Re-Teaching Catholic Parents

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kms123 said:
Can you elaborate about this program or provide a link?
Thanks!
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I sorry that I do not have a link. There is a signup in my parish coming this Sunday for the next section in this series.
For each series, those who participate are given a workbook. For instance the first book was Creed. Those who sign up are assigned to a group. This group meets once a week for 6 weeks at a chosen group member’s house. The Cathecism is discussed under the leadership of somebody trained in the Why Catholic? program. It works much like RCIA except that it is for everybody, not those just coming into the Church.

For individual adults, Cursillo is also great. Cursillo stands for Short Course in Christianity and was started by a lay group of men in Spain about the time of WWII. Cursillistas make a weekend retreat and then group weekly to help each other grow in their knowledge and practice of the Catholic Faith. Men and women have separate retreats and group separately.
 
leonie said:
I have often wished to have this at our parish

lighthousecatholicmedia.com/
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Have you heard of the Mary Foundation? There are CD’s you can get for free (or a $1 donation for more than 8 of them) and one of them is “The Mass Explained” that is featured on the website you provided the link to. You can get just a few and put them in the back of the church - or convince the parish to buy them for any gifts they give, etc. www.maryfoundation.com.
 
kms123 said:
So, the question is now, HOW DO WE RETEACH THE PARENTS PROPERLY? How can we encourage the parents to Really get interested and understand what a great thing we have?

I have some ideas and would appreciate any others in addressing This issue.

PS I can’t say I know much, but it is scary thinking that other parents know less.
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the traditional way is to offer, or mandate, parental classes for those whose children are preparing for sacraments. you will find plenty of threads on this forum disputing this tactic. This diocese requires 3 classes of 2 hrs each for each sacrament. This parish has offered much more, but we have been told to scale back to the required hours, and offer the other courses (on the bible, CCC etc) a optiona supplements. Absolutely no parent has signed up for any course that is not mandatory. So the question is not “how do we teach them?” so much as “How to we generate the desire to learn?” in them. If anybody has the answer I for one would love to hear it.

I have all kinds of resources in English and Spanish, I don’t need links, I need motivation, or motivators for not only parents, but all adults of the parish. Got absolutely NOT One taker for the new class in the adult Catechism. Not one.
 
I need motivation, or motivators for not only parents, but all adults of the parish. Got absolutely NOT One taker for the new class in the adult Catechism. Not one
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Puzzleannie, this can be frustrating and discouraging, I know. Same problem in my parish about adult formation. I wish I knew the answers about how to reach our adult parishioners - so many of whom are so poorly catechized. I’ve received comments like “yeah, I should attend your classes sometime” but they don’t follow through. I guess all we can do is keep praying, and keep advertising.
 
puzzleannie said:
Absolutely no parent has signed up for any course that is not mandatory. So the question is not “how do we teach them?” so much as “How to we generate the desire to learn?” in them. If anybody has the answer I for one would love to hear it.
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Maybe offer classes with snazzy titles like:

“How to guarantee your kids stay Catholic”

or

“Living Wills or Durable Powers of Attorney. Leave with a do it yourself document in hand!”

Notice those are both tailored to allow teaching opportunites, or at least opportunities to entice into further learning. Though I must admit that I would, ah, *resist *going to mandatory two hour classes. If I were offered something substantive, then I might be less reluctant.
 
Pug said:
Notice those are both tailored to allow teaching opportunites, or at least opportunities to entice into further learning. Though I must admit that I would, ah, *resist *going to mandatory two hour classes. If I were offered something substantive, then I might be less reluctant.
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am just curious how you define “substantive.” I’d like to think that the weekly sessions I lead are quite substantive. And they’re not mandatory – people are invited to attend whenever they’d like.
 
quiet52 said:
am just curious how you define “substantive.” I’d like to think that the weekly sessions I lead are quite substantive. And they’re not mandatory – people are invited to attend whenever they’d like.
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Quiet52, I’m sure you give a good presentation. I did not mean to impugn you at all.

I wrote that from the prospective of imagining I’ve just been told I’d have to go to three two-hour mandatory sessions in order to have my child receive a sacrament, as per puzzleannie’s post. The way I tend to react to edicts like this is to resist. My *first *(read reactionary) thought would be that the classes are likely to be tailored to help someone who has a large deficit in their understanding of basic Catholic doctrine. So, to make me less reluctant, I’d want to know that the class assumed something other that this, that maybe it would be designed to provide a very focused lecture, perhaps on something that I could use in a practical way, or perhaps on a topic that I knew little about.

I guess what I mean is that “substantive” varies by person. Some people would really like a refresher lecture on the Eucharist. Others hear one at least once a semester by a competent priest, so they might react with a huge sigh if they are told that they need to hear another by mandate. I think it could help if the person somehow has the idea that the lecture will add something to their lives that isn’t there now.

