An Out Of Touch Catechist

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The other night, while attending a meeting of our parish’s Sunday School teachers, I received a cold touch of reality, which has led me to doubt whether I should even be a catechist in the first place. I would like to know if I am seriously out of touch (keeping in mind that I will be teaching 7th graders).

Our parish’s Religious Education director said that it would be a good idea to have some music on CD playing in the background as the kids come into class. She then asked if I had any “good Catholic music.” I said I did, and I would bring in my Gregorian Chant CD. Immediately, some muffled guffaws and smirks were heard all around the room. The director then gave me a cold stare and said, “We don’t play THAT kind of music to kids! They will be turned off! No, we need some new music, like rap or contemporary music!” I felt 5,000 years old right then and there.

Now mind you, I wouldn’t just play Chant. I do have other musical forms, including John Michael Talbot and can even get some Third Day and other forms of contemporary music. Heck, I can even play U2 and Evanescence if needed. But was I out of touch to suggest a Gregorian Chant CD? Yes, I know that kids are quite cynical and more “progressive” than when I was their age. Yet I still feel that Chant has a place in our church and that kids might actually like it, in addition to other music. For me, nothing says “Roman Catholic” like a group of Benedictine monks chantiing the psalms, and it would a be good way to have the kids get a feel for the “roots” of the church. I would think that kids would appreciate something more traditional, instead of some lame “Let’s Talk About Jesus ---- With a RAP!!!” Boom Boom (Record Scratch sound)!!!

So tell me, everyone, am I out of touch???
 
No. You are not out of touch. Use the chant CDs.

PF
 
I work with Middle school kids. I don’ tthink that you are out of touch. Some kids may not like it. But we shouldn’t assume it will “turn off” all kids. They can like a wide variety and should be exposed to more.
I would think that you would want music that would help calm down Not excite before class.
 
mozier said:
The other night, while attending a meeting of our parish’s Sunday School teachers, I received a cold touch of reality, which has led me to doubt whether I should even be a catechist in the first place. I would like to know if I am seriously out of touch (keeping in mind that I will be teaching 7th graders).

Our parish’s Religious Education director said that it would be a good idea to have some music on CD playing in the background as the kids come into class. She then asked if I had any “good Catholic music.” I said I did, and I would bring in my Gregorian Chant CD. Immediately, some muffled guffaws and smirks were heard all around the room. The director then gave me a cold stare and said, “We don’t play THAT kind of music to kids! They will be turned off! No, we need some new music, like rap or contemporary music!” I felt 5,000 years old right then and there.

Now mind you, I wouldn’t just play Chant. I do have other musical forms, including John Michael Talbot and can even get some Third Day and other forms of contemporary music. Heck, I can even play U2 and Evanescence if needed. But was I out of touch to suggest a Gregorian Chant CD? Yes, I know that kids are quite cynical and more “progressive” than when I was their age. Yet I still feel that Chant has a place in our church and that kids might actually like it, in addition to other music. For me, nothing says “Roman Catholic” like a group of Benedictine monks chantiing the psalms, and it would a be good way to have the kids get a feel for the “roots” of the church. I would think that kids would appreciate something more traditional, instead of some lame “Let’s Talk About Jesus ---- With a RAP!!!” Boom Boom (Record Scratch sound)!!!

So tell me, everyone, am I out of touch???
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Yes, you are out of touch. Not that you are wrong but I think some “woman and the well theology” is appropriate. To effectively spread the good news, you need to first meet them at their level as Christ did with the woman. After you develop your relationship and “prove yourself” to them, you can then lead them.

Remember how we rejected our parents music just because it was their music but now enjoy Elvis and the Beatles? You don’t want their first impression of you to be “sheesh, he is just like my parents”. 7th grade is when they start resisting and trying to find their bounds of independence. Embrace it for what it is- trying to grow up- and work with it. Make it your goal to be a “cool” adult. It will pay great dividends in the long-term.

We are all on spiritual journeys. These kids are just at the beginning. I’m not sure it is good to take them to the advanced course before they are properly disposed.

