SonlitKnight37,

Sorry it took me so long to reply to your posting….I really didn’t think anyone would!

I take total and complete reponsibility for my son’s leaving the Catholic Church. It was really all my fault….as I stopped going to Mass myself and became very angry at God and the Church after my son tried to commit suicide when he was seventeen. He blamed his suicide attempt on me. That tragic event (thank God he survived) drove me almost crazy myself, and I stopped going to church completely. Consequently my daughter didn’t go either (she was only about 10 yrs. old at that time), and my husband withdrew into his own misery. Our son received inpatient counseling for two weeks, and continued on an outpatient basis for years after that, and I am proud to say that now he is living on his own, in his own place, working a good job and has a girlfriend—albiet an Evangelical Non-Denominational-Whatever-They-Call-Themselves-Now. Our son was “ripe” as they say for any approaching Evangelical to pounce on him, and they did.

It’s been almost six long years since that “year of hell”, but I know God has been gently chipping away at my hard shell of anger and my hard heart has finally “seen the light” of His Love. I am re-committing myself to my Faith, and am trying ever so gently to try and encourage my daughter to reconsider joining me every Sunday.

I am also diving into Catholic reading, especially apologetics, so I can gently converse with my son about what he is missing when he turned his back on the one True Faith.

Thank you again for your kind response, SonlitKnight37, and for your prayers. You will all be in mine, too.

Your friend in Christ,