My kid lost a year on CCD

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traillius

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Because we failed to have him enrolled and present during the last year, when he was in first grade in public school, Isaiah will have to go to CCD with the kids currently in first grade. And he will be receiving first holy communion in third grade. I hope he doesn’t have social problem going with kids an average one year younger. He’ll be eight in October of this year.
But the benefit of finally signing him up is that CCD will make it that much harder for us to not attend mass, since he needs mass attendance as part of CCD. My wife will go to mass for his success, despite any faith-based, or physical, issues, because she wants the best for him. Even if she wouldn’t go for me or herself, she will for him.
 
In a regular school setting, kids who are slightly older and more mature than their peers usually do better than ones who are slightly younger. I’m not sure whether that will transfer over to CCD, but it might. Chances are your son will be just fine. It’s not like in school where being older usually means a child failed a grade. Here, his parents just didn’t sign him up last year so he is behind. I don’t think his classmates will ostracize him for that.
And, giving your wife another reason to attend mass is always good. 👍 Is she not Catholic, if she doesn’t like to go regularly? Your son’s CCD lessons can help spark conversations with her about the faith too.
 
Your situation is very common. This is why, when I taught second-year CCD, I always called it that: second year, not second grade. It was fairly common to have two or three third graders in a class of 12-15. Over the course of several years, there weren’t any problems. If there are, let the teacher know that it is a sensitive subject for him, and that you’re trying to keep his experience in CCD positive. But by all means, even if there don’t happen to be any older kids in your son’s class, do assure him that, “A lady who teaches CCD told me that this happens all of the time, and the older kids often make some of the best students. It isn’t when you start, it is how you do it that counts.”

It is also common for the First Reconcilliation and First Holy Communion time to become a sort of a revival time in the domestic church. By all means, pursue that! It can pay such huge and lasting dividends.

The time of preparation for First Reconcilliation and First Holy Communion is an excellent time to increase your devotion to the Mass and to the sacraments. If it has been awhile, start with reading the applicable sections from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church or from the *Catechism *itself. Both can be downloaded for free from online from the Vatican web site. (I usually just cut-and-paste the sections of interest into a Word document.) There are other apostolic letters on the Eucharist that are very inspiring, too.

This is also an excellent time to find somewhere near you for Eucharistic Adoration and a great time to start going to confession regularly–our pastor recommends once during Advent and Lent as a minimum, with the ideal more like once every month or every two to three weeks. Regular examination of conscience (preferably daily) and confession are irreplaceable in formation of conscience. Your child can memorize the commandments and the precepts of the Church, but it is the application that changes one’s life. By all means, start availing yourself of both the Eucharist and confession on a regular basis, with the plan of making these a regular part of your child’s life, too.

If your son is behind on learning the prayers, the best way to learn them is to just pray them on a regular basis.
 
traillius said:
Because we failed to have him enrolled and present during the last year, when he was in first grade in public school, Isaiah will have to go to CCD with the kids currently in first grade. And he will be receiving first holy communion in third grade. I hope he doesn’t have social problem going with kids an average one year younger. He’ll be eight in October of this year.
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When I was in CCD, if you missed a year, they’d let you skip it. You always stayed with your age group.

I had a very poor Catechism. I still remember this exchange from 3rd grade:

Teacher: “B.C. stands for ‘Before Christ’ and A.D. stands for ‘After Death’”
Me: “What happened to the years after Jesus was born but before He died?”
Teacher: “They didn’t exist”
Me: “Jesus never existed?”
Teacher: “Not on Earth. Only in Heaven where there is no time.”
Me: “So Jesus didn’t die on Easter?”
Teacher: “Stop asking questions.”

And I actually believed that for like 3 years (oh, that was one of many). Of course I was also labeled a “trouble maker” for asking too many questions and trying to “show up” the teacher.

That’s why it’s important for parents to be involved in what is being taught. My parents never cared and were happy they were able to check off “good Catholics parents” because they dropped me off and picked me up.
 
