An Examination of Catholic Faith and Parenting Values in
Colombia and the United States
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this descriptive survey study was to
examine how parents from both Colombia and the U.S,
who identified as Catholic, practice and model their faith
in daily life, how they engage their children in faith, and
how they parent their children in the realm of Catholic
Social Teaching. The quantitative results showed that
when it comes to the constancy of attending to mass, it is
very similar across the two cultures, but when talking
about the significance and focus of faith in their daily
lives, then, that is when the differences emerge. Without
calling it such, parents from both countries were actively
involved in teaching Catholic Social Teaching principles,
yet also expressed differences and concerns and barriers to
doing so.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Catholic Social Teaching principles are often said to be
‘one of the best kept secrets of the Catholic Church’ and
yet, in today’s society with a strong focus on individualism,
entitlement, immediate gratification, and materialism, it
would seem that the principles would be a strong
foundation for parents to use in raising their children and
working against the current social trends. Research has
generally supported many positive effects:
• Religious couples focus on being examples of faith,
providing love and support, and teaching the values and
traditions of their faith when shaping the child’s identity
(Dollahite et al., 2018).
• Family prayer influences included:
• Time families spend together
• Amount of social support in the family
• Allowed for dialogue of issues/aided in reducing
family tensions
• Contributed to feelings of unity within the family
(Chelladuraji et al., 2018)
• Stronger religious beliefs and higher participation in
religious practices by parents was related to more family
time in positive and meaningful activities (Jorgensen et al.,
2016)
METHOD
Participants:
181 Colombian parents (125 mothers, 56 fathers)
39 U.S. parents (31 mothers, 8 fathers)
Both groups of parents were well educated and
middle/upper SES
Materials: A survey consisting of
10 demographic questions (Who is completing this
survey?)
21 Likert scale questions (The importance of Catholic
practice and values in daily life)
4 open ended questions (Please provide an example of
how you have taught your child(ren) about the dignity
of all persons. And what do you find most challenging
about teaching your child(ren) about the dignity of all
persons)
Procedure: An online survey link was distributed to
parents in Colombia and the U.S. who identified as
Catholic.
LORAS.EDU
Alyssa Provencio, Sophia Muzzarelli, & Laura Brinez
Faculty Sponsor: Lisa R. Grinde, PhD
RESULTS
The Practice of Faith
• 52.6% of US parents and 43.5% of Colombian parents reported
attending Mass at least once per week. However, when asked about the
importance of their Catholic faith in their daily life, 89.5% of
Colombians vs. 28.7% of Americans said it was the most or among the
most important components.
• In regards to the practice of prayer, American parents reported praying
alone more often while Colombian parents reported praying alone and
with family. In addition, higher numbers of Colombian parents reported
praying with their children, talking to their children about faith, and
seeking out opportunities for their children to practice their faith.
• Specifically examining what people are praying for/about, there were
a number of similarities across the two samples. A high percentage
(87%+) of parents in both countries reported that they always or often
pray for the well-being of their family, while approx. 50% across both
samples report praying for non-family members and 35% of the samples
pray for the poor and vulnerable. However, there were also differences
with approx. 74% of the Colombian parents praying for themselves vs.
41% American parents; 76% reporting that they use prayer simply as a
time to talk to God (vs. 31%); 68% pray a specific Catholic prayer (vs.
50%); and 43% pray for world issues (vs. 21%), respectively.
• 100% of the US sample said religion was losing its influence on family
life in this country (vs. 68%), yet 72% of the US sample said their
Catholic faith guides political decision-making (vs. 58%).
Passing on Faith
What do you consider the top barriers to passing on faith to your children?
50%
45%
United States
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Parental insecurity Materialism Difficulty discussing Autonomy of child Faith is too weak
• 92% Colombian parents believe it is extremely/very important
that their child(ren) have strong faith as an adult (vs. 56%).
• In regards to barriers to passing on the Catholic faith to the
children, Colombian parents reported feeling insecure about their
own example, not knowing how to discuss it, and the rising level
of individualism. American parents reported high levels of
materialism, insecurity about their own example, and high levels
of individualism as the main factors.
• Interestingly, only about 1/3 of each sample believed that strong
faith was a necessary characteristic to be a good mother/father.
• Approx. 1/2 of US parents would be disappointed if their child did
not participate in the Catholic church as adults and did not believe
in the principles of the Catholic faith.
Catholic Social Teaching: Faith in Action
• 70-80% of parents in each sample stated that their faith compels
them to engage many of the principles of CST, yet when given
specific examples of ways to practice the principles, the number
agreeing that those items were an essential part of their Catholic
faith dropped to between 40-50%.
• Qualitative questions about how parents engaged their children
with some of the components of CST produced the following:
DIGNITY. Parents in Colombia teach their children to respect and
recognize the dignity of others with an emphasis on the LGBT
community, while parents in the U.S. emphasize respect for the
disabled population. Outside opinions and influences are barriers to
teaching dignity, but social media is more of a concern in Colombia
with peers and role models being of higher concern in the U.S.
EQUALITY. Parents in Colombia teach equality by displaying it
themselves whereas American parents tend to use movies and books
with inclusive themes. Colombian parents tended to teach equality on
a more individual scale, and American parents taught quality on a
much larger scale (i.e. March for Life, Black Lives Matter, gun
violence, etc.).
CARE FOR CREATION. Colombian parents often find their
children as more well versed in environmental issues. Families in
both countries recycle and limit waste/resource usage, but American
parents tended to describe caring for the environment by spending
time in nature (i.e. camping, hiking, gardening, etc.).
WELL-BEING OF OTHERS. Colombian parents seemed to place
less importance on teaching their children to value the well-being of
others and identified materialism and selfishness as barriers for such.
Barriers identified by U.S. parents were prioritizing caring for others
as well as finding time in their busy lives to do so. Kindness was
important to parents in both countries; empathy was important to
U.S. parents and almsgiving was important to Colombian parents.
DISCUSSION
• While roughly the same percentage of Colombian parents and
U.S. parents report attending mass regularly, it is interesting to
note that this percentage greatly differs when asked about the
importance of the Catholic faith in their daily life. This difference
Colombia
seems to be supported by the manner in which the parents practice
their faith, the expectation they have for their children to continue
on in the Catholic faith, and the specific behaviors they engage in
to encourage faith development in their children.
• According to the qualitative data, without conscious awareness of
it, parents seem to value and be using many of the principles of
Catholic Social Teaching in their parenting. However, parents do
Disinterest Individualism
feel that they are having to compete with individualism,
materialism, social media, and lack of family time. This seems to
be a key area in which the Church could be supporting parent and
family development.
• One of the main limitations is that the study is self-report by
parent only, without child corroboration, and it is difficult to verify
the impact of ‘talk’ (vs. modeling) on children’s behavior. Other
limitations include the large difference in number of participants
and that the study was mainly completed by educated mothers.
REFERENCES
Chelladurai, J. M., Dollahite, D. C., & Marks, L. D. (2018). “The family that prays together. . .”: Relational processes associated with
regular family prayer. Journal of Family Psychology, 32(7), 849-859.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1037/fam0000432
Dollahite, D. C., Marks, L. D., Kear, T. M., Lewis, B. M., & Stokes, M. L. (2018). Beyond the bucket list: Identity-centered religious
calling, being, and action among parents. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 10(1), 44-54.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.loras.edu/10.1037/rel0000130
Jorgensen, B., Mancini, J., Yorgason, J., Day, R. (2016). Religious beliefs, practices, and family strengths: a comparison of husbands and
wives. Psychology of Religion and Spitituality, 8 (2), 164-174. doi:10.1037/rel0000052