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My wife and I are atheists, but our daughter wants to be baptised Catholic
The Guardian ^ | 14 January 2014 | James Harrington

Posted on 01/17/2014 4:45:21 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o

I'm most likely an atheist, leaning to the agnostic side of the spectrum. I know I'm a sceptic, in the true sense of the word. Or shallow. One of the two.

[snip]

About five years ago, work took me, my fellow-journalist wife and our then three-year-old child from eastern England to southwest France. We enrolled our little girl at a local Catholic school, selected purely on the recommendation of a colleague for the quality of its education.

[snip}

Being a Catholic school, an hour is set aside each week for catechism. A friend takes the class. She has often told us that our daughter is keen to learn and is visibly moved on holy days when the pupils are taken to church.

[snip]

Our little girl, however, has made a life-defining decision by herself: not only does she believe in God (capital G), but she also wants to be baptised into the Catholic faith.

[snip]

Looking back, we realised we had regularly discussed our differing beliefs. Our daughter brought us Genesis. We gave her the Michael Bay-friendly Big Bang. She brought us the Nativity and peace and goodwill at Christmas. We gave her family, friends and good food. She brought us the crucifixion. We gave her the Easter Bunny. She brought us heaven, god and an afterlife. We gave her 21st-century life and a brief future as worm fodder.

... she still had the courage of her convictions to say to both of us, to our faces and again in front of the priest, that our world view isn't enough for her. She believes. She wants to be baptised and she wants to be Catholic.

[snip]

She's taken a first step down a road that, ultimately, she'll have to travel on her own. ... She's heading where I cannot follow.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Ministry/Outreach; Prayer; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: agnostic; atheist; baptism; catechism
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According to the article, the little girl wanting so ardently to be a Catholic is only eight years old. Amazing. One little gal in our RCIA class is only 15, and swimming upstream against the current of her family to be there --- but eight?!

The Lord Jesus is calling her. God bless the atheist/agnostic dad who is allowing her to respond.

What do you think?

1 posted on 01/17/2014 4:45:22 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o
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To: Mrs. Don-o

I haven’t read the other thread of the same title but received quite a few pings on it:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3111843/posts


2 posted on 01/17/2014 4:50:05 PM PST by steve86 (Some things aren't really true but you wouldn't be half surprised if they were.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Interesting. Touched by angels, no doubt! At [children’s Mass] today, the priest, during the homily, asked the student body, how they thought we should go about evangelizing, and one 2nd-grader raised her hand, and said, “We need to go church all day.” :)


3 posted on 01/17/2014 4:50:24 PM PST by mlizzy ("If people spent an hour a week in Eucharistic Adoration, abortion would be ended." --Mother Teresa)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
... She's heading where I cannot follow.

I cannot remember the verse, but I do remember "... a child shall lead them."

I believe that's what's happening here.

4 posted on 01/17/2014 4:53:46 PM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Previously posted with comments:

My Wife and I are Atheists, but Our Daughter Wants to be Baptised Catholic

5 posted on 01/17/2014 4:58:00 PM PST by workerbee (The President of the United States is DOMESTIC ENEMY #1!)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

How can anyone in their right mind be an atheist? Not to bash these people but at the very LEAST just the fact of mere existence proves there is a God. There could be nothing but that is not the case at all. I think therefore I am.


6 posted on 01/17/2014 4:59:22 PM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (Hitlery: Incarnation of evil.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
I was raised Catholic, served as an altar boy for 6 years when the Mass was only delivered in Latin. (can still recite the "Sucipiot"...and know God's phone number...Et Cum Spiri two two oh) You won't get that joke if you're not relatively old.

I'm agnostic now. I just don't know.

7 posted on 01/17/2014 4:59:34 PM PST by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Well at least someone in the family will be praying for them once these 2 hit purgatory.


8 posted on 01/17/2014 4:59:58 PM PST by max americana (fired liberals in our company last election, and I laughed while they cried (true story))
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To: Mrs. Don-o

A touching story. My parents had no religion and never went to church, but I was fortunate enough to have an Aunt who was concerned about me and persuaded my parents to let me go to church, so I could make up my own mind when I got older.

It certainly made all the difference. I grew up Episcopalian and then converted to Catholicism in college. But I don’t imagine that I’d ever have become a Catholic if I hadn’t been exposed to church services for all those years.

When I was a kid, my parents found some neighbors who agreed to take me to church with them, since it was a pretty long drive.


9 posted on 01/17/2014 5:01:19 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: gorush
Do you live anywhere near a Catholic Church? You should stop in, just sit in the back, no need to say anything to anyone --- except maybe -- "Uh, God? Are you there? Please let me know. It's important."

People prayed for me, though I was a dolt when I was younger. (Now??) :o) But I opened the door just a little bit, and it seems He barged through!!

10 posted on 01/17/2014 5:03:45 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly with your God)
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To: gorush
Would you try something, please?

Give this book a fair trial:

Mere Christianity

Lewis is a genial, sane voice amidst all the noise.

And he's awfully Catholic, for a Belfast Church of Ireland man.

11 posted on 01/17/2014 5:04:39 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (Ecce Crucem Domini, fugite partes adversae. Vicit Leo de Tribu Iuda, Radix David, Alleluia!)
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To: Cicero

You are fortunate! Say a prayer of thanks for the people who -— impelled by the love of Christ -— set you in a good direction.


12 posted on 01/17/2014 5:05:54 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly with your God)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

As an agnostic I group atheists with Christians. You both believe unprovable concepts. I continue to search for truth.


13 posted on 01/17/2014 5:06:15 PM PST by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

MOST likely atheists. I’m afraid to ask what the less likely alternative is for them.


14 posted on 01/17/2014 5:06:54 PM PST by DManA
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To: Mrs. Don-o

A blatant case of child neglect and child abuse if these atheists are hindering their daughter’s desire to become Catholic.

I doubt that the authorities will step in, but some action should be taken to make sure this girl is saved from the evil desires of those atheists.


15 posted on 01/17/2014 5:08:54 PM PST by Oliviaforever
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To: gorush
Personal experience is unprovable, but to the one who experiences it, undeniable.

Try it as an experiment. See what happens.

Report back. :o)

16 posted on 01/17/2014 5:09:18 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly with your God)
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To: AnAmericanMother

I’ll take a look at it. May I suggest “Did Jesus Exist?” by Bart Ehrdman.


17 posted on 01/17/2014 5:09:59 PM PST by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Happiness occurs between the ears, I won’t deny that.


18 posted on 01/17/2014 5:11:02 PM PST by gorush (History repeats itself because human nature is static)
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To: Oliviaforever
I had to cut out a lot of this article to get it down to a 300 word excerpt. If you read the original, you'll see the father is going out of his way to facilitate the little daughter's desire to know, love, and serve God. That's why I say "God bless him." He respects his little girl's choice, even though he himself is not a believer.

Yet.

19 posted on 01/17/2014 5:11:58 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly with your God)
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To: gorush
"It is written": ask, and you shall receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.

Give it a fair try. "The experimental method"!

20 posted on 01/17/2014 5:14:23 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly with your God)
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