I have six boys who come to my home for catechesis. I started with them as 7th graders and we are about to begin our 4th year together. (I can’t believe it is now 4 years and this year they will be confirmed). When we started, we were much more light. I had to prove I was “cool” and not a fuddy-duddy. Initially, I bent over backwards to incorporate their interests in the lessons. Football was a big one. I got them to look for athletes who expressed gratitude to God rather than just noting the long passes. Now over time, we have developed a relationship where they know me and I know them. This now gives me a freedom to be more traditional w/o turning them off.

And, more importantly, you can become a mentor to them outside their home. Trust me, one of your students will get in trouble. You can be a great person for them to turn to if they don’t think you are “square” or will be harshly judgmental. One of my boys spent 30 days at a juvenile detention center this summer. After he got out, his mother asked him to come see me. The seeds of the exchange we had were planted years ago when he decided he could trust me and that I was “cool”.

By the way, “cool” doesn’t mean you have to be someone you are not. It just means that you communicate to them every day that you value them as they are and for their own sake. That is the affirmation our young kids want. Give it to them joyfully as they are made in God’s image.
 
Play the Gregorian Chant, dont listen to the progressivist liebrals, you are not out of touch at all.

Take it from a 17 year old, i wish they played Gregorian chant to me at that age. Trust me, you will be doing the kids a favour, and most of all, Gregorian chant IS Catholic music to the highest degree.
 
Why don’t you start out with the chant and then try the others and then ask the kids what they like? Make it a prize or something to pick next classes music or something like that.
One thing about the chant though is it calming and I think when you are dealing with 7th graders they need a lot of calming down.
 
Either music is fine. Don’t get hung up on peoples musical tastes. Why not just play gregorian chant somedays and newer music other days.
 
Go read the link in the thread on teenagers and church music. Of particular interest is the part where the teens reject adults’ efforts to be cool by playing “contemporary” music, which, by definition, is almost instantly dated.

Chant, on the other hand, is kind of exotic and may appeal to their budding intellectual sense - if they listen to this, they’re smarter than other kids who don’t know about it. Elitism can be a useful tool once in a while.

You become a “cool” adult by really listening to the kids and responding to them without talking down to them, not by playing music you think may appeal to them.

Betsy
 
CatholicNick said:
Play the Gregorian Chant, dont listen to the progressivist liebrals, you are not out of touch at all.

Take it from a 17 year old, i wish they played Gregorian chant to me at that age. Trust me, you will be doing the kids a favour, and most of all, Gregorian chant IS Catholic music to the highest degree.
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I totally agree with CatholicNick. Teach the kids the traditions of the Church. Where else are they going to learn them? Certainly not from your liberal DRE.
 
I still say first establish yourself as someone they can relate to before taking them to new heights. If the student goes home the first night and says you are a dweeb, you will waste your time and more importantly they will lose a year of catechesis. Once kids tune you out, you are history. And I’m shocked that anyone would think the risk of losing their minds the first night for the entire year is worth quibbling over music choice.

As someone who has done this, I spent months concentrating on relationship before trying to get into anything deeper. I tremble to think the result if I’d tried to first ram down something their first reaction could be it is archaic when after time they could learn to understand it for what it is. You only get one chance to make a first impression.
 
I respectfully disagree with the poster who offer advice to be the
“cool adult”. My son and daughter and their friends mercilessly mock any adult who tries to be “cool” or “with it” or “relate to them”. My advice is to expose them to various types of music.
Gregorian chant is part of our religious heritage and history. There is nothing wrong with being exposed to it.
 
I’d be sly. Start out by saying something to the kids like “Now, I’ve had other adults tell me that this music was above you guys but I know how smart you guys are so I told them they were crazy. You guys know how certain types of music goes better with certain parts of a movie, right? Well, certain music goes better with certain things in life.” - or something similar. You might go on to then ask them which reminds them more of God this or that. Kids are smarter than you think but they do like to hear that adults think they get it. Appealing to their vanity can work wonders.

I was a “cool” kid and I can still remember preferring to go to the church in town that had a great polyphonic choir that did the traditional hymns.
 
mozier said:
The other night, while attending a meeting of our parish’s Sunday School teachers, I received a cold touch of reality, which has led me to doubt whether I should even be a catechist in the first place. I would like to know if I am seriously out of touch (keeping in mind that I will be teaching 7th graders).

