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Crisis in Catholic
Doctrine
The Grave State
of Religious Education in America
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"What
is urgent is the evangelization of a world that
not only does not
know the basic aspects of Christian
dogma, but has in great part lost even the memory
of the cultural elements of Christianity."
Pope John Paul II January 26, 2004
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Your
child is in the 10th grade, the 10th year of Religious Education
--- and does not know Who God is, what the Church is, and why
either should have any impact or influence on their lives. Except
for their Baptism in Christ and their First (and probably last)
Holy Communion --- the significance of which they know nothing
--- they are effectively pagans. This sounds harsh. It is meant
to be. We need to be shaken out of our indifference and awoken
from our illusions.
Our children --- your children --- do not know their
Catholic Faith. In fact, most of them do not even know God.
And they are in the 10th grade of Religious Education. Think
on that for a moment.
They have already had nine years --- 9 years --- of something
dubiously dubbed, "Religious Education".
In less than a year they will make their Confirmation, which
is to say, they will publicly "confirm" their belief in a God
they do not know and ritually assent to the teachings of the
Church ... of which they know nothing.
We will congratulate them and shower them with money and gifts,
and tell them how proud we are of them. They will wear caps
and gowns, as befitting graduates of some form of learning,
and be absolutely clueless as they stand before the Bishop who
would not dare embarrass himself or them by asking them the
most basic question about what --- in this defining moment ---
they are assenting to, what they are standing in Confirmation
of --- fully aware that, with rare exception, the student will
be unable to answer.
This is not the sad state of CCD today --- or as we
more disingenuously call it now, "Religious Education". It is
the dismal and utterly reprehensible state of Catholic Religious
Education everywhere in America, and likely elsewhere, for
the past 40 years.
Warm Bodies
"How can this be?",
you ask.
It is stunningly simple: students know little or nothing about
God and the Church because, by and large, their teachers know
little or nothing about God and the Church. Religious Education
north of Boston is the only venue of formal education in the
world in which the recruitment process for teachers has two
criteria only: a warm body and a willingness to teach what one
does not know.
There is no formal training for a Catechist. Not in this "faith
community" (the awkward New Age neologism for the apparently
now defunct, "Church" or "Parish") in this small town just North
of Boston --- and very likely not in America at large. The "DRE",
as they prefer to be called, or "Directors of Religious Education"
do not question the prospective Catechist in any way pertaining
to his or her grasp, knowledge, or understanding of the Faith
that they will be teaching. If the candidate can read, they
are qualified to teach. Period. There are no such things as
"competencies", no courses, no required readings, no demonstrable
qualifications.
To fully grasp the egregious nature of this absurdity, try to
imagine your local school hiring a teacher of Ancient History
who never studied it, does not know Homer, Thucydides, or Virgil,
nothing of the culture and politics of Classical Greece or Rome
--- but who has sufficient visual acuity to read the text of
The Iliad or the Aeneid. The only credentials
required for the position are a warm body and a willingness
to teach something of which the candidate knows little or nothing.
This absurd disproportion is not likely to inspire confidence
in parents. But it does in DREs ...
The first thing to grasp is that, in many parishes, the DRE
is a
"Professional Catholic" --- not in the way that, say, a
Catholic physician is said to be a "Professional Catholic" ---
a practicing Catholic who is in "one of the secular professions".
"DRE"s are "professional Catholics" in another way. That is
to say, they are paid Catholics who are paid to teach
Catholicism through unpaid Catechists. Catholicism
is not just presumably their Faith, but their livelihood,
their living, their income --- in a word, it is their
"job". The DRE typically --- and most often
defectively --- knows her faith, and is selling it to the highest
bidder. The Catechist, hopefully learning as he or she is teaching,
at least follows the injunction of Christ Himself: "Freely
you have received; freely give." For all their admirable
charity, many, regrettably, have little to give because they
themselves were not taught by their Catechists who
had, in turn, been given little --- or much that was counterfeit
--- by their Catechists.
