Parenting in the New Apostolic Age

March 1, 2024

Raising a Catholic family in our secular culture requires intentional faith and love

By Tim Gray

March 1, 2024

A family in a church entrance — Spirit Juice Studios

Let’s be frank: Catholic families are swimming upstream in today’s culture. Unlike previous generations 30 or 40 years ago, we can no longer assume Christian values will be represented in education, law, media or Hollywood. Many Catholics and other Christians today realize that they are a minority in a society where the last vestiges of Christian culture are dissipating.

Many Christians are intimidated. Parents, in particular, can feel almost paralyzed, asking, “How can I raise a family in this hostile environment?”

We must learn how to navigate the secular culture in what can be seen as a new apostolic age. This means, in part, really learning our faith, and then courageously bearing witness to the truth in a world that says, echoing Pontius Pilate, “What is truth?” (Jn 18:38).

If we go back to biblical stories and Church history, we realize that believers were often a fragile, threatened minority. We talk about the age of the Apostles, such as Peter and Paul, who went out to pagan Rome. For over 300 years, Christianity was a persecuted minority in the Roman empire. Yet the early Christians trusted in God and were able to survive, and not only survive — but thrive.

For the same thing to happen today, the family needs to be a refuge in the storm, a lifeboat in these raging seas. This means that fathers and mothers have to be intentional, working together as a team. As the primary educators of their children, they have to instill their faith and values in their children. That’s crucial because if children don’t hear the faith and witness it from their parents, they’re going to abandon it.

The real secret sauce for parents is to love their children. You witness to the love of God when you value human life, practice moral virtue, and exercise patience and forgiveness. You show them that you love them so much because God loves you so much. You show them, in other words, that they are made for love.

Children, meanwhile, will inevitably see there is a lot of selfishness in the world. Even if they wander away from the faith, there is a good chance they will come back if they see the difference their parents’ faith made. And the world can’t compensate for that; no matter what the world promises, it can’t deliver on love.

*****

TIM GRAY is president of the Augustine Institute and a member of Dr. Earl C. Bach Council 3340 in Littleton, Colo.

Supper at Emmaus (oil on canvas) by Rembrandt (1606-1669) (Photo Josse / Bridgeman Images)

Parenting in the New Apostolic Age

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