Are Catholic parents rearing Protestant children?

[MaryandJoseph]

Let me explain…

I am a first year religious education teacher (2nd grade) and one of my students came to class proudly showing us his new bible, a good thing right? until he showed it to me…King James bible boldly printed on the spine

Vacation Bible School cancelled due to lack of child/adult involvement. While driving around town I noticed how many children from my parish were attending Church of God/Baptist/Church of Christ ect…VBS’s

My 13 year old son’s friend (a baptist and Great kid) attends a church with incredible youth involvement and activities designed to keep the young people “ALIVE WITH THE FAITH” and IT WORKS!!! Tons of pressure on my son because our parish is “flatlined” when it comes to youth. As a side note to this, I allowed him to attend one evening program at his friends church and when he came home, he was excited about what he read in the bible and what it meant in his life (he NEVER once had to bring a bible with him to religious ed. nor did they ever read from scripture)

Try as we might, we are struggling with adults willing to donate any amount of time in youth ministry. To work with children, ALL adults must be virtus trained and they simply are not willing to take the One and ONLY class needed (plus a monthly training article on the internet)

I have had many meetings with the DRE concerning this and we both always come up with the same problem…LACK OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT! Does anyone have any suggestions that I might employ that could help?

I know from questioning my 2nd graders that a lack of faith practice at home contributes to the problem.

 

[MaryandJoseph]

Just had a great idea…

CATHOLIC REVIVAL:thumbsup:

All the bells and whistles of a protestant revival that is TOTALLY Catholic. I personally think its a terrific idea and what a great way of energizing our young people to the faith (maybe some of the adults as well)

Just for the record, I have never been a protestant, I am a convert from atheism but have attending some revivals with friends and admired the energy at these events.

 

[Redbaron998]

prepare yourself

I teach the youth at my praish on sundays. One day a child came in and explained to me that she went to another church with a friend last week (on of those non-denoms) and after going there thought it would be a great idea if we had worship at our church to…

I replyed we worship the way God told us to, with the blessed Eucharist.

I would strongly discourage any Catholic parent allow their children to attend any protestant event without strong Catholic supervision.

 

[Swiss_Guy]

Let me explain…

I am a first year religious education teacher (2nd grade) and one of my students came to class proudly showing us his new bible, a good thing right? until he showed it to me…King James bible boldly printed on the spine

Vacation Bible School cancelled due to lack of child/adult involvement. While driving around town I noticed how many children from my parish were attending Church of God/Baptist/Church of Christ ect…VBS’s

My 13 year old son’s friend (a baptist and Great kid) attends a church with incredible youth involvement and activities designed to keep the young people “ALIVE WITH THE FAITH” and IT WORKS!!! Tons of pressure on my son because our parish is “flatlined” when it comes to youth. As a side note to this, I allowed him to attend one evening program at his friends church and when he came home, he was excited about what he read in the bible and what it meant in his life (he NEVER once had to bring a bible with him to religious ed. nor did they ever read from scripture)

Try as we might, we are struggling with adults willing to donate any amount of time in youth ministry. To work with children, ALL adults must be virtus trained and they simply are not willing to take the One and ONLY class needed (plus a monthly training article on the internet)

I have had many meetings with the DRE concerning this and we both always come up with the same problem…LACK OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT! Does anyone have any suggestions that I might employ that could help?

I know from questioning my 2nd graders that a lack of faith practice at home contributes to the problem.

Well, Lutheranism is struggling with that. Everyone has to go to these “revival” things as a requirement for confirmation, and no one likes them. Personally, I’d recommend teaching your own son the faith. But he’s got to be wanting to learn too. Sorry if I’m way off the mark, but as a kid going through confirmation, you have to make your kid want to learn about God without forcing them, or its got to be an inward drive by the child.

Somehow I doubt this is what you’re looking for, but I tried.

 

[Swiss_Guy]

Why would a 2nd grader want a KJV anyway? I’m in the top 95 percentile for reading in the nation going into 9th grade and I have trouble reading that thing. Give him the NABRE or something easier to read.

 

[mlldrl]

I find that I have a hard time getting Mass going Catholics to do anything. There’s a small core group who does most of the work and many of them are getting burned out. It’s frustrating because I know guys who will volunteer for public service projects thru their work or help with sports but you can’t get them to do anything for the parish.

Sports is the real god for far too many men.

M

 

[Swiss_Guy]

The upper Midwest must be different :twocents:

 

[TrueLight]

Why would a 2nd grader want a KJV anyway? I’m in the top 95 percentile for reading in the nation going into 9th grade and I have trouble reading that thing. Give him the NABRE or something easier to read.

My first Bible was a KJV. I liked reading it because the King James English made everything sound holy.

So I loved reading it as a child, although I didn’t know what "pisseth against a wall meant.