Before the decimation of the teaching Orders of Sisters ---
and vocations in general --- following the Second Vatican Council,
our children were taught their Catechism by Nuns (Sisters, really)
who were unpaid consecrated women who taught with a passionate
conviction not only what they knew well, but, by and large,
lived well. This had been the case almost universally until
the confluence of Vatican II and the anti-culture of the 1960's.
It was a climate saturated with permissiveness, and a clamoring
not so much for freedom as for license. Any notion of "authority"
and anything less hedonistic than what verged on euphoria became
synonymous with "repression" --- ecclesiastical, civil, moral,
and sexual. As the doors --- behind which incense and silence
had stirred for 2000 years --- were flung open, the miasma ---
and the animosity --- of the world rushed in. The vocations
--- unable to accommodate this inimical influx --- either rushed
out or were systematically driven out. Social manifestos replaced
religious evangels; the Realpolitik of man became the
summum bonum, the greatest good, not the salvation
of his immortal soul --- a quaint and at best, anachronistic
notion effectively abolished by the now socially enlightened
masses.
It was at this point that the great teaching orders of Religious
Sisters either evolved into, or were subsequently replaced
in toto by the Professional Catholic, the Catholic
for whom Catholicism became a profession, not of faith, but
of emolument. Much like the Sophists of Classical Greece (the
great antagonists of Socrates) who "sold" their wisdom and made
a handsome living off it (ever proving themselves clever, but
never wise), today we confront the Professional Catholic who
sells Catholicism for a living, and with a vested interest in
what is sold because it redounds to their wages. That the goods
they sell are shoddy and defective is of no concern to them.
They have a captive market: every Catholic with children must
pay them each and every year for ten years. Not bad work if
you can get it ...
It is true that St. Paul said that "the workman is worth his
wages", but it remains equally true that St. Paul sewed tents
--- not Christianity --- for a living. The DRE, you must understand,
does not sew tents.
Alternative Methodologies
One DRE north of
Boston appears convinced that the way to reach the children
is not through tiresome doctrine, text and study (as, for example,
Jewish children learn their faith), but through the oxymoron
called "Christian Rock and Roll" (the term, "Rock and Roll",
we will remember, derives from the bodily movements associated
with copulation) to which she herself sprightly dances in her
office. She is not alone. The "Ministers of Music" (among the
many "Ministers of this and that" which proliferate throughout
the "Faith Community" and within the "Worshipping Spaces" ---
neologisms for Church, pew and Altar respectively --- have even
brought in drums complete with trap sets to punctuate the Mysteries
of the Mass. It appears to be a mind-set that prevails among
those employed by the Church as "Professional Catholics".
And yet the numbers of the young who appear at Mass (especially
those unaccompanied by a parent) continue to diminish. Given
the failure of "Religious Education" through what can only be
loosely construed as formal and textual instruction, is "Rock
and Roll" really the inducement our children need? Will syncopation
suffice where formal instruction does not? Can we "Rock and
Roll" our children to God through "Christian Rockers"? After
9 years of "formal" instruction with so dismal a result, perhaps
another, some alternative, non-textual pedagogical avenue is
open? Perhaps the new evangelizers are not the Catechists (if
ever they were), but the musicians, the "Rock and Roll" Catholics?
Piqued by this, I began to ask around --- first my own children,
and then their acquaintances.
"Can you please tell me the name of a Christian "Rock and Roll"
group?
"No."
"How about a Christian "Rock and Roll" artist?" "Mmmmm ... no.
Wait ... Black Sabbath? Madonna?"
"Well, what about the music at Mass?" Their eyes roll and they
giggle.
This is cause for uneasiness.
"No
Child Left Behind ..."
It is also why
children can pass through 9 years of "Religious "Education",
end up in the 10th grade preparing for Confirmation --- and
not know God and what He expects of them, or the most basic
precepts of the Church to which they will formally ... and
obliviously ... bind themselves.
It is also why no one fails "Religious Education". There is
no "staying back". The bindings of the Bibles given the students
remain unbroken, as well as their Newer-Age Catechisms-of-sorts.
The queue leading to the Bishop is always as long as the year
before.
Why are there so
few young Catholics at Mass? To begin with, no one has taught
them even the simplest and most basic Catholic precept: that
attendance at Mass on Sunday is obligatory --- even if you are
oblivious to why you are there.
