This is a fantastic formulation of an important issue: "The alternative, though, is to be doggedly devoted to the basics for the long haul, and that requires parents who will bother to take their kids to religious ed for a decade after there are no more parties to be thrown, and teachers who are dedicated to teaching the meat and potatoes of the faith, rather than trying to attract kids by dumping lots of sugar on top of a watered-down version."

You know, maybe we give too much attention to people's "conversion stories" and "vocation stories" and things like that. Those stories, when interesting, include magic moments. (No one ever got a million youtube hits for saying, "I dunno, my parents always took me to mass, and we prayed together as a family, and then I just kinda became a nun.") Now magic moments have their place, but not everyone has them, and anyway, you can't manufacture them. At most, you can pave the way for them by... doggedly being devoted for the basics for the long haul.