"My Rumspringa"

[Muzhik]

I found myself researching “Rumspringa” online (I know – using the Internet to research an Amish tradition – whodathunk?) and ran across the article named above. It’s an excerpt from a book written by a Protestant minister (Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris) For those who don’t know, “Rumspringa” is an Amish word that literally means “running around”. For two years, starting at age 17, Amish youth are expected to “run wild”, experiencing the ways of the world. At the end of that time, they have to make a choice to settle down and become Amish or to leave the church.

While reading the article, I came across this quote, when describing the author’s own spiritual development at that age:

*During my early twenties I went through a phase of blaming the church I had attended in high school for all my spiritual deficiencies. Evangelical megachurches make good punching bags.

My reasoning went something like this: I was spiritually shallow because the pastors’ teaching had been shallow. I wasn’t fully engaged because they hadn’t done enough to grab my attention. I was a hypocrite because everyone else had been a hypocrite. I didn’t know God because they hadn’t provided enough programs. Or they hadn’t provided the right programs. Or maybe they’d had too many programs.

All I knew was that it was someone else’s fault.*

This struck me because I’ve been complaining about the deficits of catechesis of my generation, i.e., of the late 60’s through the 80’s. Yet this quote (and the entire essay) brings up the point: what was MY role in my poor catechesis?

Thoughts?

 

[Regina_Love]

The Catholic Church is a gold mine. There is buried treasure every where with in its teachings, traditions, and lives of the Saints! When you join they welcome you & give you a nice shovel. It’s up to you to start digging…Good luck & God Bless

 

[Delaine75]

The Catholic Church is a gold mine. There is buried treasure every where with in its teachings, traditions, and lives of the Saints! When you join they welcome you & give you a nice shovel. It’s up to you to start digging…Good luck & God Bless

I love this reply!!

 

[BlueSapphire]

The Catholic Church is a gold mine. There is buried treasure every where with in its teachings, traditions, and lives of the Saints! When you join they welcome you & give you a nice shovel. It’s up to you to start digging…Good luck & God Bless

 

[JRKH]

Thought provoking OP…

My thought is that, as we reflect on the problem of Catechesis and mistakes that might have been made, responsibility for problems and our own culpability, we have within ourselves the capacity of improve catechesis for ourselves and others.
First by simply living better Catholic lives and digging more into our faith.
Second by becoming involved, in so far as we are able, with our parish programs.

Peace
James

 

[JRKH]

An additional thought on the general idea of Rumspringa is that we all (well most all anyway) take a Rumspringa of some sort at some point in our lives…usually right around that 15 to 20 year old mark.
Some last longer than others and take different forms. Mine was largely spiritual and lasted 35 years……

Peace
James

 

[1ke]

For those who don’t know, “Rumspringa” is an Amish word that literally means “running around”. For two years, starting at age 17, Amish youth are expected to “run wild”, experiencing the ways of the world. At the end of that time, they have to make a choice to settle down and become Amish or to leave the church.

While this is not even really your main point I think it is important to point out that the above statement is a Holywood version of the Amish concept of Rumspringa, and a gross misrepresentation of it.

If you talk to any actual Amish community members, you will get a much different picture. Amish are not “expected” to “run wild” or “experience the ways of the world”.

 

[JRKH]

While this is not even really your main point I think it is important to point out that the above statement is a Holywood version of the Amish concept of Rumspringa, and a gross misrepresentation of it.

If you talk to any actual Amish community members, you will get a much different picture. Amish are not “expected” to “run wild” or “experience the ways of the world”.

Very true. It should also be pointed out that not all local Amish communities employ Rumspringa.

Peace
James

 

[Gordon_Sims]

This struck me because I’ve been complaining about the deficits of catechesis of my generation, i.e., of the late 60’s through the 80’s. Yet this quote (and the entire essay) brings up the point: what was MY role in my poor catechesis?

Thoughts?

I’ve actually thought about this a good deal, and the more I think about it, the more I come up with the answer, “not much.” When I was very young we had a painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and another of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We had a family Bible, but it was never prominent in the house, and it was moved to more and more obscure places as the years went on. We prayed at dinner, but that was it. I heard enough about sin to know what the biggies were, but it wasn’t a frequent topic. Sure, we went to Mass on Sunday, but unless we had the priest for dinner, we mostly left our religion in the church.

School wasn’t much better as the catechesis I received was the same poor catechesis that you, me and plenty of others have complained about on here. We never said the Rosary, the Eucharist was a symbol, masturbation was okay and few things short of murder were mortal sins. High school was more of the same and less of what mattered. We had an almost-monthly Mass. Our religion classes talked about morals, but not the ones we needed to be hearing. We learned about Church history, but it was all about dates and nothing inspiring. We didn’t have a single class about the catechism, or even the CCC to refer to since I graduated before '92.

What I’m getting at is that there was nothing in my catechesis that led me to believe there was more to learn, or inspire me to even care if there was. We talked very little about vocations in grade school and not at all about them in high school (I picked up enough to think at one point that I needed to be a priest to make it to Heaven, but nothing of any deep value when it came to vocations). We learned a lot more about the social aspects of being a Catholic than about the spiritual aspects. By the time I graduated I knew a lot more about fish fries and bingo than about transubstantiation the Immaculate Conception (I didn’t even know that referred to Mary’s conception until a couple years ago). There was nothing to keep me involved in the Church or to really draw me back.

While I could have gone to the library, sorted through the card catalogs and done a lot of legwork on my own to try to learn more, there was nothing in my experience that would have led me to think there was any sort of a reason to do this. With 12 years of Catholic schools under my belt, I figured I knew all I needed to about my faith. Granted, I had a grasp on some of the basics, but my overall image of Catholicism was formed at least as much, if not more by Hollywood than by my church & school experiences. With that poor a foundation, it’s not at all surprising that I didn’t seek out more. I’m glad I finally turned things around, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what else I could have done when I was younger given the tools and experiences at my disposal.

 

[JRKH]

Gordon,
You expressed my own thoughts very well.
I grew up in a fairly devout family and went to Catholic School from grades 1 thru 8 and CCD in High School (well mostly went…)

As kids we generally don’t go looking for deeper understanding. Rather, we “absorb” that which is around s and being fed to us. Good or bad…it is absorbed and assumed (in many cases) to be right and normal.

In religion class…Always taught by a Sister…Why would we assume we are getting anything but correct teaching? I’m sure that the teachers believed they were going right and indeed they were - as far as it went.

As my understanding has developed, what I see is a lack of growth in teaching. Catechesis seemed to has stopped with the basics and did not seek to try to deepen our understanding or our curiosity. But maybe that is just my memory of it…

So - we might say that pre-teen children have little responsibility in the matter of poor catechesis.
But as a child ages - especially when they reach the time of questioning (and we all do) around about 14-16 years old, there needs to be responses from teachers that encourage development of deeper understandings so that as we age our desire for understanding grows with our spiritual development.

Anyway - that’s my (random) thoughts on the matter.

Peace
James