Catholic Teacher Vent

[Franciscan]

Hi all,

I haven’t posted any thread for a LONG time. But I have to vent…

As a teacher of high school Catholicism in a Catholic school I see many people who are nominal Catholics or even apostate Catholics sending their dear children to our school because they can afford it.

They don’t want to send them to public school —WHY? Because at public school they will have to eat the rotten fruit that their culture of death has produced. I say* their *culture of death because many are very liberal pro-choice, pro-gay etc.

Im supposed to teach them the Faith and that is supposed to be enough to get them by inspite of their parents.

Most of my srtudents don’t go to church, they dont know what sacraments are etc. It’s depressing.

It seems the Catholic schools today (mostly taught by lay people) are what public schools used to be before they were taken over by the liberal elite.

They (many of the parents) don’t want the school to be any more Catholic then they are but they like the discipline, they like that we can talk about God, they like that we have a dress code.

I guess to carry this to the next level Catholic schools of the past are now what we call home schooling.–As far as the orthodoxy etc.

In the following article the person in charge of public education in the USA is sending their kid to a Catholic school…

catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0800768.htm
quote from artice…“Although Spellings oversees the country’s public school system and is not a Catholic, she certainly keeps tabs on Catholic schools and, as she puts it, “visits one on a regular basis,” since her daughter attends a Catholic high school in Washington.”

Need I say more? Cause I can…

CURIOUS, WHY DO YOU SEND YOUR KIDS TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL? Directed to those who are not a happy Catholic.

 

[Texas_Roofer]

Need I say more? Cause I can…

CURIOUS, WHY DO YOU SEND YOUR KIDS TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL? Directed to those who are not a happy Catholic.

She did what she did for the same reason as the others, to avoid government problems. The government ruined the inner city schools all across America. Everybody knows that so they need a nongovernment organization to educate their kids. btw - Dallas ISD may now be over $10,000 per kid per year and guarantees a poor education!

 

[revelations]

Franciscan, sounds like you’re in a rough place. Take honor that God has sent you these kids, you might possibly be their only spiritual nourishment for the whole week! Their parents cannot be put to blame, they were raised during a dark time in the church. Be a light to the darkness you are faced with daily…

Good luck and you shall remain in my prayers…

-revelations

 

[Gertabelle]

My son’s too young to be in school yet, and I’m a faithful Catholic, so I can’t answer your specific question.

Perhaps I can, however, give you a little encouragement. My parents did not attend Mass when I was in school. We never prayed in our house, and my dad was pretty far from living the teachings of the faith in his daily life. They put me in Catholic school for twelve years. I was one of those kids you’re worrying about.

But it was the love, dedication, and education of those lay teachers (and a couple of nuns) who made a difference in my life. They showed me I had options to live my faith in a way that was different from how my parents and older brother weren’t living the faith. They taught me the meanings of the practices of the Church, they taught me the history of the Church and the meaning of scriptures, and they taught me how to pray.

Kids don’t choose their parents. And kids like me, from homes that are more concerned about intellectual development than spiritual growth, need you perhaps more than the kids from good Catholic families. I know we and our parents could be a big pain, and our teachers probably wondered many times why they even bothered with us. But you truly never know when or how you’ll make THE difference in the life – eternal life – of one of these little ones or their parents.

Keep up the good work, and God bless you.

Gertie

 

[KCT]

As a teacher of high school Catholicism in a Catholic school …
Most of my srtudents don’t go to church, they dont know what sacraments are etc. It’s depressing.

I firmly believe it’s the duty of parents to be primary teachers of the faith. Catholic schools and religious ed reinforce what parents should be teaching.

However, how did your kids get to high school and not know what sacraments are? What did they learn in grades 1 - 8?

 

[Franciscan]

She did what she did for the same reason as the others, to avoid government problems. The government ruined the inner city schools all across America. Everybody knows that so they need a nongovernment organization to educate their kids. btw - Dallas ISD may now be over $10,000 per kid per year and guarantees a poor education!

