A cradle Catholic, Cindy admits she “didn’t learn the Faith” while growing up in Michigan in the 1960s and 1970s. After leaving home as a young adult, she stopped practicing Catholicism and suffered an abortion. Then Cindy met Eric, who had spent some time as a Buddhist monk. “I wasn’t practicing but still considered myself Catholic,” Cindy says, and Eric agreed to join the Church before their Catholic wedding in 1983. No good answer Unfortunately, the formation Eric received was poor, so the young couple was not strong in the religious teachings they wanted to pass on to their children. They sent Heather and Ryan to catechism classes and went to Mass, but, over time, the family’s attendance became “spotty.” When Heather was a teenager, both she and Ryan challenged their parents to explain why they should have to go to Mass. “We had no good answer,” Cindy admits. Heather stopped attending Mass, and Ryan followed her example a few months later. While the faith of Cindy’s adolescent children was withering, on other branches of the family tree, a renewal was in the bud. Cindy’s father had passed away from cancer, and at the end of his life he had grown in his faith, becoming a daily communicant. After his passing, Cindy’s mother, Sylvia, began attending daily Mass, praying a daily Rosary, The Power of Perseverance Marian Helpers in Action By Marian Friedrichs Mother and son: Cindy and Ryan. “You cannot give what you don’t have,” Cindy comments as she reflects on raising her daughter, Heather, and son, Ryan, in the 1980s and 1990s. Cindy and her husband, Eric, tried to give their children what they had not received themselves: adequate formation in their Catholic faith. 4 Marian Helper • Fall 2024 • Marian.org
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