Effective Confirmation lesson plans?

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Windfish said:
One common reservation is that faith, they fear, is an affront to reason and science. How do you tackle that without apologetics?
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Honestly, I think you are WAY overthinking it. I’ve taught a LOT of teens in confirmation and none of them have ever had this issue bouncing around in their head.
Windfish said:
So do we continue merrily along as if we are all believers and answer questions as they come up, or do you actually realize the situation and be proactive?
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You answer questions as they arise in the context of the lesson. You can anticipate some questions.

Parental requirements and belief on the part of the teen are not necessarily mutually exclusive. I also had an “I don’t want to be here” attitude in religion class, but I was most definitely a believer.
 
I am the director of youth & young adult ministry in my parish and would not allow any catechists to do what you are thinking of doing. There is a very good reason we use developed programs. They work. 1ke is right, the purpose is sacramental prep. They need opportunities to encounter Christ, they need to know the Mass, they need to learn what their obligations are as a confirmed Catholics.

Apologetics are fine, but not for sacramental prep.
 
Windfish said:
A lot of them are receiving the sacrament, more than likely, because their parents are forcing them to do so. And many of them won’t participate for that very reason. So do we continue merrily along as if we are all believers and answer questions as they come up, or do you actually realize the situation and be proactive?
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This may be very true in the beginning but once they start to engage, they begin to want to be confirmed.

Use a program approved by your diocese and give opportunities for the youth really encounter Jesus Christ.
 
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Horton, hold on a sec. Apologetics is about explaining what we believe and why we believe it. Why on earth are you opposed to that? The situation in most parishes in the United States is dire - most families and parishes do not explain to young people what we believe and why. This has lead to apostasy and attitudes that the Church is backwards, superstitious, and bigoted. For many young people, Confirmation is the last stop before full-on secularization. Are you saying that these programs prevent that from happening, and prevent that from happening WITHOUT apologetics?

Perhaps I am not giving these programs all that much credit, then. But even then, why on earth would you be opposed to apologetics AND these programs?
 
TheLittleLady said:
I have heard great things about using Catholic Alpha for Confirmation as so many of our folks are Sacramentalized but have never been evangelized.
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Personally, I don’t think Alpha for Confirmation is the way to go. The program is a little too boring for kids.

Honestly, I think our parishes should be takings Confirmation kids BEFORE and AFTER confirmation to a Steubenville Youth conference


This year, there will be 25 of them across the US and Canada (5 in Steubenville and the rest all over).

Also, trips to other Catholic places… those kinds of pilgrimages make a difference in a child/teen’s life.

God bless
 
Windfish said:
It seems to me that I have to address their anxieties head-on, but that would mean extended discussions in the realm of philosophy and abstract reasoning.
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Do you mean Aquinas or something like that?
Windfish said:
Horton, hold on a sec. Apologetics is about explaining what we believe and why we believe it. Why on earth are you opposed to that?
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Of course neither Horton nor anyone here opposes your explaining what we believe and why we believe it, but you don’t need extended discussions or any kind of deep philosophy, and it wouldn’t work with teens anyway.
 
The Steubenville conferences are great for some teens. They are very expensive, so, that strikes out a pretty large segment of teens right there (and the old days of teens doing a year of fundraisers to go on a big trip are over, kids are too busy with sports to show up for fundraisers).

They are Charismatic conferences. That is wonderful for some people, but, it will also turn some kids away.

Most teenagers need basic, Christianity 101. They are essentially baptized pagans.
 
I’m not against apologetics, it is just sacramental prep is not the time to focus on it. For those students who are not very familiar with the faith, they will have no idea what you are talking about. In my program I have very well rounded faithful students and I have some who haven’t been to Mass since their first communion. We must meet all these kids where they are.

Look at it this way. The programs used in sacramental prep have been written by experts in the field AND approved by the USCCB.
Windfish said:
parishes do not explain to young people what we believe and why.
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I do take exception to this. In my diocese catechizes is taken very seriously as I’m sure it is in most diocese in the US. It is taken very seriously by the USCCB. We can’t always control what happens in the home, but we can control what happens in our parishes. Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?
 
I’m not against apologetics, it is just sacramental prep is not the time to focus on it. For those students who are not very familiar with the faith, they will have no idea what you are talking about. In my program I have very well rounded faithful students and I have some who haven’t been to Mass since their first communion. We must meet all these kids where they are.
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I agree completely, which is why apologetics is perfect. “Where they are,” where these kids are, is often practical atheism. These are the statistics. You are more likely to reinforce their prejudices about the irrationality of faith if you ignore their theoretical barriers.