She did it to avoid govt. problems but she’s at the top of the govt.
The government ruined the schools. The government is pushing pro-homosexual, pro-sex-ed, pro-contraceptives everything except prayer, reading and writing. In this state policies at the state level are driving wealthy kids out.

It’s just amazing that she oversees it all and her kid goes to Catholic School! What about the poor Catholics who can’t afford to bail out their kids from the mess she oversees?

 

[Franciscan]

Franciscan, sounds like you’re in a rough place. Take honor that God has sent you these kids, you might possibly be their only spiritual nourishment for the whole week! Their parents cannot be put to blame, they were raised during a dark time in the church. Be a light to the darkness you are faced with daily…

Good luck and you shall remain in my prayers…

-revelations

You’re right. There is what I call the ‘Lost Generation’. I’m part of it, but survived by the grace of God to recover the Faith for myself and my kids, through alot of effort, and study as many here on these posts do.

 

[Franciscan]

My son’s too young to be in school yet, and I’m a faithful Catholic, so I can’t answer your specific question.

Perhaps I can, however, give you a little encouragement. My parents did not attend Mass when I was in school. We never prayed in our house, and my dad was pretty far from living the teachings of the faith in his daily life. They put me in Catholic school for twelve years. I was one of those kids you’re worrying about.

But it was the love, dedication, and education of those lay teachers (and a couple of nuns) who made a difference in my life. They showed me I had options to live my faith in a way that was different from how my parents and older brother weren’t living the faith. They taught me the meanings of the practices of the Church, they taught me the history of the Church and the meaning of scriptures, and they taught me how to pray.

Kids don’t choose their parents. And kids like me, from homes that are more concerned about intellectual development than spiritual growth, need you perhaps more than the kids from good Catholic families. I know we and our parents could be a big pain, and our teachers probably wondered many times why they even bothered with us. But you truly never know when or how you’ll make THE difference in the life – eternal life – of one of these little ones or their parents.

Keep up the good work, and God bless you.

Gertie

I pray that this is true for my students. It is what motivates me in this bleak situation. God Bless, and pay back to the Church what she has given. God is good!

 

[Franciscan]

I firmly believe it’s the duty of parents to be primary teachers of the faith. Catholic schools and religious ed reinforce what parents should be teaching.

However, how did your kids get to high school and not know what sacraments are? What did they learn in grades 1 - 8?

You’d be amazed. I had a kid who went to a school named after the ascension and didn’t know what it meant.

 

[vocatio]

Welcome to my world from a different side of the podium…so to speak. My wife and I teach CCD. We get tired of feeling marginalized by the Catholic School. Catholic schools should just be shut down in my opinion and the money invested in CCD.

The statistics don’t lie. More orthodox Catholics come out of domestic churches that do not send their children to Catholic schools. More children that attend Catholic schools fall away from the Church, I believe more than 50%. More than 75% of children that are non-Catholic school attendees remain in the Church…but those children were active in youth groups and other activities. The problem is rooted up high as usual with old men living in the past.

Catholic schools are yuppy training grounds, not holy ground taining grounds. It’s sad but true. Shame on the clergy and laity that support such a shallow thing.

But I’m still glad we have Catholic schools and teachers like you. Integrate Catholic teaching into your curriculum, by using historical events of the past. Make them recite sacraments and give extra credit for attending mass and better yet serving as altar servers and EMHCs. You could start a really healthy trend.

I’m not far from you and understand your pain. That’s the main reason I refuse to send our chidren to Catholic schools. I want my children to remain faithful to the majesterium not become heretics, like so many I run into everyday, even at work. It’s sad, but we are called to pray and fast for these folks. Teach by example and always take every moment to teach the truth in love.

Praying always for this cause and especially for vocations. Praying for orthodoxy.

 

[Franciscan]

Welcome to my world from a different side of the podium…so to speak. My wife and I teach CCD. We get tired of feeling marginalized by the Catholic School. Catholic schools should just be shut down in my opinion and the money invested in CCD.

