In a new essay, Sara Perla addresses the worrying numbers of young people leaving the Catholic Church and what parents can do about it. She writes: “Everyone knows (I think!) that parents have the primary responsibility for raising their children in the Faith, but at the same time we acknowledge that when a teen or adult leaves the Faith, it is not somehow the ‘fault’ of the parents. Children grow up and make their own decisions; parents do not and cannot control them. At a certain point, parents can only do their best to be faithful themselves and surrender their children to God. He loves them more than they do and he knows what they need. … The best thing a parent can do is create opportunities for the child to encounter God; in the end, parents can’t make it happen. But they can always try the beach.”