But I am not a good test subject because I am the sort of person to voluntarily go to lectures now and then, and puzzleannie said that the parents don’t come to *any *lecture that isn’t mandatory.

I do know that in our parish, it is often the same old crowd that shows up for the extra learning opportunities. You need to talk to the people who never show up for anything. Maybe find out why or what interests them. Huh, have you (puzzleannie or anyone, but I know you, quiet52 said that you don’t have a captive crowd) tried passing out anonymous feedback sheets to them while they are a captive audience and asking what topics they’d like to see (give them a huge list of suggestions to spark their thinking juices). Ask on the sheet why they don’t come to the non-mandatory lectures or what the three biggest obstacles are.
 
Pug said:
Huh, have you (puzzleannie or anyone, but I know you, quiet52 said that you don’t have a captive crowd) tried passing out anonymous feedback sheets to them while they are a captive audience and asking what topics they’d like to see (give them a huge list of suggestions to spark their thinking juices). Ask on the sheet why they don’t come to the non-mandatory lectures or what the three biggest obstacles are.
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we have done such a survey 3 times in the 5 years I have been here, and these questions are also asked on the annual stewardship survey. and yes we do tailor our offerings according to those (minimal) responses. I am wondering how you suggest I talk to people who don’t show up. we do have a door-to-door evangelization program on-going to reach Catholics within our boundaries who are not active, and part of that is inviting them to various events, studies, programs etc.
 
puzzleannie said:
we have done such a survey 3 times in the 5 years I have been here, and these questions are also asked on the annual stewardship survey. and yes we do tailor our offerings according to those (minimal) responses. I am wondering how you suggest I talk to people who don’t show up. we do have a door-to-door evangelization program on-going to reach Catholics within our boundaries who are not active, and part of that is inviting them to various events, studies, programs etc.
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Yes, that does sound odd, doesn’t it. 🙂 I was thinking outloud, saying to myself that the ones that don’t show up are the ones it would be desireable to consult in order to find out why they don’t show up. Then I realized that you did have access to the type that doesn’t show up voluntarily since you have mandatory classes. You have access to a crowd that my parish doesn’t. They are all there during those classes, captive victims of whatever survey you give them. Mwahahahaha!

The only surveys we have done have been to people who have voluntarily chosen to be in some program or another. I’ve often looked at these and lamented that they don’t contain responses from those who don’t voluntarily show up. Of course, probably the ones who don’t show up are also the ones who don’t typically give helpful remarks on surveys. 😃 I’m laughing, but what I really would like is to know how to reach people that we don’t currently reach.
 
Oh I am so frustrated for you just reading the posts.

This is why I am so trying to promote our (actually, really and truly) Catholic school. The people who are parents of kids at the school are no better, smarter, holier than those at the public school, but for some reason they respond better to classes, helping out, ministries, etc. My own opinion is that they are living it through their children. When the events you attend are the awards MASS instead of the DARE graduation, you tend to move more in that direction, does that make sense?

Anyway all that talk doesn’t help you at all. I say I think you’re a saint for continuing to try and try with this. It has to be depressing at times, but hopefully you can celebrate little victories and know you ARE making a difference.
 
I’m starting an Adult Faith Refresher class at my parish and my first class is tonite. I have nooo idea how many I will get. It could be 3; it could be 20. I advertised in the bulletin for 3 weeks (I know, I know…no one reads it). I also pitched it last week to the 4 back to school meetings for parents of CCD kids.
I am offering it during the time period of one of the CCD sessions.

It is a big experiment. I know people are hungry, but I have my doubts about people actually showing up.
Puzzleannie’s experiences are what I am afraid I am going to run into, but gotta start somewhere. I’m trying not to get discouraged and hand it over to God’s will.
Please pray for me to be faithful and please pray that those that are open to it are prompted today to come to check it out.

I will appreciate any ideas on getting people there.
 
At Fr.'s request, dh and I lead a Bible study. We don’t do the “how does this passage make you feel” thing. We have started with a somewhat in-depth treatment of salvation history. We have been meeting for a few months and are just now getting to Abraham’s offering of Isaac. Unfortunately, we only have about 8 people every week.

We are also involved in another parish’s “cell” system. This is part prayer group part teaching. We have been involved in Couples For Christ in the past as well (before we moved to FL). These small group systems are great for teaching the faith.

It’s too bad that we can’t simply require all adults to engage in educating themselves. Some people simply do not yet have the gift of faith necessary to cultivate a desire to learn more.

