I don’t know a huge number of Trad. families, having only converted in my mid-40s, but from what I see, the track record is very poor. A family of nine children lost 8 of the 9. The one who remains Catholic is the oldest and only daughter who was about 16 when they switched from the novus ordo. She got engaged at 18 to a man she met in church. The boys have all adopted worldly ways. Another family of 10 have lost all 10. Not one follows any religion at all. Yet another family of seven, the father left his wife of 20 years for a woman a year older than their oldest child, and literally half his age, a divorcée with two minor children by different men. Naturally, he obtained a civil law divorce, “married” the mistress, who, in turn, divorced him five years later after he had a stroke and could no longer perform certain things. The youngest child met and married a “born again” Protestant woman in college. The others turned on both their father and the Faith he once strictly enforced, but didn’t live. The mother remained a devout Catholic to her death. Yet another family of only three children had all three do the same thing; go to Mass, do the outward things so long as they were living under their parents’ roof. The two girls married in the traditional chapel and came to Mass through the baptism of their first child. After that, the Mass attendance became gradually more sporadic until one couple had their third baptized in the novus ordo—-the priest at the chapel wouldn’t baptize him, but they didn’t continue in the novus ordo. The second daughter and husband also quit coming to Mass. They had no more children, I don’t know if by choice or not, but they moved away and last time I spoke to their parents, they were not going to Mass. The youngest, a son, moved out during college, was supporting himself, was still single, not going to church. I can think of only one trad. family with five adult children who are all practicing Catholics of some variety. One goes to a Latin Mass parish, two, the SSPX, one attends an independent chapel, possibly Feenyite, and the last became embittered after clashes within the SSPX, FSSP, and Resistance, so they are staunch “home-aloners.” As I said, not a very good track record.
What is the cause? It’s hard to tell, but probably easier to tell what was not to blame.
Several lived in places with a traditional school and fellow trads living close enough to socialize with. Other families saw other trads only on Sundays or less often depending upon distance to a chapel and or the availability of a priest. A trad school, Catholic school, public school, or homeschool seem not to have made a huge difference, although it’s hard to gauge because many families did different things at different times with different children. The one daughter who married young and remains Catholic went to public school and two years of community college to qualify as a nurse’s assistant. Others who were homeschooled their whole educations or went to trad schools left the faith upon turning 18, 21, or moving out of the parental nest.
The only two common factors seem to be the influence and pressure of the world, and that in all of these cases, the parents were first generation traditionalists. They didn’t have the support of traditional parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins. They did not have the benefit of extended family support. In most cases, they were regarded as being misfits and some were outright rejected or the parents had to cut contact because of negative influences, ie. a “gαy” uncle and his current partner who always came to family gatherings and insisted upon advertising and demanding approval of his “lifestyle.” Others just stood out as weird. They didn’t watch the latest movies, have a TV, wear the same kind of clothing, listen to rock music, or what have you.
Topic: How many children stay Catholic into adulthood? (Read 3638 times)