Cradle Christians

Monday, September 29, 2025

Happy Monday, my friends! As Siobhan and I continue recording episodes for the second season of “Coming Out Christian,” we’ve heard from several guests about being raised in families representing multiple denominational or religious traditions. One guest whose mother was a Christian and whose father was an atheist shared about going to church with their mom and coming home to their dad who wanted to hear all about what they experienced and learned. Another guest shared how her mother was an evangelical and her father a Catholic. Her mother insisted that they attend Catholic mass out of deference to their father, but privately asked them to pray for their dad, just in case Catholics aren’t really saved. Another guest was raised primarily Catholic but spent time with their grandparents each summer who were Baptists. Other guests, like me, discussed being raised in one tradition and having different experiences with and affinity to the term “cradle <insert denomination>.”

I was (am?) a cradle Catholic. My family was devoted, fiercely supportive, and deeply involved in the life of our congregation. I had a rosary in my hand practically from birth and would go on to attend K-12 in Catholic schools and work at two Catholic colleges. I remain generally supportive of Catholic education and the Catholic intellectual tradition. My dad is also a cradle Catholic from a family whose Catholic roots may well go back to St. Boniface and who was raised in a town which was so Catholic that Catholic religious sisters (aka “nuns”) taught in the public schools through the end of the 1960s. My mom was raised in a family that attended church only when they lived near her grandparents or at family functions. Her father was raised American Baptist, and her mother was raised Methodist. Neither of my maternal grandparents put much time into faith. She converted to Catholicism shortly after my parents married.

I’ve always wondered what it would have been like to grow up in a family whose parents were members of different churches and traditions. Would we have attended both congregations regularly? Would we still have been raised Catholic with some acknowledgement of the other parent’s faith? Would my sister and I been allowed to choose which parent’s church we attended, particularly as we got older? Would Catholic education have been as important to our family?

Recently, my mom shared that as a family we likely would have been less involved in our congregation and its school had we lived further away from the parish. In truth we lived approximately four blocks away. My mom’s statement surprised me because I always felt that she would have moved heaven, earth, and hell to make sure her children received a Catholic education and were in church each Sunday.

In what tradition were you raised? Did you experience growing up in a mixed tradition family?

Let us pray: God of all religious traditions, bless our many expressions and definitions of faith and spirituality. Empower us to see the unity found in difference rather than division across theologies and interpretations. Bring all your children into respectful and liberative dialogue with each other. Make us people committed to building a better world for each other. We ask this all in the name of our redeemer and liberator, Jesus. Amen.

Blessings on your weeks, my friends. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben +

PS. Remember to check out “Coming Out Christian” available at www.loveboldly.net/comingoutchristian or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop each Sunday.