The Priests and Bishops in Canada need to wake up

[JamesG]

What really bothers me is that I often hear the Preist during mass wonder why there are few people at church and yet so many Catholics in our area. Sometimes I think the bishops and priests in canada are just out to lunch and don’t know what is going on.

I think the reason why so many people don’t go to church anymore is because a) they have parents who don’t know anything about their faith. b) the catholic education system here is a joke. The priests need to stop lecuring the faithfull at mass and start making real changes to the catholic education system.

I am a product of the catholic system in canada and I can tell you that nothing I learned about my faith came to me from it. In fact, when I was in elementary school we didn’t learn a single thing of importance. The reason for this was that the teachers didn’t belive in it themselves and they didn’t have a single clue about catholic theology When it came time to take part in confimation the principal told us we had to do it or we would fail.

When i was in highschool. We had a chaplen that would talk about the rosary like it was some kind of mystical tool. Later I found out that he was a falen priest that got married. I even recal how one athest english teacher became the head of the religion department! The religion teachers that we had were all poor role models who didn’t inspire us at all. They couldn’t answer any of the questions that the students had.

Education is the answer to this problem and education is something that Catholics have controll over in canada. Yet the priests and bishops don’t seem to have a clue. They blame the parents (who are also a product of the failed catholic education system).

As it stands now, I see NO reason to send a catholic child to a catholic school. He/she would just end up more confused and his faith would become twisted by all the poor role models and secular feminist teachers.

The bishops need to start forcing the schools to fire teachers who are not good role models. They also need to bring back the nuns and have them dress in a traditional manner. This would help students become more accepting of their faith and less afraid to express what they belive in an outward manner.

 

[Caesar]

Just what I’ve been saying all along

 

[JamesG]

Just what I’ve been saying all along

Good I’m glad you agree.

If I was a bishop I would create a new catholic school that only had faithfull catholics as teachers and/or nuns or priests as religion teachers. The religion course would be rewritten to include teachings that would help teenagers understand the important issues of today. The theology of the body would be required learning. The basics would even be taugh to children in elementary school. And unlike the other catholic schools passing a religion class would be a requirement every year.

 

[canadianlife]

church anymore is because a) they have parents who don’t know anything about their faith. b) the catholic education system here is a joke. The priests need to stop lecuring the faithfull at mass and start making real changes to the catholic education system.

a) true that - My mother is a prime example of this. She is nominally Catholic, and grew up in the 60s and 70s. It sure is evident she didn’t get a strong Catholic upbringing. From saying the Pope is fallable, to Im a hypocrite because of what I ‘preach’ (aka Catholicism [but aren’t all Catholics hypocrites in a way?])

b) True that - with the exception of atleast Vancouver (that I know of). I go to catholic school in Van City and I can tell you my school and my teachers are as orthodox and loyal to the magisterium as they come. They’re energetic and great - they will tell you that contraception is wrong, nor will they beat around the bush. But, they will do it lovingly and back it up with true reason.

Hopefully our youth will change the country for the better

 

[silverwings_88]

a) true that - My mother is a prime example of this. She is nominally Catholic, and grew up in the 60s and 70s. It sure is evident she didn’t get a strong Catholic upbringing. From saying the Pope is fallable, to Im a hypocrite because of what I ‘preach’ (aka Catholicism [but aren’t all Catholics hypocrites in a way?])

b) True that - with the exception of atleast Vancouver (that I know of). I go to catholic school in Van City and I can tell you my school and my teachers are as orthodox and loyal to the magisterium as they come. They’re energetic and great - they will tell you that contraception is wrong, nor will they beat around the bush. But, they will do it lovingly and back it up with true reason.

Hopefully our youth will change the country for the better

Mine is a little more local: the PREP classes here in Surrey, BC aren’t that great for top notch Catholic education. I worry now that after the growing up of my generation, the lapsed Catholic will fall away and our churches will be empty. However, I know that the Vancouver churches are doing quite well.

However, I can vouch that PREP school education sucks; I know because I went through to level 2 and left the Church at 11 years old in search of another religion because I assumed that the Catholic Church was spiritually dead and legalistic at that time.

Which is why I am helping by putting myself as an assistant Catechist… soon, I will have orthodox minions of Charismatic Tridentine-Mass going Catholic Christian children.MWAHAHAHA!!

