Children's Catholic Instruction?

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Does anyone here know Church instructions on how we are to present the following to children in Catholic children’s Sunday School classes? I ask because I recently heard a teacher tell the children that these stories “are not true. They did not happen. These are stories that are just meant to help us.”

Noah and the Ark
Jonah and the Whale
Adam and Eve/Garden of Eden
Daniel in the Lion’s Den

I was surprised to hear a teacher tell the children that these were not true stories. The children were ages 4-10. Anyone know Church ruling on exactly how we are to present these stories to young children? True stories? Myths? Parables? Literally true?
Thank you for clarifying for me.
 
Contact your parish priest and your director of religious education and report this. If it was the director stating such, contact your diocesan office of catechesis.

This is gravely wrong and needs to be addressed, pronto.
 
I was always taught they were just myths used to help us better understand God. I was taught so much error in school that I don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong. I trust very few people to be teaching the truth anymore.
 
1ke said:
Contact your parish priest and your director of religious education and report this. If it was the director stating such, contact your diocesan office of catechesis.

This is gravely wrong and needs to be addressed, pronto.
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I am grateful for your reply, truly and will do as you suggest. Could you point me to a specific Canon law or catechesis by chance? If not, I will await the diocesan reply. I felt in my heart that this was wrong but do not know the exact teaching.
Gratefully,
Kathryn Ann
 
I’m not sure about all the examples you mention, but the CCC teaches that Adam and Eve are two, real, historic people living in an actual, historic location.
 
Anniejoe said:
I’m not sure about all the examples you mention, but the CCC teaches that Adam and Eve are two, real, historic people living in an actual, historic location.
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Can you please point me to the exact location in the CCC as I would like to read it. I asked a very similar question in my RCIA class on Sunday. I was raised Baptist and we were taught that everything in the Bible is literal. I have been told by both teachers and priests at my parish that Catholics are not obligated to take all the stories in the Bible as literal, but can sometimes be parables or stories even when not explicitly stated as such in the scripture. I have also read this in the CAF.

God Bless!
 
The CCC is a great summary of catholic beliefs, but here I think you want actual magisterial documents and in this case the ones you’re looking for are from Pope Pius X’s Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1909. I’d recommend having a copy of Denzinger and Ott on your shelf for cases like these. Everything you need for this sort of thing is in there.
 
James924 said:
The CCC is a great summary of catholic beliefs, but here I think you want actual magisterial documents and in this case the ones you’re looking for are from Pope Pius X’s Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1909. I’d recommend having a copy of Denzinger and Ott on your shelf for cases like these. Everything you need for this sort of thing is in there.
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Thank you James!
 
Yes, Pope Saint Pius X wrote several times against the modernist habit of making the history of the Church look like merely a pious story. Either he or Pople Pius IX wrote the Syllabus of Errors that includes this error.

I agree with 1ke - report this to your priest and then to your bishop. You might check which resources are being used also.
 
It is very important to realize that there is a LOT of leeway in the Catholic interpretation of these stories as to whether they actually happened or are parables. HOWEVER… there are certain facts, especially about the story of Adam and Eve, that must be believed. (Most notably, that Adam and Eve actually existed as real people.) However, even this does not preclude the possibility of believing in something like evolution, as long as it was guided by the hand of God. It is wise that you are doing research on this area.
 
Doctrinal explanations and senses of scripture aside, these are young children. This isn’t a matter of whether or not the catechist is *technically *correct in what she is saying. Moreover, the person in question actually stated that the stories “are not true” and this is entirely inaccurate and in opposition to Church teaching. Telling something like this to 4-10 year olds is harmful to their faith formation.

The Vatican certainly gives guidance (and the diocesan catechesis director should be giving such guidance in their catechist certification program) on how to teach children at their appropriate developmental stage. A teacher should NOT make such statements to this age group. The Vatican has put out gobs and gobs of documents. Every catechist should be familiar with the General Directory for Catechesis:

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_17041998_directory-for-catechesis_en.html

We must remember that children need to be taught at the appropriate level of understanding given their physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive stage. You do not teach the concept that these are “just stories” or “myths” to seven year olds. They are not cognitively able to process these concepts in such a way. They are at a very concrete stage in their development.

You might be able to teach this to well-formed junior high or high school students introducing senses of scripture, explaining carefully what myth and mystery mean within this context, how we have leeway in our interpretation of the first 10 chapters of Genesis, how science and faith are compatible, what the Church teaches on miracles, allegory, etc.

Again, we aren’t talking about the doctrine we are talking about a complete and utter lack of common sense and apparently lack of training in how to teach the faith to children.
 
1ke said:
Doctrinal explanations and senses of scripture aside, these are young children. This isn’t a matter of whether or not the catechist is *technically *correct in what she is saying. Moreover, the person in question actually stated that the stories “are not true” and this is entirely inaccurate and in opposition to Church teaching. Telling something like this to 4-10 year olds is harmful to their faith formation.

The Vatican certainly gives guidance (and the diocesan catechesis director should be giving such guidance in their catechist certification program) on how to teach children at their appropriate developmental stage. A teacher should NOT make such statements to this age group. The Vatican has put out gobs and gobs of documents. Every catechist should be familiar with the General Directory for Catechesis:

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_17041998_directory-for-catechesis_en.html

We must remember that children need to be taught at the appropriate level of understanding given their physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive stage. You do not teach the concept that these are “just stories” or “myths” to seven year olds. They are not cognitively able to process these concepts in such a way. They are at a very concrete stage in their development.

You might be able to teach this to well-formed junior high or high school students introducing senses of scripture, explaining carefully what myth and mystery mean within this context, how we have leeway in our interpretation of the first 10 chapters of Genesis, how science and faith are compatible, what the Church teaches on miracles, allegory, etc.

Again, we aren’t talking about the doctrine we are talking about a complete and utter lack of common sense and apparently lack of training in how to teach the faith to children.
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Yes, well said. The above states my exact concerns for the appropriate guidance at the differing age levels. Knowing the Church’s teaching is important to me whenever a question arises. I also had considered the possibility that* older *students might naturally begin to ask their own questions, but that to begin introducing Scriptures to such young ones by using the words “just stories” disturbed me. I am grateful for the guidance here, being a Catholic convert.
 
Are Catholics allowed to believe that the OT stories are not “just stories” but really actually happened? I know that we must believe that Adam and Eve were real people and committed the original sin. But -* can* we believe that the other parts of the Old Testament are also literally true? Is there a dogma about this?

In any case, (whether the Church says these stories are literally true or convey spiritual truths) - I think it’s not right to tell children that the stories are not true at all. And even if the Church says they are metaphorical, children might not understand that part and think they’re simply made up, and that can harm the faith of a child, imo).
 
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