7th Grade Catechism

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doanli

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Hello,

I am a traditional leaning Catholic, and I have been upset because I don’t think my son is up to par on the teachings of our Faith.

He attends CCD at our parish and it just seems to me that all they teach is about the Sunday’s Readings and that’s about it.

They do at least pray at the end of the class. (They use the church’s school building and it’s broadcast over an intercom)

I don’t think a Rosary has been said since we moved here. (when he was in 3rd Grade after attending a Catholic school in our hometown).

I am meeting Father, who I think is a good orthodox priest, next week for another reason but I think I’m going to bring this up. I don’t know whether to register him in the CCD this year or not because I don’t like what he’s NOT learning.

I am thinking about catechizing him 100% myself–pray for me, he is a very clever boy. 😉

Can anyone recommend catechism books for his age group? The local Catholic shop has a catechesis that’s more geared to high school students.

I have the Baltimore Catechism, he doesn’t like the question and answer format, but we can get over that. 🙂
 
doanli said:
Can anyone recommend catechism books for his age group? The local Catholic shop has a catechesis that’s more geared to high school students.

I have the Baltimore Catechism, he doesn’t like the question and answer format, but we can get over that. 🙂
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I like the Seton Homeschool Religion for Young Catholics program. You can buy it even if you don’t belong to their home school program. setonhome.org/curriculum/seeinside.php?ToView=P-RL07-11
 
Hi doanli,

I’ve been homeschooling my children since my oldest was in preschool and she is now in 6th grade. I am currently teaching 6th, 4th, 3rd, Kindergarten and preschool and am using Seton Home Study. They have their own textbooks for each grade level and you can order them without enrolling. My 6th grader is using the Baltimore Catechism No. 2 and Bible History by Ignatius Schuster as well as the 6th grade Religion for Young Catholics textbook.

There are several options for religion textbooks to use at home…Catholic heritage Curriculum, Mother of Divine Grace, Kolbe Academy. Do a search of Catholic Homeschooling and your possibilities are endless.

Hope this helps, and good luck!🙂
 
Be careful mentioning the Baltimore Catechism, it makes a lot of people jumpy–even some orthodox priests. The fear is the child/adult will only learn pat, smug little answers to their faith and have a childish vision of what the fullness of Christianity is all about. Isn’t that sad? I’ll explain why that is NOT true in the least…

After years of sitting in CCD classes and coloring pictures of Jesus as a butterfly, watching MTV videos and movie nights at the rectory, not learning a thing about even the basics of my faith, someone handed me a Baltimore Catechism when I was 16.

For the first time in my life I sat down and in easy question and answer form learned what the Church taught on all the subjects I had ever wondered about, but wasn’t getting answers to. Because I had almost no catechesis, I couldn’t even begin to articulate the questions that were brewing within. I was 16 years old before I understood the Catholic teaching on the Eucharist. Prior to that, I understood it to be a mere symbol of the body and blood.

What happened was, learning the Baltimore Catechism gave me a foundation, which raised more questions, which lead to me seeking out answers and reading and talking to holy priests. It increased my love of God, helped me grow in my prayer life and understanding the Mass, for the first time I was no longer bored by this thing I had to go to every week. How can one love God if he doesn’t know Him? Everyone needs a good, solid foundation and from there they can grow.

You are right to be worried. Here is what is going on behind the scenes at Office of Religious Education, the folks who bring you Parish School of Religion:

losangelesmission.com/ed/articles/2006/0606ds.htm

Even the heterodox “left” is waking up and saying, “what have we done?”
 
I am 18 and I am currently reading the Baltimore Catechism. I like it a lot.

And by the way, can anyone tell me what CCD means? I have never heard this term before I started posting on Catholic Answers :confused:
 
kamaan said:
I am 18 and I am currently reading the Baltimore Catechism. I like it a lot.

And by the way, can anyone tell me what CCD means? I have never heard this term before I started posting on Catholic Answers :confused:
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“Congregation for Christian Doctrine” - or, more humorously, “Cut, Color, and Draw.” 🙂
 
Interesting… my family converted to Catholicism when I was 4 and I have honestly never heard of this… so when the children in my parish go downstairs during Mass, is that for this CCD stuff? Or is this some course or something?