The statistics don’t lie. More orthodox Catholics come out of domestic churches that do not send their children to Catholic schools. More children that attend Catholic schools fall away from the Church, I believe more than 50%. More than 75% of children that are non-Catholic school attendees remain in the Church…but those children were active in youth groups and other activities. The problem is rooted up high as usual with old men living in the past.

Catholic schools are yuppy training grounds, not holy ground taining grounds. It’s sad but true. Shame on the clergy and laity that support such a shallow thing.

But I’m still glad we have Catholic schools and teachers like you. Integrate Catholic teaching into your curriculum, by using historical events of the past. Make them recite sacraments and give extra credit for attending mass and better yet serving as altar servers and EMHCs. You could start a really healthy trend.

I’m not far from you and understand your pain. That’s the main reason I refuse to send our chidren to Catholic schools. I want my children to remain faithful to the majesterium not become heretics, like so many I run into everyday, even at work. It’s sad, but we are called to pray and fast for these folks. Teach by example and always take every moment to teach the truth in love.

Praying always for this cause and especially for vocations. Praying for orthodoxy.

I respect CCD teachers. I taught CCD (Confirmation) in the past. There is truth in saying …“A poor education in the Catholic Faith is perhaps worse than none at all.” Because one would go through life believing in the Faith only to discover(or worse never to discover) that it was not really the Catholic Faith , instead, it was the teacher’s own interpretation of it , taking away a little here adding a little there etc. A bad Catholic education can drive people away from the Faith. And later they will say

“Ya , I went to Catholic school and all but no I have no problem with abortion or euthanasia”, or " I don’t go to church but i did go to Catholic schools and I think the church is old fashioned…" As if going to Catholic school entitles them to diss the Faith.

 

[JamieMc]

I’m not a Catholic school teacher but I teach confirmation to high school freshmen and sophmores and I think I know how you feel. Parents drop their kids off for class so they can get confirmed, like they are getting their tickets punched, “baptism—check . . . first communion----check . . . confirmation—check” And they don’t seem to act like they think that’s all they need for their childrens spirtual formation.

Meanwhile, the kids, both catholic school kids and non-catholic school kids act the same way. They are there because their parents are making them. And in many cases—if they were wearing their school gear I wouldn’t know if they were going to public or parochial school.

BUT—I’ve learned after years of frustration, that I am only planting the seeds. Like someone said, we may be the only religious formation or exposure they get. That may be good or bad but all I can do is pray that the Holy Spirit takes my spark and turns it into a raging enferno.

 

[vocatio]

You know it’s ironic that you mention all this. Just a couple of weeks ago my wlfe nearly had a melt down. She lost her entire family to become Catholic and here she gets it from a pulpit that it is our responsibility to make sure our children attend Catholic schools as if we were committing some sin by not sending them to Catholic School. Further, here connection with father is such that at the following mass he after giving a homily and then listening to a presentation he added even more to his homily probably shocking the presenter that catechesis really begins at home and that the domestic church is the primary place of catechesis. I think the real underlying mission of the Catholic schools, seemingly if not real, is to get these rich people possibly also the guilty for perpetuating this culture of death, to attend and learn something religious, even if its only for the fashion sense of it. No. I’m not impressed at all with Catholic Schools.

When we sent our oldest to a private Protestant school, the teacher first were required to be Christians of that particular faith and faithful to it. The students had to prove they went to church with letters of attendance from their pastors. Any disruption was met with unconditional expulsion. Hey. We’re paying good money to send our children to a civilized protected Christian school to not only learn but to learn about God. Intolerance was the norm for disruptive children that just had discipline problems. Public school is their alternative school. Sounds cold to Catholics, because their used to getting what they want. Look what happened after Vatican II, apostacy in bulk. No we’re Home to Rome for the fullness of the faith, not the wonderful examples we don’t see.

We strongly suspect that the many of the CCD students are not attending mass also. So we work extra hard like good Protestants to teach them in a Protestant style the fullness of the faith. I like to expand on where things come from so that maybe it will stick in their lives. Our previous faith proselytized at the earliest age. Our oldest child has been in bible class since he was an infant. Oh yes. They start that young…and it works. So Catholics have really dropped the ball on this one. We need to learn the faith and teach it from the very beginning on the child’s level, not adult level…growing in more advanced studies as they increase in age.

