CCD Program is Expensive!

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You’re lucky. We get a break on materials by ordering the text books and workbooks through the diocese but parents are expected to cover most, if not all the cost.

In fact, I’ve just been told that we have to start charging parents being prepared for the baptism of their children to defray the cost of the new program workbook. I have a hard time with telling them they have to have preparation but they have to pay for it but no we don’t charge for Baptism.
 
maryjk said:
I’ve been a CCD teacher and an EMHC.

Teaching included a background check, numerous mandatory education classes, meetings and at least one trip to our deanery parish. There were also additional classes to become “certified.”
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It’s different everywhere. Other than the cost of the material, our parish incurs little to no cost for religious ed.

The vulnerable sector police check is free, the teachers aren’t paid, and what training they get (which is very little as it’s not mandatory) is paid for by the diocese. In our parish it’s “Who wants to teach religious ed? Oh, you. Ok, here you go here’s the form for a police check, here’s the material we use, good luck.”
 
Gorgias said:
Be that as it may, they’re still the costs associated with CCD. If there weren’t a program, then there wouldn’t be these costs.
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Of course. There are many costs associated with running a parish and if they were all broken down for us, we could better apply the costs to those who use the services.
Gorgias said:
Are you seriously comparing RCIA with CCD, given that the latter typically serves 50 to 100 times more people? 😉
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Yes, I am seriously comparing RCIA with CCD, given that they serve similar functions. Are you saying that it is not worth it to charge people for RCIA because there aren’t enough people to bring in money?
Gorgias said:
C’mon, now… you know that fees cannot be charged for sacraments. Apples and oranges, here… :roll_eyes:
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Riiiiiight… we don’t charge fees for sacraments. We only charge larger fees for mandatory Faith Formation classes in sacrament years. We only have “suggested donations” for infant baptism (although many parishes list them as “fees”). We only have “church rental” for weddings, though having one’s wedding in the Church is mandatory. So perhaps we could implement weekly “pew rental” fees for Mass? Confessional rental, maybe? The sacrament itself is free.

As long as the Latin Rite ties the reception of sacraments to the formal education of a child, Faith Formation classes will be seen as (and will effectively be) charges for sacraments.
Gorgias said:
Nah. It doesn’t.
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Maybe not your church building. For ours, it costs quite a bit, for a variety of reasons. Besides, even if it doesn’t cost a lot, should that cost not be directly borne by those who utilize the building during that time?
Gorgias said:
If the training program for catechists in your diocese isn’t more extensive than that offered for an EMHC, I weep for the future of catechesis in your diocese… 😉
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The OP says that the classes in her parish are taught by high school students. I doubt that they have received (or paid for) extensive training.
Gorgias said:
The question, then, is the funding model, and how we can pay for the ministries we provide. For whatever reason, folks seem to think that it doesn’t cost real dollars to run a parish and provide its ministries! 🤣
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Of course. We definitely lack a sense of stewardship and a culture of giving generously to our parishes. I once had a pastor who was often approached by families seeking financial assistance in sending their children to the parish school. He always recommended that they should first stop their donations to the parish and direct it to the tuition payments instead because he recognized the value of the Catholic education for the future of the Church and for those children’s souls.

Forming our children in the faith should be looked at in a similar fashion - not an expense to be borne by the individuals who require it, but an investment in the future of the parish, the children, and the Church as a whole.
 
The most expensive textbooks/workbooks I’ve seen were around $30 each.

We switched to Formed.org for Baptism prep. Parents LOVE that they can watch the videos anytime then come in for a chat about questions.
 
Im wondering about overhead?
Is it to help with costs of having the parish building open for classes (ie electric, heat) Is the sexton paid to close up the building after classes are over? assuming it held at the parish building. What about if it’s not held at the parish building? Is a place rented?
 
We’re switching to “REBORN, You, Your Child, and the Heart of Baptism” by the Augustine Institute.
 
TheLittleLady said:
Formed.org = Augustine Institute. “Reborn” is included as are several other studies 🙂
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I just checked it out and saw that.

