Screening questions re. Catholic teachings?

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PhilotheaZ

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I just received a request from our parish’s religious education coordinator (I am a 6th grade catechist). She is about to start a high-school-age program (our CCD program previously only went up to 8th grade), and she is looking for the right person to teach it. She asked me something like this:
If you were going to ask a few pertinent questions to see where someone stood with the teachings of the Catholic Church, what would you ask?
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She knows that whoever will be teaching this class will be faced with questions on abortion, contraception, pornography, cohabitation, etc., and she does not want to put someone in the postion who is not absolutely faithful to Church teachings. She is trying to develop a little questionnaire to find out where any potential teacher stands.

So, if you were putting together a screening questionnaire for prospective high school catechists, what questions would you include?
 
Great thread! What age(s) will this person be teaching?

My advice would be to be very careful not to word the questions to indicate which way you lean. Keep them very open.

Is the Eucharist the “Real Presence” or a symbol?

Please explain what an “outward sign of inward grace,” is, to me.

Can you tell me what you understand about the Brown Scapular devotion? If you’re not familiar with it, where would you go to get this information?

Can you explain the differences, as you see it, between “sex education” and “chastity education?”

How subjective is defining pronography?

Is it true that if a woman has been raped and she hasn’t ovulated, may she take the morning-after pill? (See CAF AAA for this.) What is she requests a test to determine that she has ovulated and she learns that she has, is she able to use “emergency contraception?”

Match the terms on the left with the questions on the right:
  1. Latria a. is given to the Blessed Virgin Mary
  2. Hyperdulia b. is reserved for the Father alone
  3. Dulia c. is offered to those in the Communion of Saints
(1. b., 2. a., 3. c.)

What are the circumstances in which a Roman Catholic may receive Communion, if not the Eucharist, from a service of another denomination?

What are the circumstances in which a Roman Catholic would receive from another recognized Catholic rite?

Does VII allow cremation? Why? If so, is there a particular way to take care of the ashes/cremains?

If a woman was married before to a non-baptized person through a civil ceremony, would she need an annulment?

When do you believe life starts?

What are the “unitive” and “procreative” aspects of sex and sexuality? Should they ever be separated?
 
Miserissima said:
Great thread! What age(s) will this person be teaching?

My advice would be to be very careful not to word the questions to indicate which way you lean. Keep them very open.
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Thanks for your suggestions. This person would initially be teaching 9th graders (our current 8th graders, there is no existing high school program), but this might expand to older high schoolers later.
 
Why is contraception not allowed in the Catholic Church?

Explain the Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality, homosexual marriage and homosexual acts.

How can it be proved that the Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus established and is still the Bride of Christ?

Ask for a written essay on proofs of the existence of God.

Who was conceived through the Immaculate Conception? (easy enough, though stumps some people)

Explain the differences between idolatry regarding the Saints and Mary, and the veneration that they are given by the Church.

Why can’t women be priests? (maybe ask for an essay, this is a tricky one, but it will come up for sure, make sure they know their stuff on this one!)

If I come up with more, I’ll add them.
 
Sit down interview.

I’d suggest looking for a teaching couple, this way sensitive issues can be handled by the appropriate gender person.
 
kage_ar said:
Sit down interview.

I’d suggest looking for a teaching couple, this way sensitive issues can be handled by the appropriate gender person.
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Yes, I think an interview is what she has in mind.

It would be wonderful if we could find a couple.
 
I am the Junior High Coordinator for our parish CCD program and I also teach 7th, 8th and facilitate 9th grade Confirmation. I am certified in our Archdiocese and I deal with many of our catechists. It is truly a shame that many of the catechists are not familiar with Catholic teachings. I stress with our Junior High teachers that we MUST teach what the Church teaches and leave our opinions at home. In our case, if we were to ask all of the questions above to all of our prospective and current catechists we would have very few who would qualify.

I think that the biggest area of questioning should be:

Are you a practicing Catholic?

Are you willing to continue in adult faith formation?

How is your prayer life?

Will you come to me for anything that you are unsure of and make sure that you are passing on Church teachings?

Remember that God doesn’t always call the qualified, He qualifies the called.Those who will invest hours of their time to teach (especially high school kids) have their heart in the right place. Many times teaching is a growth process for both students and teachers as well.

If you see any obvious dissention or opposing opinions expressed by the catechist then they must be addressed to be sure. I do have questions in my 9th grade class that come up whereby Church teachings are challenged. The kids now days want to know and they want to know the truth. They are o.k. for the most part on the teachings of sexuality, contraception, abortion, and the many other topics that they deal with daily.

In closing, I personally would want someone who has a good foundation and is willing to learn rather than a self proclaimed mini-theologian. My older son once told me that his favorite CCD teacher was Mr. Kennedy. I asked him why expecting to obtain catechetical wisdom with which I could use in the classroom. He said, “Because he lives what he teaches.”
My prayers are with you in this process and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit you will find the right person…God bless…teachccd
 
AdriannaJean said:
Why is contraception not allowed in the Catholic Church?

Explain the Catholic Church’s stance on homosexuality, homosexual marriage and homosexual acts.

How can it be proved that the Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus established and is still the Bride of Christ?

Ask for a written essay on proofs of the existence of God.

Who was conceived through the Immaculate Conception? (easy enough, though stumps some people)

Explain the differences between idolatry regarding the Saints and Mary, and the veneration that they are given by the Church.

Why can’t women be priests? (maybe ask for an essay, this is a tricky one, but it will come up for sure, make sure they know their stuff on this one!)

If I come up with more, I’ll add them.
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One could always ask for a Master Catechist certification whereby all of these topics are studied at great lengths. But that may be hard to come by. Our parish has 7500 registered families. Out of those we have around 60 volunteer catechists. Out of those we have around 10 who have their Basic Catechist certification and one Master Catechist. There would be a whole lot of kids ( over 1100) with no catechetical instruction if we pulled from only the pool of the qualified.

I totally agree with you that ideally we would want those who could write essays mirroring Saint Thomas Aquinas’ proofs for the existence of God but practically speaking we may have to use people like those who God chose: doubting prophets and later on ordinary fishermen…teachccd
 
Based on experiences I’ve had over the years and also the experience I’m currently having with the RCIA class that my friend is in (I’m her sponsor), I’d have to include questions on life issues. After being told (by a deacon, no less, one of the two instructing the class) that the Church has “not ruled on the pro-choice Catholic issue” and that the Gospel of Life was “just an encyclical”, I realized that we have a tremendous job ahead of us to catechize the adults and even the adults who have gone through diaconate programs already!

I also heard him butcher the “authority of the Church” issue, then the salvation of non-Christians issue. Our inquirers better be studying their catechisms on their own because they’re certainly not receiving decent instruction in class.

And I agree about keeping the questions open-ended so’s not to indicate the answer you’re looking for. You could pretty much sit down with the newspaper and the catechism and just see what the person thinks about things that students are likely going to bring up.

God bless you and your friend’s efforts, PhilotheaZ. Peace be with you. 🙂
 
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