Clericalism nearly killed all catechesis in the Church. I see it as a sign from God that he holds true to His promise that the “gates of hell will not prevail against it [the Church].” In a sense rich people are doing pendance for their sinfulness by paying high tuition to pay for teacher salaries, retirement,etc. even if it’s not very much. My wife has taken the TExES and hopes to begin teaching in the Fall. She already has years of teaching Bible class and is by far the best teacher I’ve ever seen. Eventually I hope to get into full-time teaching, hopefully catechesis. Our RCIA program was by far the best around in North Texas…to elaborate would reveal our parish. Anyway, it’s wonderful to be back in the fullness of the faith, teaching by example those that are so confused.

Do some early church fathers readings and integrate it with your classroom for example. Teach them about St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. Jerome, St. Martyr, etc. katholikos=>catholic 107 A.D., “to not know scripture is to not know Christ”, and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. just a few small examples of historical early Church beliefs from the very beginning. They need to fall in Love with God, not the world. Plant the seed now and pray for it to Grow later.

PAX. Thanks for your generous service to God, the Church and our children.

 

[HouseArrest]

Welcome to my world from a different side of the podium…so to speak. My wife and I teach CCD. We get tired of feeling marginalized by the Catholic School. Catholic schools should just be shut down in my opinion and the money invested in CCD.

Catholic schools are yuppy training grounds, not holy ground taining grounds. It’s sad but true. Shame on the clergy and laity that support such a shallow thing.

Praying always for this cause and especially for vocations. Praying for orthodoxy.

Nails on a chalkboard! I am sure there are lots of places where this is true, but not everywhere! Our very faithful Catholic schools are struggling to stay afloat - because parents want football over a Catholic education. We are not a fancy yuppy Catholic school system - we are very humble and modest - but we are definitely Catholic. And there are many, many of us all over the place. There are a lot of us working very hard to keep ourselves healthy and maybe turn the tide for Catholic education.

What do you get when your CCD program is sooooo great that it expands and expands? A Catholic school. Think about it.

Finally, for the teacher who started this all - remember, there are lots of people at a concert. Some bought very expensive front row seats, some were driving by and bought a lawn ticket because they had nothing better to do, most are somewhere in the middle. But guess what? They are all hearing the same music.

Take this opportunity to teach as many as you can as much as you can. Don’t get discouraged! We need you!

 

[marci]

We are not a fancy yuppy Catholic school system - we are very humble and modest - but we are definitely Catholic. And there are many, many of us all over the place. There are a lot of us working very hard to keep ourselves healthy and maybe turn the tide for Catholic education.

Ditto this. Our school is trying everyday to set our kids on fire for Jesus. This month, for example, every Friday during Lent the children do the stations of the Cross and Parents are invited to join in.
After thursday morning Mass (which students attend), Father gives the lessons on the readings and gospel himself as the kids gather round.
The kids make and learn to recite the rosary. They learn about the Saints. They are provided time for Reconciliation regularly. They learn to treat each other like brothers and sisters in Christ. They pray throughout the day.

Not every Catholic School is just a yuppie training ground. As catholics, we should all do everything we can to support catholic education. For some kids, this is the only example of the faith they will get. Bishops should help every parish that wants a school start one.

To the OP, don’t lose faith in what you do. You reach people, even if it’s just one student a year. Imagine what that one student might do with what you’ve given him/her. How many hearts they may touch, or lives they might change.

 

[vocatio]

You just reiterated what I was saying. I was being whitty with my use of the “yuppie”. Many Catholic schools are running down hill. However, what I say is true to some respects. Statistics are really sad to see and confirm what I say. You hit the nail on the head when you said let CCD grow and grow and grow…YES! A Catholic School. One thing Fr. Groeschel said one day that I believe he was reciting something a Saint said was that any order that does not produce good fruit should fizzle out and cease to exist. But another one steps up in its place that is stronger,and better. That’s my point. There are far to many hypocrits living off the reputation of a “good” Catholic education because many of them are in fact good schools for the basics.