1 Kings 14:10
Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.

 

[MaryandJoseph]

RE; to the King James bible,I really don’t think this child cared what kind of bible it was (sad in its self) he was just excited that it was given to him. As a CCD teacher, I have to be careful not to overstep my bounds,because if it was up to me, I would have given him a very beautiful and very CATHOLIC bible.

Personally at home, my husband and I teach and practice and live the faith, its like alot of us Catholics living in the south…WAY OUT NUMBERED. I admire the level of participation in youth ministry demonstrated by the local protestant churches and can only feel sadness for our own parishes here in my community offer so little for our own kids.

No easy answers I know. but it needs to start with parents willing to get more involved instead of that “core” group of volunteers ( I am one of them and see all the same faces all the time)

Maybe if pastors were more willing to stand at the ambo and address this, it can work. Case in point…We attend our parish’s 8:30 Mass and father told us that this Mass was going to be eliminated if he did not start seeing more youth step up and become altar servers, by the end of the month we had 8 going through the training (my son included):thumbsup:now if he would only do that with other parts of parish life.

Here is a strange twist in things though…it’s the MEN of our parish that do 90% of the volunteer work…God bless our Knights of Columbus:thumbsup:

I guess I am just frustrated. I live in a heavily SDA and Baptist part of the state and our kids see all the things that they do with their youth who are also their friends in school which just adds to the problem in so many ways and they wonder why we can’t do more (good question).

 

[Redbaron998]

As a CCD teacher I think it is your obligation to contact the parents about the bible. They may be just be ignorant but this must be fixed.

 

[MaryandJoseph]

I thought about that Redbaron, but the mother of this child attends Mass every Sunday and her son does Not!..I realize there may be family issues involved in why the child does not attend. Like alot of the children who attend CCD, he may be in a mixed religious family.

At the start of the CCD year, there were 22 children in 2nd grade (the grade they receive first confession and the Holy Eucharist) the very next week after receiving First Holy Communion, only 9 showed up and there was still 2 months left for class, I never saw these kids again.

One of my brightest students attends the 5pm Saturday Mass with her mom and the 11am service at a Baptist church with her dad plus all the youth ministry activities. And we wonder why our kids are leaving the faith.

 

[cellodude]

Thanks for starting this thread. My wife and I just got involved a few months ago at our parish because we noticed this same type of problem.

I think it is a good idea to study what vibrant non-Catholic churches do, though any impulse to imitate must be tested and measured against our own beliefs as Catholics. That being said, I really see the Holy Spirit working outside the Catholic Church drawing people closer to him. HOW MUCH MORE, then, will the Holy Spirit blow with loving fury WITHIN the Catholic Church when our own members become docile to His presence?

Part of the phenomenon we are seeing is the youthfulness of some non-Catholic communities that may be only 10-30 years old. We can’t be too hard on ourselves, given that our church is 2,000 years old, worldwide, and consists of millions upon millions of members.

At the same time, we find here part of the solution: we need to get Catholics to think of the church as ever-new, ever-young, and ever-full of unrealized potential for growth, beauty, and holiness. The very nature of the Catholic Church is to be newer (not older) than every new start-up organization that forms in our communities. (Does that make sense? Chesterton always has a much better way of stating these ideas.)

Indeed, it is difficult to identify where the solution begins, since the problems we face are interdependent and complexly interwoven. Certainly, those people who recognize a problem should take it on themselves to pray, fast, become saints, and become active in their parishes. There is no argument (and no stopping) holiness!

At the present, I feel that we need to be throwing the gauntlet down with our fellow parishioners (though always in a loving way):

1. Do you realize the miracle of the Catholic faith and the gift you have been given to be Catholic?
2. Has it occurred to you that this gift will disappear from our parish and community if we do nothing to keep it alive?
3. Do you believe in heaven and hell, and that the eternal destiny of your family and friends will be influenced by how you and the rest of us live our faiths?

I think that so few Catholics out there consider these questions on a regular basis.

Come Holy Spirit! Help us to reignite our parishes with your fire and love!

 

[maryjk]

At the start of the CCD year, there were 22 children in 2nd grade (the grade they receive first confession and the Holy Eucharist) the very next week after receiving First Holy Communion, only 9 showed up and there was still 2 months left for class, I never saw these kids again.

Maybe some, not all, of those parents are like me. The program our parish uses is a watered down version of our faith. And I home school with a very strong curriculum. But for my child to receive the sacraments he had to attend class. Once he received the sacrament, I didn’t enroll him for the next year. AND I was less concerned about him attending the last couple of classes of the current year.

