Information for Parents About Why Faith Matters
In his letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul called faith "the assurance of what we hope for and the conviction of things not seen." In other words, faith helps us understand the things we cannot know for sure, and the things we can only hope are true.
Why is this important? Because, in spite of everything we actually know, there are still many mysteries we can't fully explain. Even when human reason, knowledge, and experience can answer questions about how things are, we are often left with more fundamental questions about why they are the way they are.
For instance, science has a pretty good idea of how the universe came to be, but science alone can't explain why the universe came to be. We know from experience that bad things happen (even to good people), but we have a hard time explaining why they happen to this person and not to that person, under these circumstances and not under other circumstances. Why does this person get cancer? … Why does this child die young? … Why do these two people fall in love? … Why does this person linger with dementia long after they no longer know who or where they are?
Faith provides answers to the kind of questions which human reason and knowledge alone cannot answer -- answers for the things we cannot know for sure, and the things we can only hope are true, as St. Paul said.
Because human knowledge and understanding grow over time, there is the possibility that the assumptions we make in faith today may be incomplete; however, we trust that the experience of the faith community over time, and its confidence in divine revelation, prevent us from making serious mistakes. Faith always retains the ability to incorporate new facts, new experiences, and new knowledge.
Without a faith tradition, we leave our children no reasonable and hopeful way to understand the important mysteries of life. Without faith, the most basic human question -- why? -- goes unanswered, leaving our children open to many demonstrably false and destructive ideas which sometimes pose as irrefutable facts.
Your child's participation in faith formation demonstrates the fact that you share with the broader Christian community certain convictions about those mysteries that we cannot know for sure and can only hope are true -- the existence of a loving Creator who is present among us through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ … the origin and destiny of human persons … the fundamental goodness of human nature … and the ability of human beings to love and be loved in the way God loves us. Those convictions, in turn, provide our children with the vision and values they need to live as responsible, caring adults.
Why would any of us want to deny our children that gift?
Learn More About Parenting for Faith:
• How Parents Nurture Children's Faith
• Parent's Guide to Children's Religious Formation
• What Parents Should Know About Children's Faith
[Last Update 07.17.19]