I’m sad to here that these children are learning the rosary at school. That should have already been done at home. Get my point yet. No I realize we live in reality, but that’s the problem with the state of many Catholic families. They low ball when it comes to the most important thing about a good Catholic education - leaning about our faith. They have already bought into the Protestant rejections of many of our devotions not realizing the truth in it all. I met a woman in RCIA that went to Catholic School her whole life and knew nothing about the real presence, confession, etc. She sounded like a real dingbat, but she had a professional job. This admittingly is a worse case scenario. But there is a guy at my work that went to Catholic schools and basically knows nothing.

Finally, one more or many, one of the catechist goes around telling new people that the scriptures arene’t important to learn. She’s in her 50’s or 60’s, the age group with all the flower children that say anything goes and everybody is saved. And either this one or another says there are many paths that lead to heaven. That’s just simple heresy. The Church has a teaching on how other faiths can reach salvation through the Church but they are not saved through there own establishments. And this is truly the “narrow gate”. We just don’t konw for sure what will happen. Sure we want everyone to be saved, but hell is real, not some fairy tale to scare people into believing in God or doing good.

I don’t think Catholics are not being served well by the heretics within the ranks, thus the weeds. Heresy has been around since the beginning, but that doesn’t mean we allow it to go unchecked. I’m proud of you for teaching. I’m proud that we have these schools. But I do want “REQUIRED” catechesis of the teachers and testing to take place with ALL teachers required to be Catholic…truly Catholic and not heretics with agendas to encourage girls to seek the priesthood and crazy stuff like that. Confession is not necessary or Jesus is not really there. I hear this stuff throughout my life and thought it was gone for the most part yet it’s still prevelent. The same is true for CCD children. Like I said I think I actually caught a woman who’s child attends CCD and she went to mass at the same time the child was in CCD. It’s a lie. And the little childs have proselytizing grandparents that believe we’re hell bound … not wise. One of the grandparents is 'liberal" to the point of denial of these facts. It’s scary, many of these cafateria Catholics are wealthy and influential in so many ways it’s deeply sad to me. So in an attempt to be happy and at peace I just pray intently for them and the Church.

But I’m not risking my children for an institution that may have already seen it’s current mode of operation null and void or orthodoxy. Out with the old and in with the new. It served its purpose and now we need something better…something that yields fruit. Sending children into the public schools is a way of evangelizing others. If we do a good job at home, our children will do well among the wolves. Many of the wolves are really sheep in wolves clothing instead of the otherway around. We need to show that we are proud and know our faith and show our faith in the fullness of truth. That’s how you do it and is the way our former Protestant faith does it even today.

I think Catholic Schools are great, but don’t act like its holy ground and the rest of our children are far short of being able to reach holiness because they don’t get to go to Catholic schools. That’s just hateful and marginalizes those children. We’ve sacrifice as much as we can without falling on our face. If we moved then things might change a little because we lower our home payment and move to not so good a school area. That would free up the money to send our chldren to school. But I am a Benedictine at heart in many ways. The differnce between Franciscans and Benedictines when it comes to detatchment is that Benedictines believe in stability. That’s me. I went to 11 differernt public schools before college. The last year my dad offered to put me in a Catholic School but I said what’s the use and why add another school to the 11 I’ve already attended. I was sick of moving. Stability is one of the best things we can do for children. My children feel safe and they are well adjusted. They are also very smart and in honors. They are also more involed in church activity as we have always practiced our faith that way. We hope that cradle Catholcs will discover this and follow the example we bring to them. In many ways, we are more Catholic that cradle Catholics. I hope to see a change in the direction of the tide in my life.

Pray for our vocations…we need more religious and clergy, especially a healthy priesthood that would increase if we can get Catholics to realize the importance and beauty of having large religious communities. Personally, I make many mistakes too and thankfull God helps me with His mercy and reveals my false pride seeing the truth more clearly causing continual conversion.

