Expert: Fr. Michael - 5/20/2011

Question
Fr. Michael, I am a 17 year old teenage girl and I still live with my parents. It is very difficult for me to honor them since they are very different from me. I have begged my parents to let me attend mass and to be part of the youth group at my parish. After almost 2 years they let me attend mass and join the youth group but lately they have been making excuses to not let me go and it hurts very much. I want to be a nun and I try to maintain a very close relationship with Jesus. I study the scriptures and pray but I find it very important to me to attend mass and my youth group. How can I find a way to forgive my parents for keeping me away from the church and how do I honor them?

Answer
Whether they, or you, known it or not, your parents have actually done you a favor.  They seem to be obtructing you from going to what is no longer a Catholic parish, but a New Order parish.  Most formerly Catholic parishes abandoned the Catholic Faith after Vatican II and are now essentially Protestant churches of the New Order.

By whatever means you are most fortunate to have been given the opportunity to re-evaluate your situation and be sure that you are actually affiliated with a truly (traditional) Catholic site.  For a geographical lists of truly Catholic sites, see the Official Traditional Catholic Directory, which is accessible at www.traditio.com/nat.htm.