Catholic Schools / Apologetics

[amberwin]

Talking points:
Let me preface my point:
We as Parents should be responsible in educating and encouraging our kids in the faith by example and desire.

With the obvious problem of our teenage/adult children and loved ones bieng woed away by the oversimplification of Faith alone etc., why are our children not being taught apologetics in our school right along with our doctrines?

We already know the average commited Catholic is ill prepared to explain origins of doctrine.
Can’t we prepare them better for what we know is the danger?

I would love to hear examples of faith lost and why.

 

[Church_Militant]

Here’s one of faith lost and recovered. My Testimony

 

[Ilroy]

Also, you can’t rely on the schools to educate your children on these things. It would be nice if they did provide better education along these lines, but ultimately it is the parents responsibility to provide this education. The CCD classes and the Catholic schools are simply a help in this area, but by no means are they meant to be a replacement for the parents.
Do you go through the catechism, the bible, encylicals and any of the various Church documents with your kids? Do you catechize them? Do you provide apologetic lessons to them?

 

[amberwin]

Church Militant.

I understand, and it is wonderful that you realized that your own lack of true awareness of your childhood faith caused your easy undoing.
More people content to not wrestle for a deeper understanding should take your testimony into account. I feel sadness for those who think they have it figured out completly.

Faith is a God given gift that keeps giving and takes a lifetime of unwrappings.

Growing up, what emphasis if any could have cemented a stronger conviction of truth in the Catholic faith.

 

[amberwin]

Also, you can’t rely on the schools to educate your children on these things. It would be nice if they did provide better education along these lines, but ultimately it is the parents responsibility to provide this education. The CCD classes and the Catholic schools are simply a help in this area, but by no means are they meant to be a replacement for the parents.
Do you go through the catechism, the bible, encylicals and any of the various Church documents with your kids? Do you catechize them? Do you provide apologetic lessons to them?

You bet I do. I know how important it is. I was an agnostic! However, my concern is for parents who think the children are bieng taught not only the doctrine and the practice, but as important the historical/scriptural backup. If you don’t believe me, ask a Catholic teenager to respond to a typical attack.

 

[Ilroy]

You bet I do. I know how important it is. I was an agnostic! However, my concern is for parents who think the children are bieng taught not only the doctrine and the practice, but as important the historical/scriptural backup. If you don’t believe me, ask a Catholic teenager to respond to a typical attack.

Oh, I completely believe you. I went through Catholic schools from 2nd grade through High school. I thought I had a decent grasp of the faith until a few years ago when I started really getting into studying the faith. I then realized that I had a very poor education from the schools as far as faith, Church history, Doctrines and the whys of them, etc.
One thing that might be good is for our priests to stress the importance of the parents taking on the responsibilities that many are assuming the schools are handling.
The problem I think lies in our modern culture’s thought that the schools and the government etc will take care of everything.

 

[bsdman]

Oh, I completely believe you. I went through Catholic schools from 2nd grade through High school. I thought I had a decent grasp of the faith until a few years ago when I started really getting into studying the faith. I then realized that I had a very poor education from the schools as far as faith, Church history, Doctrines and the whys of them, etc.
One thing that might be good is for our priests to stress the importance of the parents taking on the responsibilities that many are assuming the schools are handling.
The problem I think lies in our modern culture’s thought that the schools and the government etc will take care of everything.

Ditto. I went to Catholic school from 7th grade to end of college, and I came out as weak in the faith as anyone could have. I thought I knew what being a Catholic was all about, but was I wrong. My folks weren’t much help, despite their implacable faith. Perhaps they didn’t want to push me, knowing I would come back to the Church on my own - which IS what happened.

But I agree that apologetics should at least be an electorate in all Catholic High schools. You could call it something else, like Catholic Defense (“Apologetics” is a term lost amoung teens). If you make it compulsory, then a lot of non-Catholics who pay tuition would all of sudden not be paying tuition anymore, and perhaps there would be more school closings. Sad, but the schools do lool at who attends their schools, and a lot of non-Catholics are the make-up.

 

[Church_Militant]

Church Militant.

I understand, and it is wonderful that you realized that your own lack of true awareness of your childhood faith caused your easy undoing.
More people content to not wrestle for a deeper understanding should take your testimony into account. I feel sadness for those who think they have it figured out completly.

Faith is a God given gift that keeps giving and takes a lifetime of unwrappings.

Growing up, what emphasis if any could have cemented a stronger conviction of truth in the Catholic faith.

I guess that had I had someone who went out of their way to capture my attention with regard to my religious studies and enlightened me as to the level of anti-Catholic propaganda that was around, I might have started this growth process then instead of over 30 years later.

I agree that apologetics should at least be an electorate in all Catholic High schools. You could call it something else, like Catholic Defense (“Apologetics” is a term lost among teens). If you make it compulsory, then a lot of non-Catholics who pay tuition would all of sudden not be paying tuition anymore, and perhaps there would be more school closings. Sad, but the schools do look at who attends their schools, and a lot of non-Catholics are the make-up.

I would agree with this with the caveat that we do make it compulsory. All the fundamentalist/evangelical schools around here set their versions of this as mandatory and make it a take it or leave it curriculum. I believe we Catholics can step up and better equip the next generations of Catholics to both defend and share the faith.

Catholic schools historically have had a reputation for good educations in most fields (and I still don’t thing the F/E schools can really compete with that) it’s time for us to even it up in the teaching our faith.