Cradle catholics: why do you think other cradle catholics aren't well catechized?

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Cjbhoward said:
I mean you read the saints & they have a way of talking about a relationship with the holy trinity, which leads to a nuptial union… similar, but different than the “personal relationship” we speak of today, which in comparison seems superficial.
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Absolutely. The word “relationship” itself is deceiving. It seems so wonderful: what Christian could object to having a “relationship” with Christ, right? But relating still happens at a distance, even if it’s a short distance. At best, relationship crosses that distance; it never closes it. Yet the right connection to Christ is indeed a union: the elimination of distance altogether, and the embracing of His Spirit as one’s deepest identity.
 
I am 44 and also grew up with poor religious ed. I didn’t say my first rosary until I was in college and desperately worried that I might be pregnant.

I am so grateful for the internet. Much of my knowledge comes from online sources. I ordered books on Catholicism by reading about them online. I am self educated. I don’t necessarily agree that previous generations received a better education. That was not the case in my family.
 
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If it’s any recourse during these times, do you think that at the very least with the internet, Catholics will be able to learn about the treasures from their history, tradition and about the Faith? Additionally, it’s an avenue for community.
 
I was born in 1977, so I will speak for my parents and my experience.

After Vatican II, there was a lot of confusion because a lot of things changed all at once. Many Baby Boomers (who were still young at the time) were told during their childhood that the Church never changes, then bamb- tons of changes. Many of their parents (my grandparents’ generation) could not explain to their young adult Children (the Baby Boomers) how the Church changed and didn’t change.

So there were a lot of Baby Boomers having Gen X children, not knowing what to teach their children. Also, many parents thought the CCD programs were teaching the kids everything they needed to know. But in reality, the CCD programs were really just a “lab” and the CCD teachers were expecting the parents to be teaching the faith at home. But the parents were expecting the kids to learn everything at CCD.

I think many Baby Boomers thought the CCD programs would be equivalent to the theology / religion classes they took in Catholic School. But they were not.

For example, it wasn’t until I was 39 or 40 years old that my mother realized that our CCD teachers never took us to confession (besides our First Confession). She expected them to be taking us to Confession regularly after our First Confession. She never knew that the only way we would get to confession as kids was if she took us.

My parents also expected us to learn all of the traditional Catholic Prayers, devotions, etc. in CCD. But I really only learned the Our Father, half of the Hail Mary, and that God loves us in CCD. Though I guess, I learned the Apostles’ Creed too, but I can never remember it without reading it or reciting it with others.

So there was a real disconnect between the young Baby Boomer parents and the CCD instruction offered at the parishes. This lead to a very poorly catechized Generation X, which has made things worse.

Only now are some dioceses really starting to create in depth CCD programs to teach the kids what their parents don’t know.

So this is my experience.

God Bless
 
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phil19034 said:
Also, many parents thought the CCD programs were teaching the kids everything they needed to know.
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I agree with your post, but in my experience it was not only the CCD programs which took a downturn but also the Catholic schools. I received a pretty good religious education at my Catholic school. I assumed, as did my parents, that my younger brothers and sisters were learning the same things I did. I was astonished much later to learn that they had been taught practically nothing of the Faith.
 
If you don’t mind me asking what did they teach you in Catholic school?

Like the Immaculate Conception?
🙂🤔🙂🙂🙂 @JimG
 
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For the first several grades we were taught from the Baltimore Catechism. (My father, who was not Catholic, would often go over the questions and answers with me at home to make sure I knew them.) I don’t think we memorized it all, but the meaning of it and all the Catholic doctrines did stay with me and were reinforced in the upper grades. We also were taught bible history, with stories from Genesis and Exodus.

Yes, we learned the Immaculate Conception, the life of Jesus, the resurrection, the ascension, all the major doctrines of the Church.
We learned the Sacraments as well.

Apparently at a later time, doctrine was de-emphasized, and religious ed consisted mainly of singing, making banners, and talking about love.
 
Sounds familiar with me too. The vibe I always got from my grandparents (born 1920s kids grew up in 1960s) was a sense of “we did everything for our kids that our parents did for us, why didn’t it work?”
 
ConfusedLucy said:
The vibe I always got from my grandparents (born 1920s kids grew up in 1960s) was a sense of “we did everything for our kids that our parents did for us, why didn’t it work?”
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This is a good framework for understanding what happened.

At Vatican II, the question was why did the peopel born in the 1920s and earlier do so little to stop the violence of WW2? What went wrong? How could catholics support Fascists, Nazis, monarchists?

