Being a parent in need of some help, I ask that you bear with me while I
describe the situation which plagues me...

I am a divorced father. Chance would have it that "my weekend" with my 
daughter has fallen upon Easter Weekend this year.

Although I am Presbyterian, I had married a Catholic woman. We decided
that the Catholic moray of indoctrination of the spouse into the faith
was too confining (and restrictive due to time as we had already set a
date), and we were married in a Christian Church which was non-denominational.

During the years of our marriage, we did not often attend church. 

When our daughter was born, some years later, my wife insisted that she 
be baptised as Catholic. This wasn't a problem with me.

During a separation of five years, my ex-wife was taken ill with a disease
that affected her mental capacities. She was confined to a mental ward for
two months before it was diagnosed. It has since been treated "effectively".

In other words, professionals have deemed her a functioning member of society.

During the recuperation, my ex-wife has embraced Buddism. Her influence over
my daughter has been substantial, and has primarily allowed me only Saturday
visitation for a number of years. During this period I have read Bible study
books to my daughter, and tried to keep her aware of her Christian heritage.

Last fall, our divorce was finalized after a year of viscious divorce hearings.
At that time I was awarded visitation rights every other weekend. At that time,
I started taking my daughter to church quite often, although not every weekend.
I did this to attempt to strengthen the Christian ethic and expose her to a
religious community.

Today, Easter Sunday, I took my daughter to church. When it came time for 
Communion, my daughter took the bread (The body of Christ) but left the wine
(The blood of Christ) professing that she was too young for wine. She then
balled the bread up in her hand and tried to descretely throw it under the
pew in front of us.

I feel this was a slap in the face to me, my religion, and an afront to her
religious heritage. It can be construed as breaking several of the commandments
if you try. I really felt dishonored by the action.

My daughter is only nine years old, but I think she should have been old and
mature enough to realize her actions. I have difficulty blaming her directly
for religious teachings her mother swears to, but when I discussed this with
my daughter she made it clear she believed in Buddhism and not Christianity.

My initial response of anger (moderated) was to suggest if there is no faith
in Christ then why does she celebrate Easter, or Christmas? I suggested I
would never force her to practice my religious beliefs by celebrating holidays
with her again.

I do not want to "drive her from the fold", and would be willing to allow her
to continue practicing Buddhism (as though I had a choice seeing her only
for two days out of fourteen) but I want her to want to embrace Christianity.

Any suggestions?

If you have a response, please e-mail me a copy. (I'm not a regular reader
of this newsgroup.) (Naturally, feel free to post too!)

Thanks, and I hope you've had a happy Easter.

Drew