Our parish’s Religious Education director said that it would be a good idea to have some music on CD playing in the background as the kids come into class. She then asked if I had any “good Catholic music.” I said I did, and I would bring in my Gregorian Chant CD. Immediately, some muffled guffaws and smirks were heard all around the room. The director then gave me a cold stare and said, “We don’t play THAT kind of music to kids! They will be turned off! No, we need some new music, like rap or contemporary music!” I felt 5,000 years old right then and there.

Now mind you, I wouldn’t just play Chant. I do have other musical forms, including John Michael Talbot and can even get some Third Day and other forms of contemporary music. Heck, I can even play U2 and Evanescence if needed. But was I out of touch to suggest a Gregorian Chant CD? Yes, I know that kids are quite cynical and more “progressive” than when I was their age. Yet I still feel that Chant has a place in our church and that kids might actually like it, in addition to other music. For me, nothing says “Roman Catholic” like a group of Benedictine monks chantiing the psalms, and it would a be good way to have the kids get a feel for the “roots” of the church. I would think that kids would appreciate something more traditional, instead of some lame “Let’s Talk About Jesus ---- With a RAP!!!” Boom Boom (Record Scratch sound)!!!

So tell me, everyone, am I out of touch???
Click to expand...
Nope…it’s the other folks who are out of touch. Playing rap music in church? Give me a break!
 
Explain the music … a little history. I think just to play it as background without an explanation of where it came from, its significance would be a mistake. Incorporate it into a lesson … maybe about prayer, contemplation you will find a good place for it. I teach 8th graders and from my experience, if they respect you for what you teach, they will listen … they may not like it but at least they have been exposed to a little Catholic culture.

Good luck this year!
 
Sounds like you gave them exactly what they asked for, “good Catholic music”. But it also sounds like they didn’t really mean “good Catholic music”.

As another poster said, somebody should point them to the “teens and music” thread, both the study and the responses by teens in this forum, to show them how lame their attempts to be contemporary actually appear to many teens.
 
I don’t think you are out of touch at all.

…but…

And this is just what I personally would do so take it for what it’s worth. (Probably not much.)

The first week I would play whatever kind of music is normally played on Sundays at your parish. (I’m assuming from the words of the RE director that Gregorian Chant is NOT normal fare.) If various styles are used then I’d pick music from a Mass with high middle school attendance.

But I’d definitely use the Gregorian Chant at some subsequent meetings.
 
My teen-age son would have been completely turned off by an adult trying to be “with it.” Also, not all kids like rock or rap music. My son HATES both of those and would have been offended.

Play the chant and explain what it is. Do not “teach down” to these kids. Your DRE is dead wrong.
 
mozier said:
The other night, while attending a meeting of our parish’s Sunday School teachers, I received a cold touch of reality, which has led me to doubt whether I should even be a catechist in the first place. I would like to know if I am seriously out of touch (keeping in mind that I will be teaching 7th graders)…

…So tell me, everyone, am I out of touch???
Click to expand...
Hey…skip all the music. When I was a kid, we didn’t have music in school and you probably didn’t either. We survived and, heck - we learned stuff. Then after class, we walked home 5 miles in the snow and hummed songs all the way.

Seriously - kids can listen to whatever they want on their own time. Class is time to focus and learn.
 
Please play the chant.
Please don’t “dumb down” the music of our faith for the lowest common denominator. Or foolish person who thinks “rap”, “hip-hop” etc are all kids can handle.
Once upon a time (10 years ago) my daughter had herself enrolled in an art history class thinking easy “A”. One week in and she was ready to quit. Too hard she said.
I didn’t give in. She finished the class with a “B”. But to this day she thanks me for standing my ground so she could be introduced to Monet, Cezanne, and Georgia O’Keefe.
 
Teens ain’t stupid, they can see right through you if you try to be something you are not or try to be sly. They will respect you much more if you give it to them straight. Teach 'em about gregorian chant. Tell them why it is superior to the high-fructose corn syrup Jesus-is-my-boyfriend modern stuff and don’t bat an eyelid.

Scott
 
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