My 9 year old daughter asked her catechist to explain the Procession of the Holy Ghost

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The catechist replied “it’s an event which takes place every year in Spain.”
 
Hmm, I thought it was Portugal. But proceeding from the Father and the Son in any case, of course.

forgive me…
 
I’m guessing that many 4th grade RE volunteers do not have a detailed talk on the Filioque at the ready.
 
Maximian said:
The catechist replied “it’s an event which takes place every year in Spain.”
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Sometimes catechists are afraid to say, “I don’t have an answer for you. I would just be guessing,” particularly when they’re talking to nine year olds. They think adult teachers have to pretend they know everything that is important enough to know. (And of course it is possible that the catechist misunderstood the question or confused the term with something else or that there was some other miscommunication in play. We are bound to be as charitable in our assumptions as we can.)
 
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The catechist’s mind might not have immediately jumped to the Filioque. I know mine didn’t.

Did your daughter say, “No, I mean when the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son” or did the whole class just move on?
 
Which grade of religious ed do you teach? Have your students never asked a poorly worded question that threw you for a loop?
 
A nine year old came up with a Filioque question in her own? Guess I’m a slow bloomer.
 
She had heard that it was something to do with the difference between Catholics and Orthodox.

She has several Russians in her class at school.
 
Sometimes nine year olds can ask astonishing questions. But I recall once just mentioning the Filioque to an RCIA director in conversation and she had no idea what I was talking about.
 
Sorry—perhaps she phrased it differently than you did in your post.

But I’m assuming you volunteer as a catechist—surely you’ve been thrown by a student’s question.
 
If you’d said, “explain the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and Son,” that would have been clearer. As it is, the Holy Spirit parade and festival is a real thing (just Portugal, not Spain). So if your daughter phrased it the way you did, the confusion isn’t unreasonable.

But again, which grade do you volunteer to teach?
 
Given the number of religious processions in Spain, the catechist may have assumed that was what was being asked about. Were I teaching 9 year old’s, I would not presume they were asking about the Filioque and related dispute.
 
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