A Guide for Parents or Guardians
Who Are Not Catholic
What faith tradition do you have?
  • You could be from another Christian faith, such as Lutheran, Methodist,
    Episcopalian, Baptist, United Church of Christ, or others.
  • You could be a former Catholic who now feels alienated from the Church.
  • You could be Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist, or from another of the world's many
    religions.
  • You could be a non-believer period - taking no particular position relative to
    religion and being part of none.

Whatever you are, we welcome you!
  • To be honest, it's very important to your child that you are faithful to what you
    believe.
  • Please don't make excuses for not being Catholic. We believe that each of us is
    called to follow an inner light. If you are called to be Jewish, then you should be
    a good Jew! If you're called to be Lutheran, then be faithful to that.
  • It doesn't matter in this process: We welcome you no matter what.

How do you connect to your child's First Reconciliation
  • Your child is about to celebrate the Sacrament of Confession for the first time. It's
    important to him or her that you be part of this process.
  • The parent in your household who is Catholic will take the lead in the
    preparation process, but remember, we are all called to forgive those who've
    hurt us. We're all called to be aware of our sins and shortcomings - and to seek
    ways to live more deeply in love. We're all called to reconcile ourselves to what
    we believe - over and over again throughout life.
  • Let your child see this aspect of your own belief. Let him or her see that you
    believe as they do that awareness of wrongdoing, sorrow for it, and a
    firm desire not to repeat what went wrong, is part of what YOU
    believe, too.
  • The worst thing you can do is to ridicule this Sacrament, or to suggest to your
    child that it's unimportant.

Support your Catholic spouse
  • Your spouse or partner will be trying to add faith elements to your daily life as a
    household. Boy, this will go much better if you are part of it.
  • Don't boycott his or her attempts to integrate religious faith into your home, but
    allow it to enhance your family and household life.
  • You don't have to be Catholic to support Catholic practices.
  • Thank you in advance, by the way, for what you are about to do. Often, the
    spouse or partner who is not Catholic gets "lost" in the shuffle of Advent, Lent,
    the Sacraments, and other church celebrations.

Learn about what your child is going through
  • On this web site, we have included a complete review of what the Catholic
    Church teaches about the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You can find it here. It's in
    plain English - please take the time to read it.
  • Talk to your child and ask questions. This will help your child learn and it will
    show him or her that you are supportive. The gift you give to your child now
    will last a lifetime. They will come back to the idea of forgiveness, confession,
    and the freedom they feel afterward again and agian - but especially when times
    get tough!
  • Attend the celebration of the Sacrament with your child and spouse.
Resources to help
you guide your
child to grow up
Catholic

Click on the items below to find
more information

Catholic Prayers
with which every child should
know by heart - or at least be
familiar!

Special Prayers
for the Sacrament of
Reconciliation

Catholic Words
An illustrated glossary which
you can share with your child
or use on your own.

Catholic Teaching
about the Sacrament of
Reconciliation.

The Catholic
Catechism
in plain English
You have to buy this, but it's
worth the investment
so you can be fully confident
and able to teach your child
well.

Daily Faith Sharing
A guide to how to do it
based on the readings from
each week's Sunday Mass

Resources galore!
We've chosen a few resources
we think every Catholic home
should have in it. Use this as
your check list. Some of these
things you have to buy.
Others are free.
Resources to help
you guide your
child to grow up
Catholic

Click on the items below to find
more information

Parents who are not
Catholic
Some suggestions about how
you can take part in all this

Household Bible
Study
Here is an easy-to-use,
downloadable Household
Bible Study. 18 sessions in all.
Each has a 5-page worksheet
that you all can share. All
you need is your own Bible.
The cost of this is 99¢ per
worksheet.
Get them all in a handy zip
file.

Just Living
Simply. Sustainably. In
solidarity with the Poor.
This is a 14 step process on
the web site which walks
you through a series of
household exercises leading
to a life more in keeping
with Gospel values.
Exciting but challenging!