Posted on 01/07/2006 7:35:09 AM PST by Desdemona
Very true and very sad. I went to CCD from K-8 grades and parochial schools from 7-12 grades. I learned next to nothing about my faith. Nearly everyone else my age who went to Catholic schools all their lives had the same experience. There were a few exceptions, almost all of them had been homeschooled.
Everything I know about my faith I had to learn on my own. Thank God the internet happened to become widespread when I was in high school. We got a connection in my house when I was about 16 and that's when I started to finally educate myself (as well as un-educate myself from some of the junk I'd heard passed off as Catholicism at school). It was a great way for me to access tons of information from the privacy and comfort of my house. At the time, I would've been too self-conscious, and frankly too lazy as well, to go to a library or buy books on my own.
I wouldn't laugh so much here:
" Speaking of which, the Episcopal confirmation class was a joke. They didn't learn much of anything about the history of the church, the liturgy, Scripture, or theology. They just talked about their "feelings" for the entire class. I attended a couple of classes, and my daughter and I started counting the times the facilitator said "Faith Journey". We quit counting at 50 because we were laughing so hard people were looking at us funny."
My Parish does that. No books, no learning whatsoever of Church history or teachings. It's just a social time for two hours, and nothing integral happens. The only reason I know anything about my faith is my Jesuit HS and self-research (I was confirmed last year).
Ditto that. Guys, you're inspiring me to once again take up a volunteer plan I'd abandoned.
I'd contacted my parish RE office to volunteer myself as one who could instruct junior high school students on the basics of the church. That is...things like why we don't have to genuflect before Mass (as the tabernacle is in an adoration chapel), why we kneel/sit/stand during different parts of Mass and so on. I'd given up on this effort, but I think I may need to just go for it.
Baltimore Catechism, have used it with all my kids. I never found it old fashioned, and the results are children who know their catechism.
Go for it! I wish someone like that had been around when I was in Jr High.
Dumb question:
Is the Baltimore Catechism like, current with the teachings? Because I've been trying to find a place to re-learn the basices of the Church. And the Catechism.
Thanks.
Yes, truth doesn't change because God doesn't change.
Why don't you find a better parish? There's a wide variation in our area, there are some kooky clap-hands-for-Jesus enclaves around here too. You might just be in one of those with a nice orthodox parish right down the road.
Hmm... devotions are definitely "Faith in Action." The Catechism is a doctrinal crystalization of the Faith, not a "practical" one.
Should pastors quiz parishioners about their sins in public before they distribute Communion, too?
The confirmation examination is about one's understanding of the faith, not one's sins. Priests traditionally probed the laity's understanding of the faith during their mandated Lenten confessions, but that's rarely practiced anymore, either.
**Pray for the priests, nuns and the Church.**
I'll bump that any day! Amen!
It sounds like you did a wonderful job.
I just think that this needs to be said and recognized. I know I can't be the only one who feels this way and articles like this, as well as comments like yours help make the argument.
They failed at a lot more than Catechesis. By not being sure that the Traditional devotions were there, some of the deep seated essentials weren't learned.
Great minds think alike.
You could hear the kids muttering the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins to themselves . . . mass consternation!
At least they practiced and knew enough to present themselves well before the archbishop. Just getting a chorus for Amahl and the Night Visitors to walk around reciting the produce list is a challenge.
Absolutely. They may not have gotten credit for it, but before all the women's lib stuff, the nuns ran hospitals, schools, etc. They were much farther ahead then. And they gave it all up.
The one consolation is that the orders that went wacky are dying out. It's the cloistered and far more conservative orders that are getting the vocations.
This is true. There's a whole culture that's just gone. The parish used to be like family. The parish where I grew in many ways still is, but it's just not the same, especially with the way people move around now.
I did a bit of the same thing. The cathedral here at least says the Novus Ordo correctly and has many of the elements I remember as a little kid. My home parish, at the time, had a pastor who didn't really believe in VatII and resisted a lot of the changes, so we at least had some tradition, but not nearly enough.
I realized a few years ago how much was lost and among my own family many arguments fall on deaf ears. Friends, too. They think I'm hopelessly weird and out of date.
Good Luck. I volunteered to teach Catechism classes and the Priest turned me down
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