Not
a Member of the Better Business Bureau
But
you have paid to have them
--- your children ---
taught their religion. It is
you who drive them to "CCD"--- and it is
you who go back to pick them up. Cash and carry
... So why are they --- your children --- as
oblivious to the Faith --- as you are ... too?
"I have
paid the tuition, you complain --- and the return
on my investment is total ignorance?
In the world of
business, had you paid that money for a product
--- and received in the mail an empty envelope in return,
you would call the owner of that business a con-man, a "rip-off".
But for the next 8 years you continue to buy "the product"
and receive an empty envelope. Who is the fool?
I encourage you to ask your DRE: "Why does my child
not know God?"
The Church has ever taught that we, as parents, are our children's'
primary teacher --- and we have failed. It is an uncomfortable
truth.
Ask your DRE why she has, too ... if only to know
where your money is going, and why. If you do not receive a
satisfactory answer ---and you will not --- acknowledge
that you have been a fool and demand a refund, as is reasonable
and just. But be advised: you cannot call the Better Business
Bureau and tell them that you have been scammed. Still less
can you call the Chancery, or the Bishop. The BBB will at least
reply to your letter. The Chancery will just "push the empty
envelope", and in the unlikely case that they do reply, they
will most likely tell you that the Bishop deems your "CCD" program
an outstanding model of religious education, and that he personally
holds the pastor and DRE in the highest regard."
In truth --- at
least here in Boston --- Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley is as
clueless of the reality of "Religious Education" as your
children are of their Faith.
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Dear Editor,
Hello from Santa Paula, California.
I have been blessed by finding the wonderful Boston
Catholic Journal website and greatly enjoy your
articles. I would like to offer a hopeful response
to the November article "Religious Education
in America." I live in Ventura County,
California, which is very much a biracial community
- Caucasians and Latinos (particularly Mexicans).
This community provides interesting contrasts in
religious education and practice. What you have
described in religious education I most certainly
see in the dominantly Caucasian churches of the
county - a strange watered down mix of new age,
populist, and pop culture "theology." These churches
have bands during Mass, gongs in middle of the church,
and tend to regard the Eucharist as symbolic. The
Latino churches stand in sharp contrast: youth attendance
is high, people of all ages still take the Eucharist
on the tongue, many women still cover their heads,
NO ONE leaves early during mass, and either Sisters
or students from St. Thomas Aquinas college perform
religious education. I am a man in the middle of
two cultures: biracial Irish and Mexican. I have
lived this contrast, wandering the area for several
years trying to find a church that has not abandoned
2000 years of rich Catholic tradition and culture.
It was truly a very despairing period in my life
and I almost gave up. Fortunately, I have found
most of these traditions alive and well in Latino
churches and I finally feel like a whole Catholic
again. This shouldn't be too surprising as with
Mexicans, there is no line between Mexican culture
and Catholic culture. To be Mexican is to essentially
be Catholic. While forces of secularism have often
split our religious and ethnic identities in White
America, these forces have been largely unsuccessful
with Latinos in the Americas. Most likely, all this
is a function of socioeconomics and materialism.
When you look at it that way, it is not surprising
that White America has grown, fat, lazy, and arrogant
due to high standards of living, with all of this
affecting religious practices and education. The
faithful and traditional Catholic Christians (generally
speaking) continue to be the poor, working class,
and politically disadvantaged - those closest to
Christ. So through Him, it is these communities
that may prove to be the salvation of religious
education and tradition in Catholic America...but
we'll have to swallow our pride first!
May the peace of Christ be with you,
Jason Miller
Editor's Response:
Dear Dr. Miller,
Thank
you for your kind and extremely perceptive letter.
We share in your anguish, and equally share in your
hope that the burgeoning Latino community in America
will bring with it --- and resolutely maintain ---
its strong and authentic Catholic identity. May
it be the leaven needed in in this self-indulgent
Anglo-Saxon society that has, as you correctly observed,
become complacent and to a large extent spiritually
bankrupt and liturgically corrupt. It remains to
be seen if the promise of affluence at the cost
of its Catholic identity will prevail --- or if
that that genuine Catholic impulse historically
prevalent in the Latino community, that indefeasible
identity that is inseparable, even inalienable from
2000 years of Catholicism, will overcome the increasingly
defined "American Catholic Church" that has made
God in man's image ...
