What are signs of poor vs good catechesis?

[momv10]

My catechesis was in the middle 60’s to early 70’s. Though I’m pretty sure I was given a pretty good foundation, we never prayed at home as a family. We had signs up but NEVER PRAYED as a family. Dad was not Catholic and Mom did the best she could by sending us to ccd at the parish. My evangelization of choise, at this time, is Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. I suspect that my experience is not uncommon to some degree. My hope is catechesis programs will develop into, at the least, as a once a month entire family lesson so we can reinforce the family as a whole instead of in parts.
Diane

 

[HouseArrest]

I went to Catholic school until 8th grade - 1981 - so I’m just as old as you are. I remember specifics, like the Beatitudes and the Spiritual and Corporal works of Mercy and more. I remember praying four times a day - morning, before lunch, after lunch, and at the end of the day. I can even remember which prayers we said when. We learned the Rosary, and more. I remember in second grade we had a book about the history of the Church and I LOVED IT! But what I remember most about my Catholic education is that during those years it became a part of me. Maybe we did learn some things that were “wrong”, or not explained well, or maybe there are holes, but does that matter? Unless you’ve got a heretic in charge that is trying to undermine little Catholics, I think intentions count for a lot. I’m not one of those feel good, lets make rainbows and balloons on our paper (nor do I remember any of that) but I think if there were mistakes in someone’s Catechism, is it enough to blame leaving the Church on? If it led you to find out more on your own it must’ve been a good thing.

 

[whizkid43]

I went to Catholic School from 6th grade through high school in the 70s and early 80s. My catechism was pretty bad, but it was redeeming (I’ll get to that).

I knew about Jesus, God, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. That pretty much sums it up. I never even heard the term transubstation, or what went on during the mass until a few months ago.

What happened with me was I left the Church for a Fundamentalist Evangelical Church which had weekly small group meetings. I learned a lot about Christianity there and also people were pretty anti-Catholic (even though the Church was 50% former Catholics). When the anti-Catholic questions/comments were rasied I would always go and research (I had no clue if what was being said was true or not and really bothered me to be raised Catholic and not know). That process gave me my Catechism. So, needlesss to say, I’ve returned to my Catholic roots and now spend my time buring in books podcasts etc so I can defend my faith and teach my kids…

So, the lack of Catechism prompted the questions and the answers to the questions brought me back, so it was redeeming