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Families seek the spirit: creative approaches counter pull of the culture. (Family Life).

Article Excerpt
The nature of modern American culture makes it a challenge to raise children in the Catholic faith and hold together a sacramental marriage.

"It's a lot of work," said Mary Mulcaire-Jones, mother of six, in Butte, Mont. "But I'm really trying to raise my kids so they can be in the world, but not of the world."

One challenge is the go-go-go mentality of modern society. As soon as children are potty-trained, parents feel pressure to get them busy. There's preschool, sports, dance, music and art classes. Choices and expectations only increase with the age of the child.

The culture pulls adults in many directions, too. Besides long hours of work on the job and in the home, parents enjoy a fascinating array of leisure activities: the latest books and movies, TV, sports, concerts, restaurants, exercise, volunteer work, even church committees. None of these are bad things, but the expectation that our time and energy should somehow expand to fit our opportunities makes it hard to say no. Many Americans end up with little time or energy to reflect on spiritual issues.

Beverly Grigware, mother of three young daughters in Parker, Colo., said religious education becomes just one more thing on the list of things to do. "Maybe it should be more important than the other things on the list, and so far I've resisted lots of activities," she said. "My daughters would be really thrilled if I signed them up for gymnastics, but of the Religious Ed class they're just `yeah, whatever.' That's not what all their friends are doing."

Hunger for connection

A mothers' support group at Ave Maria Catholic Church helped Grigware feel part of a community. Huge suburban parishes sometimes feel impersonal, and the mobility of modern families often prevents people from having deep roots in a faith community. Young mothers, short on sleep and long on stress, hunger for meaningful connection. Simply recognizing a few other women's faces at Mass makes a difference for Grigware.

Another front in the countercultural battle facing Catholic parents is the focus on consumption, material wealth and individual interests rather than community.

"You can go down the whole list--you are what you look like, what you wear, what you do--the assault on children in terms of forming their identity and relating to others on a material level is immense," said Mulcaire-Jones. She put limits on video games and restrictions on movies, a difficult job as children navigate the teenage years.

"We talk about the entertainment culture...