Dear Editor,
I read your latest article on religious
education in American with sense of sadness that
yes, I too, have been there as a parent and as a
former DRE. During the 70's I began to see what
has been referred to as the "cookie, kool-aid and
sweet Jesus" times. My own children were in elementary
school and attended CCD classes. Our DRE was a sister
with pierced ears, polished nails, and pink lips.
I do not mean any personal disrespect, but we as
parents and teachers were urged to the point of
being pushed to forget the old ways and get with
the new. No confession before First Communion, Confirmation,
well, maybe if you really want to ...
I became so confused, disgruntled and yes, angry
that I pursued my own degree in Religious Education
at a Catholic university so that perhaps with God's
grace I could make a difference. That DRE degree
could have been the beginning of the end for me
as well had God not been with me every step of the
way. I was taught by adjunct professors flown in
from hither, thither and yon with new agendas, their
own! I heard and saw things that shocked me and
scandalized those in the program who were non-Catholic.
What I took from that experience besides my DRE
was a determination to save the baby that was being
thrown out with the bath water. Sadly, my time as
a volunteer DRE in an newly organized parish was
short-lived as mid-year I was called to a parish
council meeting to ask why I was I teaching all
of that "old Catholic stuff." In trying to defend
our beliefs and actions, my assistant and I ended
up having to resign or be fired.
Years later when my youngest daughter was ready
for school, we made the sacrifice in distance and
money to send her to a Catholic school. In her sophomore
year in high school, the class watched and "critiqued"
current movies. Her teacher was a sister. Now my
children are married with children of their own,
and they do NOT know their faith. Each one has chosen
to join the denomination of their spouse. Yet, privately
each one has come to me to express as best they
can how much they wish they knew the Catholic faith
of their family.
It is now much later and my sister is experiencing
a crisis in faith for so many of the same reasons
as were alive and well in the late 60's and 70's.
She also attended CCD classes and has had nothing
since ~ not for the lack of searching. In my own
parish we listen to the paid, professional band,
sit for the entire Mass (no kneelers in church)
and the homilies revolve around the sports world.
My heart aches for the truths of our faith that
were tossed out the door along with the communion
rails, statues, prie-dieus and holy water
fonts.
I do not have specific answers for this growing
cancer of secularism in Holy Mother Church, especially
here in the United States. At this time in my own
life, it is prayer. Active participation in parish
life is needed, but how can one get a foot in the
door if one has a rosary in hand? I do think that
with the growing Hispanic population some reverence
and respect for our beautiful Catholic faith will
return. However, how can the younger generation
of even the devout Hispanics escape this secular
society and the laxity in the practice of our faith?
There are dark moments when I fear we have come
too far, and I ask why are prayer and penance the
foreign language we do not understand?
In closing I would like to pose this thought although
it is not mine alone. A friend of mine suggested
that much of the dilemma in the Church in the US
is a result of disobedience. We don't like to obey;
it goes against our own will, rubs us the wrong
way, how dare anyone tell us what to do......and
yet He was obedient unto death, death on a cross
for you, for me. With prayer, penance and obedience
... and the mercy of God perhaps, just perhaps,
we will live to see our faith rightfully restored
and preserved.
a former "DRE"
Dear Editor,
We live in a small South Texas town with about 300-400
families in our parish. What you described in your
article seems to mirror our parish; "a warm body
and a willingness to teach". Our recruiting systems
is a signup sheet on the bulletin board in the church.
There's no requirements regarding qualifications
with the exception of required certification training
which nobody attends. Lets say, there's no enforcement
where if you don't become certified you don't teach.
