U.S. Bishops Now Acting to Strengthen Teaching of Religion at Catholic High Schools; Some California Catholic Schools Rejecting Bishops' Guidance

[mdgspencer]

see www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=8fb2bb89-34e8-4cec-ad03-7a019fe9a8d1

 

[Dale_M]

From the CalCatholic article:

The “omissions and errors” are gigantic. According to an oral report presented to the General Assembly of US Bishops on June 10, 1997, they include:

Failure to present the Trinity as the central mystery of the Christian faith; Reluctance to use ‘Father’ for the first person of the Trinity, at times substituting the term ‘Parent God’; Insufficient emphasis on the divine nature of Christ, with divinity equated with being ‘distant and unreal’; Insufficient emphasis on the importance of Christ’s incarnation as central to salvation history; Do not always clearly present the Catholic Church as established by Christ to continue both his presence and his mission in the world; Too often the impression is left that the human person is the first principal and final end of his/her own existence; Deficient teaching on original sin and on sin in general.

Those are astonishing deficiencies, so astonishing I wanted to learn more about them. The oral report was made by a committee led by Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel Buchlein. The committee had been tasked with reviewing catechetical teaching in Catholic schools.

 

[Teelynn]

see www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=8fb2bb89-34e8-4cec-ad03-7a019fe9a8d1

Stubborn hypocrisy. I am a little taken back by some of the wording…astonishing is correct Dale. As glaring as the errors are, why should anyone be that shocked when we are all aware of the great divide that now looms largely in our Church, however? I guess when you actually see the errors in print being taught to our youth it is more powerful. The ship is turning around, and there are going to be some rough waters ahead. I call it separating the sheep from the goats.

Thus…the reason there are Catholic and then there are “Catholics”.

 

[DJK100]

The Bishops should start taking the approach it is “my way or the highway.” That is supposed to be their role in the church anyway to shepard the people. If they see that the people the delegate to do that are not holding up their end of the bargain then let them go and replace them with someone who will. In today’s economic climate there will be no lack of people willing to take those positions at that very resonable request.

 

[Teelynn]

The Bishops should start taking the approach it is “my way or the highway.” That is supposed to be their role in the church anyway to shepard the people. If they see that the people the delegate to do that are not holding up their end of the bargain then let them go and replace them with someone who will. In today’s economic climate there will be no lack of people willing to take those positions at that very resonable request.

:sad_yes: I sometimes feel that some of them so soft peddle the scandal that takes place in our Church, that it’s the reason we find ourselve in the position we’re in. You want to light a fire underneath some of them!

 

[brian24]

The Bishops should start taking the approach it is “my way or the highway.” That is supposed to be their role in the church anyway to shepard the people. If they see that the people the delegate to do that are not holding up their end of the bargain then let them go and replace them with someone who will. In today’s economic climate there will be no lack of people willing to take those positions at that very resonable request.

Agreed. As I was reading the article I was thinking basically the same thing. How can those who disagree with this statement even consider themselves Catholics and be in prominent positions within the faith?

 

[johnnykins]

From the CalCatholic article:

Those are astonishing deficiencies, so astonishing I wanted to learn more about them. The oral report was made by a committee led by Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel Buchlein. The committee had been tasked with reviewing catechetical teaching in Catholic schools.

Not astonishing at all to anyone familiar with “Catholic” education. It’s the norm. For years all Catholic education has really meant is “better that a lot of public ed, cheaper than most secular private ed.” Let’s face it that’s how Catholic schools have actually tried to position themselves in the education marketplace. What’s amazing to me is that there is any surprise at that at all.

All that being said, in the last several years there has been some push-back, and this Committee of Bishops is part of that. But, as evidenced by the article, there is a long, long way to go.

I believe it was Bishop Sheen speaking about universities, but equally applicable to HS and elem education who said something very much along the lines of: “It’s better to send your children to a secular university where they have to defend their faith rather than send them to a Catholic university where they lose their faith”

 

[YoungTradCath]

I’ve never understood this whole stupid attitude of, “I subscribe to the _________ religion, but I don’t believe what they teach.” That just seems utterly moronic to me. I just simply can’t understand how people justify that logic (or lack of it) to themselves. Much of my position comes from me being a convert, so I don’t have such a high risk of becoming complacent with my religion, but still.

 

[OriginalJS]

I’ve never understood this whole stupid attitude of, “I subscribe to the _________ religion, but I don’t believe what they teach.” That just seems utterly moronic to me. I just simply can’t understand how people justify that logic (or lack of it) to themselves. Much of my position comes from me being a convert, so I don’t have such a high risk of becoming complacent with my religion, but still.

I

From what I have experienced, it is because church to many of them is a social environment they find comfortable. I have often heard people say, I’m (fill blank here) but I don’t believe everything they teach.

 

[manualman]

I believe it was Bishop Sheen speaking about universities, but equally applicable to HS and elem education who said something very much along the lines of: “It’s better to send your children to a secular university where they have to defend their faith rather than send them to a Catholic university where they lose their faith”

Nah, I’m pretty sure that was (then) Fr. John Corapi, not bishop Sheen. Possibly true in some cases, but it is beyond hyperbole to assert it universally. If a parent actually cares, its really not that hard to separate the sheep catholic schools from the goat ones.

And yes, it really is nice to see more an more occasions of bishops finally remembering that their crozier was originally intended less as a decorative walking stick and more for beating wolves on the head.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

The Bishops should start taking the approach it is “my way or the highway.” That is supposed to be their role in the church anyway to shepard the people. If they see that the people the delegate to do that are not holding up their end of the bargain then let them go and replace them with someone who will. In today’s economic climate there will be no lack of people willing to take those positions at that very resonable request.

Considering the Supreme Court has given the Church the unanimous “green light” to do whatever it wants in the ministry, then I agree, the bishops need to fire any Catholic school official who resists teaching the Catholic faith as it is supposed to be taught.