Catholic "Sunday School"

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Did anyone here attend a “Sunday School” at their Catholic church? I went to Saturday cathecism and “Summer School” cathecism as a kid, as I did not attend a Catholic school. But I never went to a “Sunday School.”

I ask because I’ve read some former Catholics saying they went to Sunday school. I’m questioning whether they were catholic at all.
 
LtTony said:
Did anyone here attend a “Sunday School” at their Catholic church? I went to Saturday cathecism and “Summer School” cathecism as a kid, as I did not attend a Catholic school. But I never went to a “Sunday School.”

I ask because I’ve read some former Catholics saying they went to Sunday school. I’m questioning whether they were catholic at all.
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I didn’t attend it, since the school I attended was Catholic, but I taught it about 11 years ago in a province that had no Catholic schools. It took place after Mass every week. The only disappointing thing about it was the number of kids dropped off at the last minute just for Sunday School – at least half my class never attended Mass.
 
Some Parishes have CCD/PRE on Sunday’s (thus Sunday School), some have it on a different day of the week. Some Parishes have VBS or other summer programs.
 
LtTony said:
Did anyone here attend a “Sunday School” at their Catholic church? I went to Saturday cathecism and “Summer School” cathecism as a kid, as I did not attend a Catholic school. But I never went to a “Sunday School.”

I ask because I’ve read some former Catholics saying they went to Sunday school. I’m questioning whether they were catholic at all.
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When I was a kid I went on Saturday mornings. But I think things have changed. In my parish we have children’s religious education on Sunday mornings. They have class and then go to Mass with their families.
 
This is very local to the parish/area. Religious education can be on any day or evening. If they say they went on Sundays, why would you not believe them?
 
Depends on the individual parish.

Ours has Sunday School for the YOUNG kids… age 3-5. My older son goes to Sunday School! My younger one fought it, so we bring him to Mass… we’ll try it out again next year.

I think the weekday after school Religious Ed is for grades 1-9… they split up the times and days because our parish is so huge.

So again, just depends on the parish! 🙂
 
Our church has R.E. on Sunday mornings since many parishioners have to drive in from far away. I’ve heard some people refer to it as “Sunday School”
 
Different parishes call it different things. It could be:

CCD
PRE
PSR
RelEd
TRR
Catechism class
 
DH and I are catechists for the 8th grade Confirmation class, which meets on Sundays before mass. We call it CCD.

Catechism classes for 2nd graders meet on Saturday, they get them ready for their first comunion.

Like previous posters stated, classes can meet any day of the week. Why would you doubt that they were Catholic?
 
Our church has religious education classes for K-5th grade on Sundays before mass. 6-12 grades meet on Wednesday evenings. Adults meet Sunday morning before mass, also. I guess this can be called Sunday School. Being a revert, my children frequently call this Sunday School.
 
Our church has CCD for the kids and a discussion group for the adults following the 9 a.m. Mass on Sunday morning. I guess that would qualify as “Sunday School.”
 
at our parish “Sunday School” or Religious education classes are on Saturday for grades K-6, and week nights for grades 7-12, and on Sunday morning for adults in English and Spanish, for RCIA and Confirmation, post-Confirmation catechism and bible classes (as well as several classes during the week for adults). guess it depends on what people mean by Sunday School. other parishes nearby have CCD for children and youth grades K-12 on Sunday, others have it only on weekdays after school or in the evening. It depends on the needs of the parish, children, parents, catechists, available meeting areas and resources. Sunday school may be just a local shorthand for any kind of religious education class. down here people say “bible class” to refer to any generic RE class outside of a church service.
 
Thanks for the replies. I suspected “Sunday School” might be a generic reference or that some/many parishes might, in fact, have religious study on Sunday. I never did.
I needed a broader perspective in order to validate the opinions on catholicism by these former catholics. Thanks for the help.
 
When I went to Sunday school, it was called CCD. At my parish, it is called Sunday Morning Religious Ed. (SMRE).

Probably your confusion is complicated by the fact that religious education as been very poor for the last 30 years or so. My parish has a decent program, however most of my students’ parents–my age or a little younger themselves seem to have little catechesis.

In my third grade class, I was not surprised that most of them didn’t know what the Trinity is. I was surprised that they didn’t know any Bible stories like Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, David and Goliath. None knew who the first pope was or who the current pope is. None knew that Judas was the apostle who betrayed Jesus. A handful don’t even go to Sunday Mass. They go to SMRE while their parents attend Mass.

But…this program is 100X better than the one I went through for grades 1-11. I was an attentive student but my knowledge was so poor I didn’t know any basic facts about Catholicism–not even the Real Presence. The only reason I knew Bble stories is that I enjoyed reading them on my own. It’s a miracle that I’m still Catholic. My sister and brothers aren’t.

So, even if your friends attended Sunday School, that doesn’t mean they were educated in the Faith. Even the best programs will have only a small impact if no formation is going on in the home. Consider, one hour a week for eight months of the year–taking out some weeks for holidays. It’s just not enough.

And, sadly, most Catholics so ill educated don’t really know that there are huge gaps in their catechism.

I started learning when a DRE handed me a catechism the week before I began teaching 7th grade CCD. Agh!!! I was so unqualified to teach any catechism. That poor class. Fortunately, I took time to read the Catechism which led to other reading.
 
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