Therefore, we have well meaing people that are ignorant
of their faith teaching the children. The teaching
curriculum is never reviewed or updated. I am told
it would be too expensive to make any changes that
would require a newer, updated curriculum. We must
pinch pennies in order to pay off the parish's new
community/basketball center. I've never known of
or seen where the teachers are monitored to see
what they're teaching the children. If a parent
were to complain they'd be "gilt tripped" into shutting
up by being told "if you don't like it then why
don't you teach?"
We've had a few DREs that were run out of their
jobs because of a small crowd of "other ethnic origin"
that wanted only a person who was bilingual and
wouldn't follow church rules. Of course they never
tried to become trained for the position when the
courses were offered and definitely didn't know
anything about their faith. Now the church secretary
is running the operation among all the other duties
she does. In some classes there's about 30-40 students
in the class room with one teacher; what a hoot,
how can anything be taught here? I've suggested
to the Pastor that if there aren't enough teachers
don't have the class. He just looks at me with a
blank stare. I don't know what to make of it. We
continue to pray for him....
My wife offered to provide the teacher certification
courses in the parish. She's given about three now
and only 4-5 people show up. I don't mean to sound
so negative but, this is the reality of it. My wife
and I have taught high school R.E. for over 20 years
and we always have to begin with the basics (i.e.,
who is God, why are you here, etc)It's most perplexing
to observe clueless children when one wonders what
are the parents doing with their children since
they are the first teachers of the faith. Of course
some think its the church's duty to be the primary
faith teacher just like they think its the local
school's job to teach their children discipline
among other subjects. I've worked in law enforcement
for over 12 years and am now retired but I remember
parents giving up on their children and expecting
the criminal justice system to straighten their
children out after the parents failed at their jobs
miserably in raising their children.
This is the reality of it and it is a sad dilemma
we're in...
Mike
Editor's Response:
Dear Mike,
Thank you very much for your letter. We commiserate
with you. The sad state of "Religious Education"
in America --- and very likely elsewhere in the
world --- is a reflection of the widespread indifference
of the Bishops of every diocese who, in their primary
role as Teachers of the Faith, have defaulted upon
it, panning it off to "Professional Catholics" ---
Catholics who earn their living off being Catholics.
This coterie of very "progressive" and often disaffected
individuals and groups within the Church are clearly
more concerned with social and sexual issues than
actually teaching children what is most basic, most
elemental, in their faith.
We are not suggesting that the bishops teach Catechism;
we are simply emphasizing the fact that bishops
do not, to our knowledge, and in our experience,
do anything meaningful and measurable to ensure
that the true Catholic Faith (and not the personal
opinions of uninformed and unqualified teachers)
is in fact being taught within the Churches in their
diocese. Clearly, they cannot monitor each classroom,
nor can the parish priests (although they ought
to make an effort). It is the DRE who is "being
paid" to do the job, and like her bishop, she in
turn pans it off to "unpaid" Catechists with no
questions asked, no qualifications required. They
get to teach their opinions, she gets to cash her
check. And that is why "Johnny does not know God"
in the 10th and last year of CCD or "Religious Education".
A great deal of pretension surrounds this, and there
is much make-work and self-aggrandizing meetings,
from the bishops Chancery down to the local DRE's
office, applauding themselves on their success in
the face of a sobering reality that discloses a
catastrophic failure in the transmission of our
Catholic Faith, a failure that has become both systematic
and pandemic.
No one is going to call the DRE to account; not
the bishop, not the pastor, and certainly not the
"parish council". No one is asking the most blatant
question: why do our children know nothing of God
or of their faith after ten years of "instruction"?
You, the parent, must ask your DRE why.
You're paying her --- and you are not getting the
goods. What is worse, neither is your child.
Dear Editor,
My wife and I are so fed up with the way the Church
is heading. All we hear is “spiritual froth”; is
there someone out there with the courage and fortitude
to take a stand for their faith? Don’t get me wrong,
there’re some excellent priests and religious out
there that lay down their lives for their people
every day. We pray every day that our Pope, bless
his soul, will pull in the reigns on the American
Church. However, we’ve got some “wolves in sheep’s
clothing” and they’re in the “hen house”.
We really need to inquire with total honesty and
objectivity of ourselves as a Catholic people, are
we ready to claim our identity in order to respond
to the call of the Gospel, in such a way as to be
real signs of the Kingdom of God. God is simply
waiting for your responses.
