How was your Catholic Education when growing up? POLL

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I attended diocesan Catholic schools from 1968 to 1980. These were the years just after the Second Vatican Council, and I very much enjoyed all of my religion classes. While I did learn the rules and regulations of our faith, I also responded well to the greater emphasis on God’s love for us which occurred in these years. The tone of my classes seemed very positive compared to my mom and older sibling’s experience, which left my mom with a somewhat joyless sense of duty regarding religion, and contributed to my older sister’s abandoning the Faith altogether. I sometimes see people on CAF lamenting the changes in religious education from before and after the Council, but in my case, these changes appealed to my personality and were a good thing. My formal religious education ended upon graduating high school, but I continue to study the Faith on my own to this day.
 
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Since I’m still “growing up,” my education continues. Holy Apostles College and Seminary and the Avila Institute have contributed greatly to my understanding of the basis for true Catholic moral theology: Holy Scripture, the Church Fathers, and Aquinas, primarily.
 
Catholic grade school first six years. Very strict but I sure learned the basics.
 
Catholic Education in Australia doesn’t seem to be very strong at all, or at least for Adelaide. It took my own initiative to learn stuff about our faith that should have been part of my basic education. Catholic education really should be catholic oriented, yet it seems in my experience the role of the church in our lives was really put aside. Primary school was much better, since I went to my Parish’s school and we had mass once or once or twice a term per year level, plus whole school masses, but once I entered High school, we rarely had mass, students didn’t know what to do during mass, catholic teaching was put aside, and it doesn’t even feel catholic.

Hopefully things get better though.
 
My formal Catholic education was only CCD. From what I recall, I feel like the education was good as to morality and the more general themes of Catholicism (and I still remember the prayers we had to memorize–mostly the prayers the people pray at Mass and some others), but I think a little deeper understanding of the sacraments and of other particulars articles of faith would have gone a long way. I discovered them myself later and always wished they had been taught to me back then (these things can be found in the lower level Baltimore Catechisms, so I don’t think I’m presuming to exceed what is appropriate for youth).
 
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At my parish there is Sunday Catechism classes grouped for different school grades, and there is one for the adults.
Especially in my high school, we had a very knowledgable nun teaching us.
She is big into apologetics, so you can believe that was one of our courses.
 
I was blessed with a fantastic Catholic education. I had the Sisters of St. Joseph in elementary school, and they gave me an excellent start. In high school, it was the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who prepared me well for my Jesuit education in college.

Our daughters both attended Catholic elementary school and high school, mainly with lay teachers, and they were exceedingly well prepared. Their high school is outstanding academically and spiritually, and has been an excellent pipeline to the seminary for numerous graduates.
 
In college, I recall thinking that I was severely undereducated in the faith in my Catholic elementary and secondary schooling. But as the years have gone by, I realize that my Catholic schooling growing up was actually pretty good. My teachers told us what the Church taught with regards to morality. We even had to read Evangelium Vitae my senior year. I think what I was most missing was that personal encounter with Christ to make it all “real”.
 
My Catholic education was nonexistent as a protestant. I was brought up in a variety of different churches with religious education programs of varying quality.
 
In any case, I think my children (ages 19, 15, 12) have had a better Catholic education (via CCD) than I did.
 
My CCD instructor couldn’t keep the teenagers from taking over the class and using it as time to chat. They actually talked back and said they didn’t want to talk about the lesson.

I told the main instigator that we were in class to learn, and to respect the instructor. He then began bullying me, and nobody stopped him. When my father reported him, he also withdrew me from the program and taught me at home. The parish seemed to think he was overreacting. 😞
 
I don’t remember a lot of my education, which very well be my problem and not that of the educators. Or, it says something about the quality of the education. Maybe a mix of both. I’ve learned a lot more, now, as an adult coming to take my faith seriously.

I went to a diocesan grade school and a Jesuit high school. I know both taught the mechanical (for lack of better word) aspects of the faith. What I find most disappointing, though, is that neither really focused on cultivating a personal relationship with Jesus, whether through Scripture, prayer, or otherwise.
 
I attended a Catholic kindergarten as it was the only one in the neighborhood at the time. More than half the kids there were protestants. We didn’t receive a grilling course in Catholicism, but it was there that I learned to draw and was constantly creating crucifixion scenes during fingerpainting. 🙂
 
I answered based on my experiences in 12 years of Catholic school, where the religion classes were for the most part fluffy and not very good. I was actually taught Catholicism by my mother for the most part, and I give Mom an A.

She might not have known all the intricacies of Bible author classification or indulgences, but she knew all the really important stuff very well.
 
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Reading some reviews here makes me think my Catholic education may have been better than I thought. Sorry it didnt work out so well for some. Maybe what I didnt know as for the faith was made up with by some very influential people and songs I remember from school mass. I think those memories of childhood have given me a lot in adult life. Im thankful overall. Peace be with all of you
 
Excellent in grammar school then it got a little wonky when the liberal shenanigans started creeping in while in high school. I remember going to retreats where it seemed more about getting to know yourself than getting to know Jesus and his teachings.
 
I couldn’t really decide between ”good” and “fair”. My only religious education was CCD and going to Mass. I learned the basic tennents but looking back the main thing I got out of CCD was the basic prayers and the meaning of the sacraments. Honestly though a lot of it was probably my fault. I didn’t want to be at CCD simply because my parents made me go and it was after I thought I should be done with church for the day. So I spent a lot of time deliberately not paying attention and cutting up just to be a rebel and “show them” for making me go. I remember during First Communion not paying a whole lot of attention and vaguely hearing the priest say something about chewing the Eucharist and something about you would never get any closer to Jesus if you did it wrong. But I didn’t know which way was the right way to recieve it, was too afraid to ask, and was unsure for years if I was doing it right lol. I chose my confirmation saint more as a joke than any serious thought. I flat out refused to attend any summer bible school. Once I was confirmed I didn’t attempt to learn anything else about the faith for years. I had nothing against being Catholic and I had no issues with the faith. I just didn’t want to be made to do anything. I treated school the same way. For example I refused to read the summer reading books simply because my English teacher wanted me to read those specific books and take notes on them over the summer. Instead I took a lot of pride in being about to get As on the reading tests once school started by using context clues in the questions and skimming a few pages. I don’t think I actually read a single required book all through grade school. The stupidest part was that I loved reading and looking back a lot of them were good books I would have enjoyed, like Huckleberry Fin.

Long story short I probably could have got a lot more out of my catholic education if I wanted to, but at the same time my only instruction was 1hr a week on Sundays 9 months out of the year and whatever I gleaned from the Mass and the homily. Looking back I wish I would have learned a lot more and even had more religious instruction because I used to think the Catechism was when the Catholic and Orthodox Churches split.
 
It seems like catechism really requires the participation of the parents to be effective. Also, I think catechists and sunday school teachers in all denominations should focus on the relationships that they’re creating with the students.
 
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