In the 1960s, grappling with that question, the Church moved away from the autocratic, imposed by hierarchies on underlings, models of teaching. The emphasis shifted to affirming dignity of every person and the need to cooperate. People were taught to work together on projects. How to express values in meaningful ways. “Making banners” may not seem like a way to learn faith, but it fulfilled these 2 objectives.

By the 1990s, the urgency of WW2 faded, along with the conviction that catechesis had failed to prevent violence. Some tried to revive the failed catechesis from the ‘30s. Others continued with the ways of the 60s. And others recognized deficiencies, and tried to create new programs. This has continued to the present.
 
Even with a good church life at home, I think it’s inevitable that there will be attrition, what with the secular world we live in and adolescence. But I have to think a lot of bad catechesis originates from a poor domestic Church. A lot of parents don’t educate their children. Even those who go to Church every Sunday and send their kids to Sunday school. That doesn’t cut it in today’s world (America, at least). There’s a lot unintentional syncretism of believe what with the many Christian denominations one encounters, a lot of seeing anything more than “God loves everyone it doesn’t matter what your faith is” as cultish (I was accused of this by a Methodist whose Church was pretty much Universalist), a lot of mixing with secular-only ideals…
 
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I think it’s pretty obvious that “most” Catholics aren’t well catechized…here in the US something like 25% of Catholics are regular church goers…obviously they aren’t well catechized otherwise they would know that not attending mass without just cause is a mortal sin…and many times I think that Catholics especially in the past… attended Catholic schools…and even went to mass…but never had any real commitment or understanding of Jesus Christ who founded the Catholic Church…they just went through the motions…and it’s not just Catholics…most denominations have similar problems…I do think that things are changing within the Catholic Church particularly at the Parish level…at our church our priests are very spirit filled young men…at our school the children are really taught their faith and attend daily morning mass plus there are many other faith based programs…and parents are very involved in the church and various adult programs…it’s like the Holy Spirit is breathing new life into the Catholic Church…and Catholics.
 
I think a lot of times the faith is watered down when taught to young people. When I was taking CCD, I experienced this. Embarrassingly enough, I remember being surprised when I moved and went to a different parish, and my CCD teacher told us the Eucharist was definitely Jesus’ body and blood, and in no way a symbol. Now I have complete faith in that reality, but I can’t believe I went that long without any one informing me, clearly and directly, about that fact.

When I have spoken to recently converted Catholics they have talked about how much research and questions they asked before they became Catholic. They wanted to make sure they had the right faith, this time.

When I talk to other cradle Catholics, they are often surprised by my excitement about my faith. I love talking about my faith, with no watered down anything. 🙂
 
I imagine when people say Jesus is present body blood soul and divinity in the Eucharist it’s not very clear for a child what that means. @KateriCatholic
 
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That is true. But I can’t ever remember anyone saying, this is REALLY Jesus’ body. The concept can be sufficiently communicated to children, even if the precise theological terms are not used.
 
KateriCatholic said:
Embarrassingly enough, I remember being surprised when I moved and went to a different parish, and my CCD teacher told us the Eucharist was definitely Jesus’ body and blood, and in no way a symbol. Now I have complete faith in that reality, but I can’t believe I went that long without any one informing me, clearly and directly, about that fact.
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I once talked to a really great bishop who had experienced similar catechesis when young. He said he knew nothing about the Eucharist until he got to seminary. This was a surprise to me since my entire first communion class were taught the reality of the Eucharist in second grade.
 
I can relate. It was (once again) just assumed we knew that the Eucharist was the body and blood. I think I was mid teens and read a leaflet by chance when I realized this.

I think because tight knit Catholic communities don’t really exist in the UK and we mix with people of different religions and pick up ideas it’s easy to get confused without direct teaching
 
Whenever I have a question about Catholicism I talk to my father in law who converted ( he used to be Anglican) now my mother in law was born and raised catholic and so was my Fiance.
My mother in law and fiance joke about me playing ask an Anglican but I really do love my father in laws advice. ( Even when I ask him if I’m supposed to wear white for first holy communion and he replies wear something light and comfortable who am I am I the fashion police)
I got my Fiance to ask his mother if they had a spare catechism i could borrow she said that they don’t have one at all. And my Fiance made the comment that me and his father know more than his mother. I think some cradle Catholics are so used to going to church and doing certain things that over the years the prayers the rosaries etc etc just stop and they continue to just go to church ( although my mother in law pretty much runs the church with my father in laws help ) almost like she is stuck in a routine where as for me in still in the “honey moon” phase still deeply in love with catholism and all I can learn beacuse for me it’s still new and fresh and vibrant
 
Agreed. There are bad online sources, so one must be careful, but generally the internet is beneficial.
 
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