 

[Transformer]

The same is the case here in the United States. I think Catholic education is bad everywhere in the West. I never learned anything of importance in elementary or middle School, either, and everyone in my class, too, was forced into Confirmation. It’s a bit better in high school now; we had a reasonably good New Testament and personal morality teacher who refused to contradict Catholic teaching in any way, even though she isn’t orthodox herself. The social morality and Church theology teacher is very good at what he teaches, but even he is pretty unorthodox, implying that papal infallibility is indefensible and saying that there is no difference between Catholic and Protestant communion (no difference between transubstantiation and consubstantion), which I can’t fathom and for which I havn’t yet heard his explanation. The senior religion teacher is an excellent orthodox Catholic and a superb role-model; probably the only one of those this side o’ the Mississippi. =(

 

[vern_humphrey]

If the sheep are straying (and we all know they are), then clearly we need better shephards.

Our bishops emphasize things like “Social Justice” – which means we Catholics don’t do anything, but we urge the government to do it. They make ending the death penalty the prime effort, but hardly mention abortion. They pretty much abandon our Catholic schools. And in the end, they have pretty much abandoned us.

 

[Aureole]

A school can only do so much, we can’t simply blame them for all the ills in the Canadian (And other Western countries) Church. It’s the easy fix but it’s only partially true. One thing does not explain the terrible position of the Church here, it’s a combination of things.

A Catholic education starts in the home. This is the most important portion of a child’s education. A parent can’t leave the faith to Mass and school, it’s their responsibility to teach their child. Many parents don’t do this, usually because they lack a knowledge of the faith.

That brings us to the schools. Teachers often don’t teach Catholic doctrine. About the only thing I recall from elementary school religion class is that “Jesus was a man who died for us”. But again, often the teachers don’t know the faith as well. This brings us to the parish.

Many priests simply aren’t transmitting the deposit of faith. It’s a huge scandal to hear two different things from two different priests; who are we to believe? Seminarians, at one time, were taught very poorly. Fortunately this has changed, at least in my diocese.

In spite of these particular failints, there are a number of opportunities to learn the beauty of our faith in Canada. I know of a few: the Seminary of Christ the King, the Seminary of Saint Philip Neri, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, John Paul II Bible School, Madonna House, NET Ministries of Canada, and more that I’m sure I don’t know of. There are clusters of fully orthodox teaching all over the country, we only really hear the heterodox teachers most of the time. There isn’t a “quick fix” for the problems in Canada, something more like a long term restoration is needed.

 

[Brendan]

The same is the case here in the United States. I think Catholic education is bad everywhere in the West. I

It’s worse in Canada, specifically Ontario. In Ontario, the Catholic school system is publicly funded, so the Provincial government has control over the system.

For example, a HS principal banned a male student from taking his male ‘friend’ as a date to the prom. The government stepped in an overuled him.

And you have to deal with all other ‘fun’ of a public school system, reporting to school boards, teacher’s unions…etc…

 

[T1Catholic]

Everything that has been said about the Ontario Catholic School system is so true. I grew up in the system in the 70s and 80s and boy was it a mess. It’s no better now. I had an arguement with my son’s SK teacher who believes that 5 and 6 year olds are too young to go to the school mass so she doesn’t take them (and a parent spoke up in support of her and said he doesn’t want his daughter going to the school mass either because she was too young). What??? This teacher also says for religion she emphasizes that we have to treat each other nicely and that’s what Jesus expects us to do. When I press her on maybe going a little deeper and explaining more of the faith she says they are too young to understand. Huh? I speak to my son about the Eucharist, the real story behind Easter and so forth. There are so many books and resources for children of that age that the teacher can access. But then she tells me she’s been teaching for 20 years and knows better (not exactly in those words but I get the gist).

I would prefer that the Catholic school system in Ontario stop receiving government funding and go private. But then I hear from our US brothers and sisters and they tell us the parochioal schools are no better. So what’s the solution? Send my kids to the public school? I just don’t think I could do it. I at least am glad that when they walk into the school they’ll see a Crucifix and pictures scattered about of the Blessed Mother and the Bishop (can’t seem to find a picture of the Pope though).

I want to get more involved in the school but I seem to be a minority. When I went to the Catholic Culture parent-teacher run committee meeting I was basically shut-out because the people there didn’t know what I was talking about when I mentioned we should have a Marian procession during the month of May. The head of this council isn’t Catholic but sends her kids to the school and then goes to a Protestant church on Sunday.

I could go on and on about this but I should stop now before my blood really starts to boil!!!