[Conservative til I die]

I'm not sure what you're saying here. The Church shouldn't teach children the faith?

[sinkspur]

The Church shouldn't teach children the faith, to the exclusion of adults.

In our parish, we have just as many Catholics in our catechumenate course as we do those who are actually catechumens.

There is a hunger for catechesis and knowledge among Catholics, and Catholic parishes need to teach adults as well as children.

[BobCNY]

I think the Catholic Church has forgotten it SHOULD teach adults. By teaching the Faith to the adults, I do not mean the feel good pop-psychology that some classes are.

I agree teaching the children the Faith is good, but not truly effective via the CCD programs. As I have mentioned before on this forum, I teach 9th grade CCD (pre-Confirmation students in my diocese) and the Faith can not be effectively taught them in the once a week during the school year for 1 hour we have them (assuming you start on time with all the students in the room and they attend every class and not skip for sports or school activities..just like Dad skipping Mass so he can play golf in the morning).

The children will only learn the Faith if it is taught them at home by their family. If they go to CCD class and I tell them the value of the Eucharist and the Sacraments and their family makes use of neither (i.e. are the seasonal Catholics of Christmas and Easter), who do you think has the most impact on their Faith formation?

It is the old argument you hear about children in government schools, it is the responsibility of the schools to teach children and make them good citizens and not the parents, which is a false statement that has caused a large number of our social ills in this country.

Someone might ask why I bother teaching CCD if the above is the case, its simple Faith and Hope.