Jesus called Nathaniel, the recliner, the prejudiced
one. "- Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
Nathaniel said. Nathaniel lacked openness. Nathaniel
wasn't ready.
Jesus called Simon, the Zealot. Simon thought redemption
required military and political force. Simon lacked
nonviolence. Simon wasn't ready.
Jesus called Andrew, the cynic. "-Five loaves and
two fishes! What can anyone do with that-"? Andrew
said. Andrew lacked a sense of risk. Andrew wasn't
ready.
Jesus called Thomas, the doubter. Thomas couldn't
see beyond the obvious. Thomas lacked vision. Thomas
wasn't ready.
Jesus called Judas, the realist. Judas didn't want
God, Judas wanted good business practices. "-This
perfume could have been sold for 300 denarii’s".
Judas lacked spiritual maturity. Judas was definitely
not ready.
Jesus called Matthew, the tax collector. Matthew
had spent his whole life succeeding at the expense
of others. Matthew lacked a sense of social sin.
Matthew wasn't ready.
Jesus called Thaddeus, the realist. Thaddeus was
looking for authority and official recognition but
definitely not foresight. Thaddeus asks: "-Why don't
you reveal yourself to the world?-" -- a loose translation
would be: "-You tell them who you are. Don't leave
the burden to us!-" Thaddeus lacked commitment.
Thaddeus wasn't ready.
Jesus called James the Lesser, the bigot. James
insisted that Christianity was only for the Jews.
James had no idea whatsoever of world redemption.
James lacked awareness. James wasn't ready.
Jesus called James and John, the sons of thunder.
James and John were well on their way to becoming
career ministers, ambitious men who wanted a good
church position. James and John wanted to be bishops.
James and John lacked a sense of servant hood. James
and John were not ready.
Jesus called Peter, the rock. And Peter..? Peter
wanted to lead the leader on his own terms. "-Don't
go up to Jerusalem, Jesus-", Peter said. Peter lacked
courage. Peter was not ready.
The point you see, is that Jesus doesn't call the
“ready”. Jesus calls the willing. Jesus didn't call
individuals as individuals. Jesus took the disciples
in their personal weaknesses and made of them a
powerful, -- no, an “empowering – Church.”
Are we Catholics ready, with all our sins, fears,
faults, inadequacies and weaknesses willing in the
light of our baptismal commitment to
claim our identity and vocation?
There is a very brief story by the late Father Anthony
de Mello. The story goes something like this: “Once
a farmer found an eagle's egg and he put it in the
nest of his backyard chickens. The egg hatched and
the eaglet grew up thinking he was a chicken. He
scratched the earth for worms and flopped about
in the dust as chickens do. One day, he looked up
into the sky and saw a great and beautiful golden
bird gliding effortlessly in the clear, blue sky.
He said, "What's that?" The chicken said, "That's
the eagle, the king of the birds. He belongs to
the sky. We're chickens, we belong to the earth".
And so the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that
is what he thought he was”.
Catholics, both clergy, religious and
laity: Who do you say that you
are…?
Name Withheld by Request
Editor's Response:
Dear Sir,
You ask, "is there someone out there with the courage
and fortitude to take a stand for their faith?"
Yes, Mike --- you do! We do! Don't
give up! As Father Corapi emphatically states:
"Surrender is not an option."
The "Counter-Church" within the Church is relying
on the silence of the genuinely faithful who fear
to speak, fear to be labeled "reactionary", "traditionalists",
"backward", "not in the 'spirit of Vatican II",
not "progressive"; who fear to be marginalized,
criticized, and persecuted --- as Jesus Christ promised
every follower would be. In fact, I would venture
to go so far as to say that if you are
on good terms with "the world", "the parish council",
"the clique" who run every Church; if you are welcomed,
praised and lauded ...... you cannot possibly
be following Christ. Think on that --- then
stand up, be heard, and fight the good fight. When
you received your own Confirmation you became a
Soldier of Christ --- and as a Soldier you cannot
leave your post, however menacing they are who encroach
upon you and God's Holy Church.
