Lack of Catechesis in Teenagers

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I just finished what began as a pleasant conversation with a friend of mine. She was baptized Catholic, attended Mass for most of her life and went to Catholic school for 9 years. She is now convinced that the Church was invaded by pagans, it is their gods we honor on All Saints Day, and that Catholicism is a cult “just like the Ku Klux Klan”. When I told her the true story about All Saints Day, she told me that I was lying.

How could something like this happen? How could our society turn someone so much against Christ’s Church?

I know from experience that in public school students are bombarded daily by mistruths about the Church and are forced to hear Her ridiculed by teachers. It comes from the top down, as well; in order to enter Advanced Placement European History, a student is required to read Michener’s The Source, a book which claims that the idea of God evolved from notions of pain and longing in cave men, among other ideas. A student entering English 4 is required to read The Da Vinci Code. But none of this should harm the faith of any Catholic who knows the Faith. It harmed her faith, though.

The problem is that she never learned about Christ or His Church. Not from her parents, not from her teachers in Catholic school, not from the priests she has known in her life. If only I could say that she was an isolated case, but she is one of many people my age like this.

I refuse to believe that this is a product of the times. As I said, nothing in our society should shake the faith of a Catholic who knows his Faith well. What are your opinions? Where did we go so wrong that so many Catholics could turn out to hate the Church?
 
I wouldnt be too worried about it. Teenagers have a tendency to take on new ideas and opinions with out fully investigating them. I know I did. I used to hate the Catholic Church too based on things my best friend told me. Then as I got a little older I did my own research and opened my mind and heart. End result? Conversion to the Church. The best thing you can do it not to get defensive with this friend of yours, don’t make apologies, and always present the truth. She may not like what you have to say, but later she will think about it and possibly have a change of heart. Pray for her.
 
There is no teaching of apologetics in the everyday Church. People don’t know how to defend the faith.

I was lucky enough to be headstrong, and simply say that I was Catholic, and proud of it. Now I had no clue what that meant, but it kept me in line enough until I discovered this site and how to answer the tough questions.

Another plus factor was my “non-denom” school, vigorously teaching the problems of evolution.

If kids believe that we come from apes, they are less likely to believe our other claims about faith.
 
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SwordofLight:
If kids believe that we come from apes, they are less likely to believe our other claims about faith.
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Has there been a thread on evolution and the Catholic faith? That would be interesting. As Catholics, we can believe the the theory of evolution. I imagine I am not the only Catholic who is faithful and believes in evolution. (Let’s start another thread rather than hijack this one. If you do start another thread, post the thread name on this thread.)

TLM Altar Boy–I would also point out that this young adult hasn’t been taught the faith. More likely he or she was taught much about our faith, but chooses not to accept it or to deepen the seeds of faith that were planted. As a middle-aged person, I have seen many cases of people who were raised Catholic but who strayed, yet came back or deepened their faith (often as the result of a personal crisis). So while it is better that we all keep growing in our faith, know that the Holy Spirit never gives up on us and we all can come home to Christ and his Church!
 
I am in the process of RCIA right now and was wondering something. I’m from a smaller town in BC where there are two parishes…at the moment neither off any classes for post PREP(cathacism) students. One is just getting a youth group going and maybe a young adults thing to. But for myself coming from a very prominent mennonite society (making up over 50% of the churches in my town) I’m so used to every church having well running youth groups, young adults, and numerous bible study groups. I’m kind of shocked that the catholic churches around here don’t have that. I’m hungry to learn how to defend this faith that I’m so new too, but RCIA is unable to teach me everything do to there being people in the class that need to know the basics before the apologetics (basics that I’ve been learning about already for a year and a half). Anyways, I just wonder if you can tell me about different things your local parishes have…so that I can see if it’s just this specific town or not.
 
it was definitely my experience as a teenager that young people that age are poorly catechised. I went to Catholic schools from 7-12 grades, CCD before than (granted I wasn’t raised by practicing Catholics) and I learned almost NOTHING about the faith. Everything I know about Catholicism I had to learn on my own. I remember one day in 11th grade religion class, a priest came in to talk to us about Purgatory. Now almost everyone in the class had been in Catholic schools since kindergarten, yet none of them had heard of Purgatory. Some became outright hysterical and said things like “well I don’t care, I don’t believe in it” or “you can’t make me believe in that!”
 