(Edited to Add: To the OP, I would definitely recommend the Baltimore Catechism. You won’t have to worry about any unorthodox stuff!)
 
I have been using Seton with our kids and it is a fine source.

Do not be afraid to buy the Catechism (CCC) and read through it with your children.

There is also “The Apostolate’s Family Catechism” which is a two book set and is taught by Roman Curia Cardonal Francis Arinze.

There are other good sources out there. Do not feel you have to use only one source. 🙂
 
Some places call it PSR, it varies in each diocese. They no longer call it CCD. It could be their “religion class” or it might just be a way of getting the young ones out of the Mass and keep them busy with coloring projects and little Bible messages. Each parish is different.

Read the article I posted–I think everyone should read it.
 
kamaan said:
Interesting… my family converted to Catholicism when I was 4 and I have honestly never heard of this… so when the children in my parish go downstairs during Mass, is that for this CCD stuff?
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Hopefully not - if they are attending Catholic school, they should be getting CCD in their religion classes, and if not, then they should be attending CCD classes at the parish on an evening during the week.
Or is this some course or something?
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They should be doing Liturgy of the Word for Children, and yes, they should be learning something - the Sunday Scriptures. 🙂
 
I would have said The Didache Series but it targets high school kids. Its a nice series of books though, used it for PREP (Parish Religious Education Program) this past year.
 
kamaan said:
Interesting… my family converted to Catholicism when I was 4 and I have honestly never heard of this… so when the children in my parish go downstairs during Mass, is that for this CCD stuff? Or is this some course or something?

(Edited to Add: To the OP, I would definitely recommend the Baltimore Catechism. You won’t have to worry about any unorthodox stuff!)
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20 some years ago in Brooklyn, my parish called it Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, whether you were a kid or an adult. Other places just call it School of Religion, whatever the official name might be.

As a former Catechism teacher, we had an hour each week to do what the nuns used to do every day. Half the class was spent taking attendance and getting the kids settled. I’m not a teacher and have no training as a teacher. If I hadn’t done it, the third graders who were going to receive their First Communion would have been in class with 2nd graders. I went to the training, but nobody explained how to get 30 rambunctious little angels who already spent the rest of the day in school to cooperate.

I think going to PSR or CCD or whatever plus you teaching him what the teacher doesn’t have the time to teach him is the best way to go. He’ll still be with the other Catholic kids his age, participate in the activities there, and be part of the community. Maybe you could become a catechism teacher and be able to supplement the program for you entire class.
 
I applaud you for wanting to be your son’s spiritual director 🙂

You didn’t say whether or not your son is in public school. Growing up, my sisters and I were educated in public school. We attended catechism on Wednesday and went to Mass on Sunday.

Confirmation was around 10 or 11th grade (way way too late - and that was in the mid '70’s.)

My opinion, children should be accepting discipleship into a life with Christ at Confirmation around the 5th or 6th grade. A couple years after receiving the Eucharist.

Of the five of us in my family (baptised and confirmed Catholic) I’m the only one who remains in the Church. My oldest sister attends when she feels up to it and when the music works for her at a particular Church.

Moral of the story…take control of the development of your child’s spiritual attachment to Jesus.
 
doanli said:
Hello,

I am a traditional leaning Catholic, and I have been upset because I don’t think my son is up to par on the teachings of our Faith.

He attends CCD at our parish and it just seems to me that all they teach is about the Sunday’s Readings and that’s about it.

They do at least pray at the end of the class. (They use the church’s school building and it’s broadcast over an intercom)

I don’t think a Rosary has been said since we moved here. (when he was in 3rd Grade after attending a Catholic school in our hometown).

I am meeting Father, who I think is a good orthodox priest, next week for another reason but I think I’m going to bring this up. I don’t know whether to register him in the CCD this year or not because I don’t like what he’s NOT learning.

I am thinking about catechizing him 100% myself–pray for me, he is a very clever boy. 😉

Can anyone recommend catechism books for his age group? The local Catholic shop has a catechesis that’s more geared to high school students.

I have the Baltimore Catechism, he doesn’t like the question and answer format, but we can get over that. 🙂
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The Sunday readings are an excellent place to start for 7th grade which in most curricula concentrates on the New Testament.

