I, like many NCR readers, raised millenials who are leaving the Church. What happened?

* I raised my kids to think for themselves. I am pleased that they reject being told their church has absolute answers to complicated questions, and that they are bad just for questioning or doubting church doctrine. 

* I raised my kids to be kind. I am pleased that they reject an institution that fosters hatred, suspicion and inequality. My four boys were raised in a church that calls their gay and lesbian friends disordered and evil. They were raised in a church that refuses women a place in leadership, but which expects their lockstep obedience.

* I raised my kids to love, serve, and respect the poor. I am pleased that they reject clerics who pay lip service to the poor while spending billions of dollars to silence and deny justice to victims of systemic sex abuse.

I am proud that our children have turned out just the way we raised them: loving, independent, wise, compassionate, and generous.