I think that it isn’t just a lack of catechesis in the Faith. It is a lack of true historical knowledge. A western civilization course today is far different than a western civilization course taught prior to 1960. The ‘modern’ view of history is much the same as the Protestant view of the church: everything that happened before the 1600’s was either error, evil, or both.
 
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RosieGirl:
I am in the process of RCIA right now and was wondering something. I’m from a smaller town in BC where there are two parishes…at the moment neither off any classes for post PREP(cathacism) students. One is just getting a youth group going and maybe a young adults thing to. But for myself coming from a very prominent mennonite society (making up over 50% of the churches in my town) I’m so used to every church having well running youth groups, young adults, and numerous bible study groups. I’m kind of shocked that the catholic churches around here don’t have that. I’m hungry to learn how to defend this faith that I’m so new too, but RCIA is unable to teach me everything do to there being people in the class that need to know the basics before the apologetics (basics that I’ve been learning about already for a year and a half). Anyways, I just wonder if you can tell me about different things your local parishes have…so that I can see if it’s just this specific town or not.
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Hi, RosieGirl,

I grew up Anabaptist, and unfortunately, what you’re experiencing is not exclusive to your parish. I experienced a similar dismay when coming into the Church - as soon as Mass was over, the church cleared out (what? no coffee hour or lunch?) and, at least here in Houston, the parishes are so large it seems you only know a handful of persons at church (I was used to a church where I knew everyone’s name, grandfather and second cousin, and where “church” was an all-afternoon event.) Over the years, of course, I’ve come to know active, closeknit Catholic parishes, but I’ll never forget my original shock.

Because non-Catholic denominations don’t have the Mass or a sense of Tradition, the focus in their churches is on Scripture and ways to share it/apply it in small groups, events, and discussions. As Catholics, we have a profound sense of the universal Church that rightly transcends our parishes, but sometimes that understanding is wrongly used to ignore practical ways to build up the Church in our neighborhoods. We Catholics could learn a lot from the zeal, organization and volunteer commitment of our separated brethren!

You may have to be the one to start organizing a strong youth group etc together with your parish priest. In the meantime, read everything (true) you can get your hands on about the Church and her teachings --this forum has several good resources and links.
 
Hey everyone,

I’m going to start a thread on evolution and Catholic teaching called “How do you explain evolution to your children?”
 
CFC-YOUTH. I can’t express the importance of finding a good spiritually strong Catholic Youth Ministry. (Especially for those in the “Bible Belt”.

CFC- YOUTH is just such a ministry. It’s parent organization (Couples for Christ - CFC) has been approved by the vatican.

They are in all 50 states and on alot of College campuses.

If you need help finding a group in your area, please PM or e-mail me. If there is not a group in your area, CFC and CFC-Youth will start one. It can be home-based or parish-based.
 
As recent converts to the Catholic Church, I would have to agree with the statement regarding the lack of historical knowledge. One of the biggest factors in our “Coming Home” was through some in-depth history study. I was homeschooling my 16 yr old daughter, and we chose to do the history of the Christian Church that year. It really impacted her–that the Catholic Church was THE church for 1500 some years. And then we hit the Reformation and things got pretty muddy. From there, we spun off into a closer look at Catholicism, and voila…here we are, the whole family. I had never learned any of that stuff as a Protestant or in history (high school or college).
 
I am teaching first year confirmation. I wish I could run these kids through RCIA. The converts know more about the faith than my class. They were unable to find a bible verse when given the chapter and verse. It is difficult to get teachers to enter this difficult struggle with unchurched teens. I pray that God will call more workers to the harvest. The harvest is great, but the workers are few.

God bless,
Deacon Tony SFO
 
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