admit.
God Bless,
Lisa
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