 

[AntalKalnoky]

Let me explain…

I am a first year religious education teacher (2nd grade) and one of my students came to class proudly showing us his new bible, a good thing right? until he showed it to me…King James bible boldly printed on the spine

Vacation Bible School cancelled due to lack of child/adult involvement. While driving around town I noticed how many children from my parish were attending Church of God/Baptist/Church of Christ ect…VBS’s

My 13 year old son’s friend (a baptist and Great kid) attends a church with incredible youth involvement and activities designed to keep the young people “ALIVE WITH THE FAITH” and IT WORKS!!! Tons of pressure on my son because our parish is “flatlined” when it comes to youth. As a side note to this, I allowed him to attend one evening program at his friends church and when he came home, he was excited about what he read in the bible and what it meant in his life (he NEVER once had to bring a bible with him to religious ed. nor did they ever read from scripture)

Try as we might, we are struggling with adults willing to donate any amount of time in youth ministry. To work with children, ALL adults must be virtus trained and they simply are not willing to take the One and ONLY class needed (plus a monthly training article on the internet)

I have had many meetings with the DRE concerning this and we both always come up with the same problem…LACK OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT! Does anyone have any suggestions that I might employ that could help?

I know from questioning my 2nd graders that a lack of faith practice at home contributes to the problem.

All it takes ONE, or One Couple, who KNOW The Bible, to get Approval by the Pastor, or Bishop, to start. We have 3 Excellent Bible Studies [BIBLEDRB][/BIBLEDRB], by Converts from Protestsnt bible Churches who have 3 types Adult Bible Study. They know the way Verses are tought incorectly by other faiths. All 3 Outstanding; I attend The Next 2 Gospels by Converts from Pentecostal, other faiths; they include Early Church Fathers thoughts on the same Verses. We begin by Rosary, then the 2 next Gospels, Then Early Church Father(s) writing, then open for Our Very wise thoughts, then Snack social: 7-9PM Sunday every second Sunday night.

 

[Emerite]

MaryandJoseph have a great idea - Catholic revival! Our local Roman Catholic Church has an active youth ministry group, complete with clubhouse, activities and a young spiritual director. Our congregation supports the youth spiritually (and sometimes financially) with their retreats, trips, fundraiser dinners, bake sales, etc. Even many Senior citizen parishioners have a good rapport with their young leader and parents of our youth. We must all realize that our youth are the future of our Catholic Church and country. I wish the same for all our Catholic churches, that parents practice and live the faith while supporting our youth, and that our youth, while respecting friends of other faiths, are comfortable and at home within the one true Catholic Church.

 

[Patricia_Lynn]

***** I have to be careful not to overstep my bounds,because if it was up to me, I would have given him a very beautiful and very CATHOLIC bible.*****

Why do you have to be careful not to overstep your bounds? Saying the truth with love is not overstepping your bounds.

People are too afraid to do what is right because they think they are overstepping their bounds. They are also afraid to state a truth because they don’t want to be seen as judgmental. The only judgement we are forbidden is that of judging the state of someone’s soul.

Evil prospers because good men do nothing.

 

[gatewood1988]

When I taught my RE class last year, I had one student who was being hassled by his Baptist school teacher about being Catholic (these kids are 4th-6th grade ) and how our Bible was wrong, and every Jack Chick thing he could throw at this poor little one. I had a long sit down conversation with him about our faith. During the week that followed, I had a rough time sleeping and worrying about the souls of the kids in my class and how easily they could be led astray. That next week I brought in several Bibles, including one completely in Latin and a NKJV that I used in Bible school. I gave a history lesson on the origins of the Bible and which ones are compatible with the Church and why there are differences between ours and the Protestants’. At the end of class, all of them were excited to get their own Bible (which the Bishop did provide to them ) and bring them to class.

 

[maryjk]

***** I have to be careful not to overstep my bounds,because if it was up to me, I would have given him a very beautiful and very CATHOLIC bible.*****

Why do you have to be careful not to overstep your bounds? Saying the truth with love is not overstepping your bounds.

People are too afraid to do what is right because they think they are overstepping their bounds. They are also afraid to state a truth because they don’t want to be seen as judgmental. The only judgement we are forbidden is that of judging the state of someone’s soul.

Evil prospers because good men do nothing.

The OP needs to be careful because as a Sunday School teacher she needs to stay within those bounds.

Singling out one student for special gifts is inappropriate.

 

[SouthrnCatholic]

I think the Catholic revival sounds fantastic, I wished for years that we would be able to do something of the sort.
if you get one started in your Church or hear of one being started in another parish, let me know where that is and I will move there promptly.
I will be free to move during the next couple of years and would love to find a prospering Catholic community somewhere I can call home.

 

[josephback]

Let me explain…

I am a first year religious education teacher (2nd grade) and one of my students came to class proudly showing us his new bible, a good thing right? until he showed it to me…King James bible boldly printed on the spine

Vacation Bible School cancelled due to lack of child/adult involvement. While driving around town I noticed how many children from my parish were attending Church of God/Baptist/Church of Christ ect…VBS’s

I know from questioning my 2nd graders that a lack of faith practice at home contributes to the problem.

This is what happens when you blur the lines. It’s also hard living in a majority non-Catholic country. That’s sad that Catholic youth are being brainwashed in heretical VBS’s:sad_yes:

My parish is looking for CCD teachers. I haven’t finished RCIA yet otherwise it would be a call to action. Something in the future…