We must pray for them.
 
dranzal said:
At Fr.'s request, dh and I lead a Bible study. We don’t do the “how does this passage make you feel” thing. We have started with a somewhat in-depth treatment of salvation history. We have been meeting for a few months and are just now getting to Abraham’s offering of Isaac. Unfortunately, we only have about 8 people every week.

We are also involved in another parish’s “cell” system. This is part prayer group part teaching. We have been involved in Couples For Christ in the past as well (before we moved to FL). These small group systems are great for teaching the faith.

It’s too bad that we can’t simply require all adults to engage in educating themselves. Some people simply do not yet have the gift of faith necessary to cultivate a desire to learn more.

We must pray for them.
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I think 8 is a great start. Those 8 will tell 8 more and the next time you’ll have even more. I think a lot of people make the mistake of quitting after the first round - but really most well attended events or classes, religious or not, start small. We have a winter festival here that started with about 20 people. That was about 8 years ago. Now it’s up to 10,000. Keep your class going, and it will grow.
 
Eight is a pretty good start considering we are a young parish still meeting in a HS cafeteria. At least it is the same 8 every week so I know we aren’t scaring any of them away.

We did apparently scare one away the first week after taking an orthodox approach to Scripture. It was too bad because during the following week I did a bit of research and printed up handouts and was prepared to teach and defend our (the Church’s and ECF’s) position.

It is hard with four children, but we plug them in with a travel dvd player and the baby entertains us. The other difficulty has been sending my oldest out of the study during touchy subjects that we have not yet introduced to her (like Sodom :eek: , incest with Lot :eek: :eek: , etc.).

We who have been blessed by the Holy Spirit with the gifts of faith and desire for knowledge need to persist in our own educations and pray.
We also must remember that a substantial number of adult Catholics have not been so blessed. They think they have faith, but it is very superficial. It isn’t their fault; they don’t even know it. I thought I had faith. Then dh and I questioned for a while. Then a series of events came together and sparked an interest in “home-education” in matters of faith. Thank God. It was our renewed faith grounded in several years of research and learning coupled with God’s profound grace that eased us through the (arguably) most difficult cross.

We must practice the presence of God in our lives so that the Holy Spirit can lead others to us. Speak up with strangers. Make your every action, your very life, a witness and you will teach others.
 
Hikers5 said:
I’m starting an Adult Faith Refresher class at my parish and my first class is tonite. I have nooo idea how many I will get. It could be 3; it could be 20. I advertised in the bulletin for 3 weeks (I know, I know…no one reads it). I also pitched it last week to the 4 back to school meetings for parents of CCD kids.
I am offering it during the time period of one of the CCD sessions.

It is a big experiment. I know people are hungry, but I have my doubts about people actually showing up.
Puzzleannie’s experiences are what I am afraid I am going to run into, but gotta start somewhere. I’m trying not to get discouraged and hand it over to God’s will.
Please pray for me to be faithful and please pray that those that are open to it are prompted today to come to check it out.

I will appreciate any ideas on getting people there.
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I am facilitating a group using the US Catholic Catechism for Adults. I belong to a relatively small parish of about 650 registered families and only advertised it once in the bulletin. We started meeting one month ago and currently have 16 people every week. I continue to receive inquiries from new people wish to join us. Just Sunday I met with one woman after Mass to talk to her about it.

Please do let us know how your first session went, won’t you? 🙂
 
dranzal said:
At Fr.'s request, dh and I lead a Bible study. We don’t do the “how does this passage make you feel” thing. .
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that’s great, because the quote you give does not describe bible study, it describes faith-sharing with the scripture. they are two different things and should not be confused, and the parishioners should be very clear about what their expectations are.
 
What we are discussing in the Bible study is similar to what you can find in the Salvation History Lessons on Scott Hahn’s website. I don’t know how you can call it anything else.

For example, last night we discussed the pre-figuring of Christ in the near-sacrifice of Isaac. Both Isaac and Jesus are referred to often as the “beloved son”. Both men carry the “wood” for the sacrifice. Both men submit to the will of the Father, even unto death. And, most importantly, in both cases, God Himself provides the sacrifice. This is not just a sharing of faith. This is studying the Bible.

Last week we discussed the promises God made to Abram/Abraham and how/when they were upgraded to covenants and how/when they were fulfilled.

Those here who are former protestants may not realize it, but there are many many cradle Catholics who have never heard of “Salvation History”. It is virtually imperative for an adequate understanding of the Bible and many are ignorant of it.

Once we finish with that topic, we will go into other topics. We will study the biblical basis for each sacrament, Marian doctrines, and the Mass.

Our hope is that the attendees will begin to see the Bible as a unified whole. Typical bible studies that just focus on one book are good, but myopic, I think. It was Father’s idea to do a topical Bible Study and it has gone quite well so far. We are enjoying it.
 
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