You are not alone. How can you be, in that Communion
of Saints that extends back 2000 years ... and to
eternity? You may be surrounded by antagonists,
but as St. Paul tells us, you are also "surrounded
by a cloud of witnesses".
Praised be Jesus Christ. J+M+J
Dear Mr Editor,
I would like to express my gratitude
for your courageous , inspiring and informative
article entitled, "The grave state of religious
life in America".As a consecrated religious residing
in Europe it is of particular interest , it enables
me to see and
presumably others too, both the comparisons, differences
and what could become the reality here, and indeed
should act as a warning to us all and be a rally
for greater vigilance regarding the religious education
of our young.
Some of the things that you have written about we
could already identify with, but not all, could
I please request that you could give on your site
a succinct précis of the ' format ' of the American
Catechesis, CCD is? At least on paper, in this country
catechists have to take a formal training and they
are accountable to their bishops.
If by the age of 13 the children have no idea of
the fundamentals what actually are they learning
at their classes? Or at least should I say what
are the teachers filling their allotted and precious
time with?
For the teachers not to be accountable is some way
is a sure way of these children wandering into error,
even heresy because it sounds as if the whole lesson
depends entirely on the whim of the teacher his/herself.
For the children, given to us by God, entrusted
to us is this really the best we can do? It speaks
of apathy, affluence and a dying faith, not
the Faith, by the faith of those who have the
responsibility to hand down the richness and beauty
of the Holy Catholic Faith.
Teaching a child how many bricks constituted the
walls of Jericho, or which way the River Jordan
flows does nothing to bring them into a relationship
and furthermore develop a relationship with Jesus
Christ , whom they should come to know as their
dearest, closest, best and enduring friend.Children
have a natural perception for the true and the beautiful,
they also have at quite a tender age perceptions
of some being beyond themselves, this is God given
and our task is to nurture that.
Children and teenagers are attracted by genuine
examples and witnesses of authentic holiness, by
persons, religious, priests, and laity whom they
perceive to be living out what they profess.
Here in Europe 'Pop Masses ' have been tried and
in time found to be wanting, of course there can
be , have been specific celebrations where music
of the culture have been used successfully, but
these are special events catering for thousands,
I am thinking in particular of various Papal Masses
for the young and other centres of pilgrimage. However
the music has usually been tastefully chosen and
well executed because of the young people who were
involved obviously alive within their Christianity.
But when this is applied on parish levels just to
attract the young, or attract anyone it is invariably
failure.
Young people can listen to pop music 7 days a week
24 hours a day, when they attend Mass they do not
come with the intention of being entertained, but
desperately hoping that they will find something
relevant for they lives, some meaning... they want
genuine spiritual experiences they want God, they
have a hunger to know Jesus as their personal Saviour
not band leader.
If they find Mass boring its because they do not
meet Christ in the celebration.
I would consider your article to be in fact a very
important one and I hope you will develop it further.
Children, teen-agers want to know how to come into
contact with God, they want to know how to pray,
they are as we all are seeking for love, they will
only find love in a person, not in ideas. The amount
of religious literature, graphics downloaded on
the internet by young people is yet another proof
that they are seeking and we are failing them miserably
it seems. In one way, you have an answer on the
Boston site, I see you have a link to Children and
the Eucharist, how much we could learn from their
example and this wonderful priest who leads them,
to be present to Jesus totally before the Blessed
Sacrament , to both know and give love.... but they
can only do this if we stand up and take our responsibilities
serious....when all is said and done GOD himself
has entrusted this to us ... to nurture, feed and
care for the young.
"let the little ones come to me "
Please ask your readers to visit Children
of Hope
http://www.childrenofhope.org:
it is a wonderful site dedicated to leading children
into the mystery of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ
in the Eucharist, that they may come to realize
how much he loves them! Bring your little
ones here!
Thank you again for this splendid article and reading
the responses from other readers I get the impression
that the pain caused by it all is far more widespread
than one would of initially believed, God bless
you all.
I will pray that service that your website is will
bear good fruit for Christ, In His Joy.
Sister Laetitia
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