How do you go about it? If we just said go to FORMED and gave them a code there is an 80% chance that they wouldn’t even attempt to log in. The majority of those we see at baptismal preparation are non practicing.
 
Right now, the administrator can go in and make sure they have set up an account.

They watch the videos, then, they schedule a meeting with the DRE. The DRE asks questions during the meeting over the things covered in the Participant’s Guide (available for download on Formed).

In the future FORMED will be able to give even more detailed data back.

We have seen people return to practice of the Faith from watching the Reborn videos (the are so good that they start watching other things).

Some people do not have internet at home, so, we let them watch it up here.
 
Ditto for the parish my wife and kids are at… A huge point of contention when they switched from the really nice classroom program to the “parents do the work” program was that the price stayed the same. I know many have asked, but as far as I know, nobody told us why. Since there’s no busing, food, less supplies needed, etc… nobody understands why the prices didn’t drop. I think if the prices dropped, more people would have been a little more receptive of the program change.
 
Our baptismal prep consisted of one class with a worksheet prepared by the deacon who discussed the material with us. We did not have to repeat the class with subsequent babies. I cannot fathom turning the ordeal into a high-priced curriculum!

For other sacraments, I wouldn’t take issue with charging a small fee for materials if only said materials weren’t such twaddle. My son’s First Communion prep was pretty babyish and talked down to 8-year-olds: “Jesus loves you. He wants you to do nice things for people. Draw a picture of you helping somebody.”
 
Phemie said:
Other than the cost of the material, our parish incurs little to no cost for religious ed.
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Do you employ a DRE? Do you pay him/her “little to no[thing]”? 😉
babochka said:
Are you saying that it is not worth it to charge people for RCIA because there aren’t enough people to bring in money?
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No. I’m saying that the costs associated with teaching a school of 100+ children at CCD are different than the costs associated with leading one roomful of RCIA for ~10 adults.
babochka said:
We only charge larger fees for mandatory Faith Formation classes in sacrament years.
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If we were smart, we would charge based on attendance. (“Oh… your children attended every year of CCD? Your fee this year is $100, as usual. We haven’t seen your children since their First Holy Communion? Your pro-rated fee this year is $500.”)
babochka said:
We only have “suggested donations” for infant baptism
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Interesting. I’ve never seen that, at the parishes with which I’ve been affiliated, over the years.
babochka said:
So perhaps we could implement weekly “pew rental” fees for Mass?
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“Re-implement”, you mean…? 😉
babochka said:
The OP says that the classes in her parish are taught by high school students. I doubt that they have received (or paid for) extensive training.
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To be fair, I find it hard to believe that the program is being run by youths under the age of 18. Perhaps they assist, but aren’t the main teachers? I’d find it hard to believe that parents of primary-grade children are OK with there being no adult supervision of their children at CCD.
babochka said:
He always recommended that they should first stop their donations to the parish and direct it to the tuition payments instead
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Smart man. The cost of ‘scholarships’ and other assistance would likely be far more expensive than the $10-20 / week that the families were likely giving to the parish. 😉
blackforest said:
I wouldn’t take issue with charging a small fee for materials if only said materials weren’t such twaddle. My son’s First Communion prep was pretty babyish and talked down to 8-year-olds: “Jesus loves you. He wants you to do nice things for people. Draw a picture of you helping somebody.”
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I know. What were they thinking? Second graders should be required to write 10-page essays describing the Thomistic foundation of Sacramental Theology! :roll_eyes: 😉
 
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That is a really good idea Gorgias! I will look into that. I think homeschooling for this would be much more beneficial for the kids and they would likely get more out of it…I just wonder if the church would honor it.
 
LauraFS22 said:
I think homeschooling for this would be much more beneficial for the kids and they would likely get more out of it…I just wonder if the church would honor it.
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Many (most?) parishes do. It doesn’t hurt to ask, right? 👍
 
No it includes nothing except for a soft cover text book. I give in church on Sundays too and when it comes time to actually receive the sacraments there is a fee for that also. I am not sure what makes this so expensive but I am afraid my husband will refuse to pay for it and my kids won’t get their sacraments.
 
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