 

[HouseArrest]

You just reiterated what I was saying. No, I don’t think that I did.
I was being whitty with my use of the “yuppie”. Many Catholic schools are running down hill.
And many are not, one being ours.
However, what I say is true to some respects. Statistics are really sad to see and confirm what I say. You hit the nail on the head when you said let CCD grow and grow and grow…YES!
Maybe I was unclear with that statement. What I said was WHEN your CCD grows and grows - engages students and needs more time - it would have nowhere to go but to become a Catholic School. We already have those. Plus I must add, our CCD program is not great. The parents there are not very committed. It would be a long haul to improve it.
A Catholic School. One thing Fr. Groeschel said one day that I believe he was reciting something a Saint said was that any order that does not produce good fruit should fizzle out and cease to exist.
Again, our school produces good fruit and should therefore not fizzle.
But another one steps up in its place that is stronger,and better.
Is CCD that strong it your parish? It isn’t here.

I’m sad to here that these children are learning the rosary at school. That should have already been done at home.
Our kids learn as much at home as they do at school. If they are at school for 6-8 hours a day, I am not with them, so I cannot teach them at that time. However I can choose a place that will be consistent with what I am doing at home. Not everyone relies on the school to teach their kids everything. But there are some kids at the school whose parents did not teach them the rosary. So they do it at school. Likewise, there are kids who do not know how to add. They go over that in Math class, while some kids who already know it sit through it because that’s how school works.
Get my point yet. No I realize we live in reality, but that’s the problem with the state of many Catholic families. They low ball when it comes to the most important thing about a good Catholic education - leaning about our faith. They have already bought into the Protestant rejections of many of our devotions not realizing the truth in it all. I met a woman in RCIA that went to Catholic School her whole life and knew nothing about the real presence, confession, etc. She sounded like a real dingbat, but she had a professional job. This admittingly is a worse case scenario. But there is a guy at my work that went to Catholic schools and basically knows nothing.
I went to Catholic (grade) school and know plenty.
Finally, one more or many, one of the catechist goes around telling new people that the scriptures arene’t important to learn. She’s in her 50’s or 60’s, the age group with all the flower children that say anything goes and everybody is saved. And either this one or another says there are many paths that lead to heaven. That’s just simple heresy. The Church has a teaching on how other faiths can reach salvation through the Church but they are not saved through there own establishments. And this is truly the “narrow gate”. We just don’t konw for sure what will happen. Sure we want everyone to be saved, but hell is real, not some fairy tale to scare people into believing in God or doing good.

I don’t think Catholics are not being served well by the heretics within the ranks, thus the weeds. Heresy has been around since the beginning, but that doesn’t mean we allow it to go unchecked. I’m proud of you for teaching. I’m proud that we have these schools. But I do want “REQUIRED” catechesis of the teachers and testing to take place with ALL teachers required to be Catholic…truly Catholic and not heretics with agendas to encourage girls to seek the priesthood and crazy stuff like that. Confession is not necessary or Jesus is not really there. I hear this stuff throughout my life and thought it was gone for the most part yet it’s still prevelent. The same is true for CCD children. Like I said I think I actually caught a woman who’s child attends CCD and she went to mass at the same time the child was in CCD. It’s a lie. And the little childs have proselytizing grandparents that believe we’re hell bound … not wise. One of the grandparents is 'liberal" to the point of denial of these facts. It’s scary, many of these cafateria Catholics are wealthy and influential in so many ways it’s deeply sad to me. So in an attempt to be happy and at peace I just pray intently for them and the Church.
I will agree there are a lot of ineffective teachers in some Catholic schools and also in CCD. Why wipe out the Catholic schools but keep the CCD?But I’m not risking my children for an institution that may have already seen it’s current mode of operation null and void or orthodoxy. Out with the old and in with the new. It served its purpose and now we need something better…something that yields fruit. Sending children into the public schools is a way of evangelizing others. If we do a good job at home, our children will do well among the wolves. Many of the wolves are really sheep in wolves clothing instead of the otherway around. We need to show that we are proud and know our faith and show our faith in the fullness of truth. That’s how you do it and is the way our former Protestant faith does it even today.

