Religious Instructions would be unnecessary as all the youngsters needed to know could be had by attending Mass.
I beg to differ.
The once-a-week Sunday homily can't make up for a Catholic education, K-12, where DAILY instruction in our faith is part of the curriculum.
I was able to walk into English IA in college BECAUSE of my K-12 Catholic education. I actually KNEW how to read, write and spell.
I taught at the community college level for 27 years and KNOW the TOUGH times public schools students had with reading, writing and spelling.
BONEHEAD English [not to be confused with ESL] USED to be only one or two classes. NOW students come in at the "Dick and Jane" reading and writing level.
VERY sad.
Thank you for that information. I guess I should have thought of that before.
Aside from that, I was really referring to the Mass itself as essentially teaching the Catechism over the course of a year (52 regular Sunday Mass and Holy Days of Obligation). Not the homily.
But now that I think about it, that may be true for an adult, but teaching children the Faith requires classroom teaching.
And thank you for taking the time to respond.