I am all for teaching prayers, authentic Catholic spirituality, the liturgy, etc. These things are critical to the moral and spiritual life, especially when times get tough. However, many young people simply will not avail themselves of these graces if they just don’t believe. Intellectual formation is important.

So I ask again, how is apologetics not suited for sacramental prep?
I do take exception to this. In my diocese catechizes is taken very seriously as I’m sure it is in most diocese in the US. It is taken very seriously by the USCCB. We can’t always control what happens in the home, but we can control what happens in our parishes. Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?
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80% of Catholic youth leave the Church at 23. If you think the status quo is acceptable after seeing this statistic, I am deeply saddened. I am glad the situation in your dioceses seems to be more stable, however, I assure you that most places in the US right now are not faring so well (see the above statistic).

Apologetics is definitely needed. It’s just a question of how are going to implement it.
 
My suggestion is to bring up your concerns and how you plan to incorporate Apologetics into the formation, with your Parish Priest and DRE.
But only after asking to be shown the material they would like you to teach, and reviewing it.

Butting heads never works with teenagers.
 
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Definitely meet them where they are. Also it’s worth trying to get a good understanding of what their lives are like as teenagers. A lot of people who work with teenagers expect them to be like younger versions of themselves, they probably aren’t.
 
Definitely meet them where they are. Also it’s worth trying to get a good understanding of what their lives are like as teenagers. A lot of people who work with teenagers expect them to be like younger versions of themselves, they probably aren’t.
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I am in my 20s. I am not terribly far removed from their experiences, though I absolutely agree that one should be very aware of differences in life experiences. Your remark about people expecting teenagers to be like younger versions of themselves is poignant. Can you elaborate?

What I would like to do is get down to specifics in this discussion. Do we, first of all, agree that there is a major problem in the Church with young people falling away? Do we also agree that Confirmation is about preparing youths to practice their faith into adulthood? If you answer Yes to both questions, then Confirmation is definitely a legitimate setting where the problem of apostasy should be addressed.

So. How exactly should it be addressed? If you say no apologetics, then how?
 
What I mean is teens grow up and come of age in a very different world to their parents and even 10 years can mean a lot of change.

For example I remember the confirmation teacher giving a group of 13 year old girls the example of being asked to visit a blind neighbour and read to them, I just thought that a) I’d be pretty impressed if their parents actually knew their neighbours but more importantly b) their parents would never let them do this due to overzealous safety concerns and not wanting to burden them. It simply wasn’t a situation they could relate to.
 
I know what you offered is just an example, but it seems me to be a rather weak one. Of course, the girls may not have been able to relate to the specific details of the story - very rarely does that happen, in any case - but can’t people, young or otherwise, see down to the moral and message of the story? The Gospel is over 2000 yrs, for crying out loud - but the words and meaning are perennial.

If this is what we mean about relating to young people, I am not concerned. For questions about suffering, alienation, figuring out who you are, what the meaning of your life is, family, the bonds that tie us, sex, love - these are things that all human beings find interesting, though we may be distracted.
 
I think it’s more that older folk often don’t understand how protected teens are today and how disconnected they can be from the people around them. I only mentioned it because the teacher seemed pretty dismayed by how alien that scenario was to the teens.
 
@Windfish, you have some good ideas and you are asking for our advice, but it seems that your mind is made up. I was wondering what your reason is for posing the question here at CAF. Are you developing a program from scratch? Are you working under the supervision of a Pastor or Director of Religious Education but you disagree with his/her approach? Have you examined program options available from the diocese but do not wish to use them?
 
And finally, have you taken @LateranBasilica’s sound advice:
LateranBasilica said:
My suggestion is to bring up your concerns and how you plan to incorporate Apologetics into the formation, with your Parish Priest and DRE.

But only after asking to be shown the material they would like you to teach, and reviewing it.
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Windfish said:
“Where they are,” where these kids are, is often practical atheism.
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I don’t think you know any actual teens. All of the teens I encounter in our parish are believers, whether or not they are knowledgeable in Church history, discipline, or doctrine they certainly believe in God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They aren’t atheists.
Windfish said:
So I ask again, how is apologetics not suited for sacramental prep?
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Again, what does “apologetics” look like in sacramental prep class. You haven’t really given an example.
 
If I go to a cricket match, I have read the rules of cricket and can quote them back. I memorized statistics, I know the history of the game. I fast become bored and just want to get out of there.

Why? Because I do not love cricket.

Kids today are very good at ‘passing the test’ because their entire school lives are not about learning things, but, about memorizing what will be on the test.

If you push solid apologetics, they will memorize the facts, statistics, comebacks. Very few of them will develop love from memorization.

These kids need to know Christ Jesus. When you love someone, you hunger to learn everything about them.
 
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