I think Catholic Schools are great, but don’t act like its holy ground and the rest of our children are far short of being able to reach holiness because they don’t get to go to Catholic schools. I don’t think I acted like that. You were the one that wanted to wipe out the Catholic schools.

 

[redheadsmommy]

Franciscan,
As some of the other have said- you have my prayers in what you have to deal with daily. I too am a CCD teaqcher like some of the others and feel frustrated as well. I attend a very small parish where I only have eight children on my roll in a 3rd-4th grade class room- sadly my avergage class attendance is around three children(including my kid). I have one child who has a mother with a neuromuscular illness that makes it difficult for her to get moving most mornings, another child whose mother is having a difficult pregancy, another whose father is out of town for a job(moms not a very devout catholic),another whose mother is single ,going to school and working. Don’t get me wrong- I empathize with all of these situations but I get very frustrated when I am trying so very hard to help these children realize our most beautiful faith traditions and end up having to teach the same lesson for four or more weeks in a row. I could send home written information but I figure that if the children aren’t sent to church weekly who is going to go over the info with them. I also say why can’t the other family members help in getting these kids to a class that is important as their educational classroom. My husband is not Catholic but I can guarantee you that if I am unable to get my kids to church or CCD that he had better do it. ( if Mama ain’t happy , nobody’s happy) Basically,what I am saying is that apathy with our faith is not just exclusive to the kids families who attend Catholic schools- it is unfortunate that it exists for so many Catholics period. The Catholics on this forum are the exceptions( they are here because they want to learn more about there faith) and so many people from my generation received a washed down version of CCD that has not helped.
We all need to pray for those who do not know the blessings of our beloved church- I know that the Holy Spirit is what brought me to a better understanding and need for knowledge so I pray that he will guide others.

In Christ, Deborah

 

[Scanner]

You know what? As a somewhat secular person, I agree with you!!!

We secularists shouldn’t just be able to “jump ship” into a Catholic school because the public school isn’t living up to it’s duties and matters have deteriorated.

I see that a lot - “How can I get Johnny into St. Anthony’s Prep? Do I like. . .join the church. . .and he gets in?”

We should be involved in our community and make the public school a better place to live by getting involved. . .not school shopping.

Sometimes it’s actually the flip situation - the public school is better from a pure academic standpoint.

However. . .that being said, I guess the public school doesn’t have the luxury to turn away a Catholic. They have to take everyone into their arms. So, if the Catholic moms and dads are moving Johnny into public schools, they have to take them.

I guess there is a double standard.

 

[SeekerJen]

I firmly believe it’s the duty of parents to be primary teachers of the faith. Catholic schools and religious ed reinforce what parents should be teaching.

However, how did your kids get to high school and not know what sacraments are? What did they learn in grades 1 - 8?

You’d be amazed at what they DON’T learn. I attended Catholic school from grades K-8, from 1983-1992. I learned very little doctrine and almost no Church history. In fact, I don’t remember learning anything of use past 2nd grade (in K-2 we learned about the Mass and the sacraments to prepare for first Communion). The OP could have been describing my former school, the way it was 20 years ago (I’ve since left that parish so I don’t know whether things have changed). As far as many of the parents of my peers were concerned, once the kids were confirmed, faith education was done. Our school required Mass attendance before kids could be confirmed, so once that hurdle was jumped, a lot of people stopped attending. I sympathize with the OP, but unfortunately this problem has been decades in the making.

These kids don’t know their faith because their parents don’t know the faith, weren’t taught it, and didn’t care. Or they were taught a pack of lies, have accepted it as truth, and have decided the Church is nonsense and they can believe whatever they want. Either way, they see no reason to teach their kids about the faith and figure that Catholic school is enough, thus the kids get no home reinforcement of what they learn in school. As parents are generally the strongest role models for their children, the kids internalize this and also begin to think that religion has no practical value. Add to that normal teenage rebellion and you have a mess.