He should have long since had a grounding in the basics of the faith and the prayers he should have learned at home through praying with his family, since an early age. You do realize the parents are the primary educators of the child in the faith, and CCD is a supplement to what he learns in the family through the actual PRACTICE of the Faith.

Most programs that begin with the lectionary also contain a review of an area of doctrine in each lesson as well. May I suggest you get involved in the CCD program and find out what is actually presented, as opposed to what your child reports at home.

I will say this once for this year, and then wait til next year to say it again. If you are dissatisfied with Religious Education in your parish and do not become involved, your concern does not run very deep nor does it seem very sincere.

btw a parent, sibling or other relative is not the ideal spiritual director, your son is old enough to be thinking about a regular confessor.
 
puzzleannie said:
Most programs that begin with the lectionary also contain a review of an area of doctrine in each lesson as well. May I suggest you get involved in the CCD program and find out what is actually presented, as opposed to what your child reports at home.
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That’s a good point. My kids were reporting what seemed to me to be some very weird things going on at their camp. I met with the camp director, and found out that the kids were leaving out a lot of important details.

It’s not that the kids were being deliberately deceptive, or even that they were trying to make their camp look bad (they like their camp very much) but they were just reporting the stuff that stuck out in their minds, that they thought was funny, without realizing how it would appear to me as an adult.

I’m glad I talked to the camp director and got things cleared up. She was also, by the way, grateful to know what the kids were taking away from the experience, to allow her to improve her method of presentation, and maybe take certain elements out of it or switch things around a bit, so that the kids will be less confused about what’s going on next year.

I’m sure that the same sort of thing happens with Religion classes, with kids reporting only the things that seem unusual to them, while assuming that you, as the adult, already know the context in which these things are taking place. 🙂
 
He should have long since had a grounding in the basics of the faith and the prayers he should have learned at home through praying with his family, since an early age. You do realize the parents are the primary educators of the child in the faith, and CCD is a supplement to what he learns in the family through the actual PRACTICE of the Faith.
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Um, which is why he started out in Catholic schools when he was in kindergarten?

And our family prayer life, we do have one, if you have to know…please, don’t be so judgmental. My husband is not Catholic and I am not the best explainer in the world…but I am doing the best I can, so what use is the “he should have learned…” to me NOW? Do you say that to children who are just entering the church, learning the Faith?🤷

I want solutions and help; not to be critiqued from someone who doesn’t know our situation. The important thing is that I know he needs the tools NOW and I need advice.

Thanks to everyone else for your kind suggestions.
 
doanli said:
Um, which is why he started out in Catholic schools when he was in kindergarten?

And our family prayer life, we do have one, if you have to know…please, don’t be so judgmental. My husband is not Catholic and I am not the best explainer in the world…but I am doing the best I can, so what use is the “he should have learned…” to me NOW? Do you say that to children who are just entering the church, learning the Faith?🤷

I want solutions and help; not to be critiqued from someone who doesn’t know our situation. The important thing is that I know he needs the tools NOW and I need advice.

Thanks to everyone else for your kind suggestions.
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I am not judging you I am trying to answer your question and address your concerns, if you find the (name removed by moderator)ut you solicited unhelpful simply disregard it, do not look for ill feeling where it does not exist. My mind reading ability has declined with age so I did not know your child had been in Catholic schools, which I applaud. You ask however about my area and my suggestion is to become involved in your parish programs to best be on top of what your child is learning (or not learning). You are already doing the most important things, living the faith, bringing him (not dropping off) to Mass, showing your own reliance on the sacraments etc. That is irreplaceable and w/o that there is little the parish can do, so you are already ahead of at least half the families.

My further suggestion is explore the lectionary based resources they are using which often include a springboard for family discussion which may be just what he needs at this time, and could benefit all of you. Also check to see whether doctrine, saints, prayers etc are also being presented so you know the gaps you have to fill, that will give you more direction. Quite frankly I don’t feel at this age your time together with him could best be spent by drilling with catechism Q&A although that has its place. More important simply to be sharing your faith with him as he enters these years when he will be asking his own questions. You can prepare yourself to answer them (knowing the answer and being able to debate with a teen are not the same thing). The interaction with him has at least as much value, if not more, as the actual learning you will impart.
 
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