I’d raise a stink over that, honestly. There is no way it would be okay with me for my child to have to wait another entire year for First Confession and First Communion just because he missed the very first year (in which he would have learned what, really, that couldn’t be made up at home or which is revisited in the second year anyway?) A non Christian child can go through the Rite of Christian Initiation over the course of less than one year and be fully prepared to not only be confirmed, but make a confession and receive Our Lord in communion.

Are you just supposed to pretend that at 8 he’s not sinning and doesn’t need the grace of Confession and the grace of the Eucharist?
 
sanctareparata said:
Are you just supposed to pretend that at 8 he’s not sinning and doesn’t need the grace of Confession and the grace of the Eucharist?
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Just out of curiosity, what sort of mortal sins do you think 8 year olds are there committing?
 
CoffeeHound said:
Just out of curiosity, what sort of mortal sins do you think 8 year olds are there committing?
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At the age of 9 I was willingly committing grave sins. shrug Heck! At the age of nine I witnessed my sister try to kill my brother (in spirit AND in action - HAHA, they had HEATED fights). Around the age of 7-8 I very nearly tried to kill myself (contemplated it for some time but in the end couldn’t because I was more scared of death then life). Kids sin just as much as adults, and sometimes they even commit grave sins. I really, really, REALLY wish I had the sacrament of Confession as a child. I was a very troubled child.
 
CoffeeHound,

What on earth does that have to do with it? And if you think that mortal sin is the only good reason to go to confession, then why on earth are kids going to confession at ages six and seven?

(A seven year old can commit mortal sin, by the way.)

The most important issue for me here is denying a child the graces of the sacraments (esp the Eucharist) just because he’s not in the right grade.
 
sanctareparata said:
The most important issue for me here is the Eucharist and denying a child of 8 the Eucharist just because he’s not in the right grade.
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I agree with this. I was just wondering what you meant by your comment about 8 year olds needing confession.

My concern is that I don’t like the idea of rushing kids through Catechism. Maybe some parents are well educated and do a fantastic job teaching their kids - to the point that they don’t really need CCD. But many parent’s are just basically going through the motions of education. Why rush the kids if this is there one source of knowledge?

Plus, one more year means one more teacher usually, which is one more chance to get a good one.
 
traillius said:
My wife will go to mass for his success, despite any faith-based, or physical, issues, because she wants the best for him. Even if she wouldn’t go for me or herself, she will for him.
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this is the best part of the story, and I hope this means both parents will be taking him to Mass (not dropping him off) and benefitting from the enormous grace Christ is wanting to pour on your family. Have no concern about the social aspects of his first year sacramental class, you will probably find a mix of 1st, 2nd and even 3rd graders in his class, all coming for the first time.
 
I remember having been switched to another group of kids, for second grade, in order to get the numbers right … @ 40 in each class … regular Catholic school. I sometimes wonder if it wasn’t the right thing to do, I cried about it in front of everyone! I was consoled by a (for me) new classmate. For that experience, I think that it is important for your son or daughter to remain with his age group, and fellow classmates, however many there may be in that particular CCD class, from his regular school. Just a thought! Friends made and good memories. There are times when some child is put back into one lower grade, of course, and it works … but, that is regular school. He isn’t being put back for regular school, is he/she? I can see that it may not make a difference to some, though … close (Catholic) playmates may be a year younger. So, I can imagine myself trying to keep my child with his age group. I’m not sure if I believe in CCD as much as I believe in attending a Catholic School, for those elementary years and even High School years. K-12!
 
sanctareparata said:
I’d raise a stink over that, honestly. There is no way it would be okay with me for my child to have to wait another entire year for First Confession and First Communion just because he missed the very first year (in which he would have learned what, really, that couldn’t be made up at home or which is revisited in the second year anyway?) A non Christian child can go through the Rite of Christian Initiation over the course of less than one year and be fully prepared to not only be confirmed, but make a confession and receive Our Lord in communion.

