{"id":553,"date":"2009-06-13T04:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-13T04:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/06\/whats-the-matter-with-kids-today.html"},"modified":"2009-06-13T04:50:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-13T04:50:00","slug":"whats-the-matter-with-kids-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/06\/whats-the-matter-with-kids-today.html","title":{"rendered":"What’s the matter with kids today?"},"content":{"rendered":"

These crazy youngsters. You do your best to raise a non-believing secular humanist and he just turns around and goes all Presbyterian<\/a> on you: <\/p>\n

In April, Bob Sweeney\u2019s son, Ryan, 13, suddenly announced he wanted to start going to church. While Mr. Sweeney had been quite religious once \u2014 in his 20s he\u2019d taken an oath of celibacy with plans to spend his life as a Roman Catholic brother \u2014 he\u2019d stopped attending church 40 years ago, and he and his wife had raised their son without religion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said O.K., fine,\u201d Mr. Sweeney recalled, assuming this was a whim. \u201cWe let the conversation end without coming to conclusions or decisions.\u201d But later that week, on the ride home from middle school, Ryan said, \u201cYou know what we\u2019re doing this weekend, Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Mr. Sweeney said, figuring he had forgotten one of his son\u2019s track meets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to church,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n

Ryan had been inside only three churches for a total of five times in his life \u2014 for two funerals and three Christmas Eves \u2014 but he picked the one he thought was most beautiful, Union Church, a small stone Protestant chapel in the hamlet of Pocantico Hills, 15 minutes from their home. \u201cWe\u2019d driven by it many times,\u201d Mr. Sweeney said. \u201cIt fit his idea of what a church should look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did not want his mother to come. Dianne Sweeney, 50, a customer service manager for PepsiCo, had grown up without religion, and a few times when Ryan had mentioned the pope, she had rolled her eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thought I didn\u2019t have the right attitude,\u201d Ms. Sweeney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was more a father-son thing,\u201d said Mr. Sweeney, 61, a guidance counselor at Mamaroneck High. \u201cLike going to a Mets game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Sweeney suggested attending the earlier service, at 9, so he could get on with his day. On Sundays, he writes college recommendations for his students, reads the newspaper and does yard work.<\/p>\n

As the weekend approached, the father hoped the son might lose momentum. But that Sunday Mr. Sweeney saw a vision almost as miraculous as a statue of the Virgin Mother weeping real tears: a 13-year-old boy who got up on his own at 8 a.m., put on a shirt with a collar, brushed his hair and was ready for church.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check out the rest<\/a>. The Times seems as baffled as the kid’s parents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These crazy youngsters. You do your best to raise a non-believing secular humanist and he just turns around and goes all Presbyterian on you: In April, Bob Sweeney\u2019s son, Ryan, 13, suddenly announced he wanted to start going to church. 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You do your best to raise a non-believing secular humanist and he just turns around and goes all Presbyterian on you: In April, Bob Sweeney\u2019s son, Ryan, 13, suddenly announced he wanted to start going to church. 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