I commend this mother’s search, and I am compassionate toward what she is striving to provide for herself and her daughter. On the other hand, we need to recognize that we don’t just find a religion that “fits” us. You can’t necessarily cross something off the list because of “doctrine that I simply can’t force myself to align with.” That kind of misses the point of faith and religion as a transformative force in the human condition, for us as individuals and a society. If we are not humble enough to submit to something, or to acknowledge that we may not have all the answers, we only continue to idolize ourselves. It’s that root sin of pride that Augustine recognized so well.
I’ll be praying for this woman and other people like her, and especially for all of us, to have the humility, compassion and courage to continue on our own journey of following the Good Shepherd.

As this mother noted, children already have faith. There is no need to lead little Nina on any quest for it. Just avoid telling her that her faith is childish and she should drop it.
As for mother’s lack of faith, it is adolescent and she should drop it. The young and the old have faith. The adolescent rejects faith along with everything else.
But the adolescent becomes an adult, eventually, and rediscovers the faith of a child.
“When I was a lad of 14 my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to be around the old man. But when I turned 21 I was suprised by how much he had learned in just seven years.” Mark Twain.
Have faith that faith will come back and it is there, dear. Do not go looking for faith. “If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where will you look for it?”

…A little child shall lead them. Her faith could come from watching her child grow in faith. She wouldn’t withhold ice-cream or cake or a bicycle or a kiss. It is a gift she can give.

As a mother without faith, trying to figure out how to introduce her daughter to something she herself isn’t familiar or sure about, why is it unacceptable that some churches have “doctrine that I simply can’t force myself to align with?” Of all the religions in the world, with no cornerstone to start with, how would she begin to choose a religion without looking at the beliefs of different faiths and deciding which she feels most comfortable with? To say that that is missing the point is also missing the point. There is a big difference between the beliefs of a Christian and a Hindu, or a Catholic and a Mormon. Where she starts her search can only start with what she already believes. Why should she believe the Eucharist is the actual body and blood of Christ rather than that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God who restored the lost priesthood? Her own comfort is the only thing that will bring her to one faith or another. If she decides to be Catholic, but has a hard time believing in the Eucharist, then she will deal with that trial of faith within the confines of an already solid foundation of faith that the Catholic church is true. Without that, why wouldn’t she just go to a protestant church where her doubt is justified?
It’s commendable that she wants her daughter to have the sense of comfort and security that faith can bring us. She has also acknowledged that she too desires the bounty of faith, she just doesn’t know how to suspend disbelief enough to find it. Hopefully one day she will.

By its very virtue, faith is the seed and the root and the growth, so the mom’s focus on doctrine is her own derailment. I commend her for what she is saying, but I pray for her to get out of her head and into her heart. We won’t be celebrating the Feast of the Intellectual Conception on Tuesday; the head helps but only if the heart is engaged.
I am thinking of a quote I once read that said something to the effect of “faith is caught and not taught.” I think that is true to a certain extent, the faith has to be caught first and then the teaching begins.
Peace and prayers for this woman and her child and for all who struggle with belief. May they surrender to the stirrings of their hearts as God calls.

Maybe the upset over her phrasing ‘ a set of doctrines that I simply can’t force myself to align with’ would diminish if we read it to mean that she’s looking for a church that offers what she perceives as a workable starting place. Willing to take her where she is right now, and be gentle with her as she works her way to growth, to put it another way. She’s looking for a way to God, but one that she feels she can travel. THAT much she has to find at the beginning, in order to have the courage to start the journey at all. Head and heart have to work together on this one.

Chelsey, Lynn (moreso Lynn),
I can accept that interpretation. It probably is in part the often cumbersome language of faith. But I think Fran was right on in terms of starting the journey from the heart rather than the head. But we have to be prepared that it can be a long and arduous journey indeed. And that we can’t go entirely on a prayer, community or belief system that gives us an emotional “feel-good”.
If we are serious about the challenge of faith, it should be able to engage us emotionally and intellectually. (For a provocative take on this, Mark Shea has written of his bafflement at Glenn Beck’s adult conversion to Mormonism. Much to the chagrin of Beck’s fans, who consider him a brilliant critical thinker and commentator, Shea finds this adherence to the LDS as a rather glaring lapse in judgment.)
So, like many things, the heart-head balance is key, and we will naturally lean more toward one or the other at different times in life.

Steve,
Fair enough. I was addressing only the search for a starting point. My sense of the woman’s comments is that she’s not ignorant of the likelihood of a long and arduous journey. But no one sets out to meet a challenge they don’t think they have a chance of overcoming. I’m far more pleased that she is trying to find a way to faith and God than I am worried about the exact details of the path she follows. The Holy Spirit can take care of that part, after all.

We pray for the Holy Spirit of God to reveal us the truth about God.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing the words of God.First,we need to hear,second,by the words we read from the Bible and by meditating these words,we should be able to develope faith.

Here is an honest woman, yet an individual afraid to make a commitment. Afraid of or confused by the number of religious choices available to her and her child. I see her as searching like so many others, uncertain about taking the first step but knowing that she must do that. The thing about faith is that if we jump in at the deep end we are overwhelmed by all the doctrines and intricate details of religion. Faith is like getting in at the shallow end and gradually getting to the deeper water. You could say it is like making a decision to get into the water and learning to love the deeper we go.