Are you just supposed to pretend that at 8 he’s not sinning and doesn’t need the grace of Confession and the grace of the Eucharist?
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Well there are situations though where a parish will recommend that a child NOT receive the sacraments after going through the CCD program, if they feel the child is not mature enough or prepared enough. My niece was held back a year because the nun teaching the class just felt she could benefit from another year of the CCD program

Perhaps the parish in the OP’s situation feels the OP’s son would benefit more from two years of the CCD program, rather than rush him through just to keep him on the same schedule as his age group, especially if this is his first year in any kind of CCD program or religion class.
 
It’s been my experience that the material covered in first year sacrament preparation and second year sacrament preparation is NOT the same. While both years cover learning standard prayers, the first year focuses on God, the Trinity, and the Church while the second year focuses specifically on the sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Reconciliation. Like Puzzleannie says, there is usually a mix of first, second, and sometimes third graders in the first year of preparation and a subsequent mix of second, third, and fourth graders in the second year of preparation. Starting with third or fourth grade, if children have not had *any *sacrament preparation, it is very common to place those children in a special program geared towards older students so that they don’t have to feel like they are “babies”. But they still make their First Communion at the same time as the other second year students.

I think it’s become unusual to refer to religious instruction by school grade level, at least until after First Communion has been received. It’s even more uncommon to hear religious instruction still referred to as “CCD”.
 
If you’d rather have him in the year he is “supposed” to be in, why not sign him up for that year, and let the teachers know you’ll be homeschooling him the first year at the same time? That way your son can go to CCD with his peers, you and your wife can have regular family learning time, and your whole family can attend Mass together.
 
HouseArrest said:
If you’d rather have him in the year he is “supposed” to be in, why not sign him up for that year, and let the teachers know you’ll be homeschooling him the first year at the same time? That way your son can go to CCD with his peers, you and your wife can have regular family learning time, and your whole family can attend Mass together.
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There are pastors who will not go for shortening the time of sacramental preparation, particularly if the family has not been in the habit of attending Mass regularly (as the OP implies might be the case in their family). I doubt if many bishops would think that requiring regular Mass attendance concurrent with formal religious education for two school years prior to First Holy Communion is unreasonable. The faithful have a right to the sacraments, but the pastor has a responsibility to make certain that the children in his care are being educated, too.
SMHW said:
I think it’s become unusual to refer to religious instruction by school grade level, at least until after First Communion has been received. It’s even more uncommon to hear religious instruction still referred to as “CCD”.
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It is RE (religious education) in our parish, and has been for decades, but some of us old-timers still slip up!
 
EasterJoy said:
There are pastors who will not go for shortening the time of sacramental preparation, particularly if the family has not been in the habit of attending Mass regularly (as the OP implies might be the case in their family). I doubt if many bishops would think that requiring regular Mass attendance concurrent with formal religious education for two school years prior to First Holy Communion is unreasonable. The faithful have a right to the sacraments, but the pastor has a responsibility to make certain that the children in his care are being educated, too.

It is RE (religious education) in our parish, and has been for decades, but some of us old-timers still slip up!
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Its still called CCD classes in my parish and then its Confirmation preparation classes for the 7th and 8th graders and then youth group after that.
 
We’re in a similar situation since we just joined the Catholic Church and our 7 year-old twins didn’t have 1st grade CCD. Our RE director provided us with the 1st grade book and we’ve been working through it during the summer. That way, they’ll be able to join their peers in 2nd grade CCD in September.

Perhaps you could work out a similar arrangement. It’s getting late in the summer, but if you really worked at it you could probably get much of the 1st grade material covered in the next month. It may not be an option for you, but it might be worth asking about.
 
EasterJoy said:
It is RE (religious education) in our parish, and has been for decades, but some of us old-timers still slip up!
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My parish is only 22 years old so we missed “CCD” altogether. It started out as “RE”. But it’s been “Faith Formation” for the last several years now.

(It was “CCD” at the parish I grew up in. I seem to recall that RE became the term of choice sometime in the mid-1970s.)
 
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