Posted on 06/27/2005 1:42:52 PM PDT by Coleus
| Parents miss Mass, kids get ax |
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The Rev. Michael Cichon, pastor of St. Joseph/St. Thomas in Pleasant Plains, used each family's bar-coded donation envelope to track attendance. He's tossed about 300 kids from classes and told them not to reapply until next April. Without the classes, children cannot receive the sacraments, meaning some youngsters who thought they'd be making their First Communion next year will have to wait. The suspensions, legal under church doctrine, were a shock to many parents with kids enrolled in the 1,400-child program, which caters to kids who don't attend Catholic schools. "It's hurtful," said Joseph LoPizzo, 38, whose 6-year-old son was booted. "I've been a parishioner at that church for 23 years - longer than he's been the reverend." LoPizzo said he paid the $150 for his son's Thursday afternoon classes last year, but his father-in-law's illness hampered the family's church attendance. "I've just never heard of a church kicking you out," complained Lisa Nicol, 36, who got a letter saying her 7-year-old twin daughters had been barred from classes. "They should be more welcoming and sensitive." The pastor said he suspended kids from the 2005-2006 after-school program because Mass is an "essential" component of the Catholic faith. The affected families were attending church less than once a month, he said. Cichon insisted that the move has nothing to do with the lack of a donation. "There are many families who put absolutely nothing inside the envelopes they submit," he said. |
Reason #47 why we give our children a Catholic education at home!
True story - my cousin's husband, a former U.S. Marine now on his 2nd civilian career (he was too soft-hearted for security work) is the Principal of a Catholic school in the Philadelphia area. He's not Catholic; in fact, they don't attend any church at all!
Are you serious. That is just plain wrong.
I'm convinced that if religion isn't taught and practiced in the home that it's virtually unteachable. Oddly, I don't mind nonCatholics as administrators in Catholic schools--I have more problems with '60s Catholics teaching religion.
Nope. Pennsyltucky. (Just outside of Philly.)
How do you compel someone to do something joyfully?
Considering the probable age of the parents, it's more than likely they were never taught these things -- some may have even have been told utterly otherwise from the pulpit. (Someone I knew in the 70s asked a priest for a dispensation from abstinence on Good Friday. She was told no, she could give herself a dispensation.) The wonder is that they retained enough to send their kids to CCD at all.
Except, of course, that there's a strong Jewish tradition -- taken seriously, AFAIK -- that no Jewish child should be deprived of a Jewish education for lack of ability to pay. (I don't recall any "investigation" into how assiduously the parents practice.)
Amen!
May I add -- Only God has the ability to judge what's in someone's heart.
Infants (being literally those who don't yet speak) probably weren't involved. The only age I recall in the article was seven.
You would reserve instruction for those who don't need it, then?
Oh, Lord. Which one? We're in the Philly archdiocese!
When you present QUALITY education, REVERENT Masses, and sane orthodox clergy and teachers, there are NO problems with money or attendance. In fact, there are "waiting lists" and overflow parking.
Get rid of the accountants and the OCD left-brained control freak clergy. They cause nothing but problems. And the church was never supposed to be a police state - tracking people. How ridiculous! How Orwellian!
Eucharistic Adoration, Latin Masses, Rosary, and Christian Classics in education are better ways to revive a parish, school, or college.
Of course it doesn't < /sarcasm>
What's next "Smart card" envelopes wanded through on a magnetic strip? Complete with a banking e-mail update on your weekly contributions?
I have no doubt that you are well educated on the Cathechism of the Catholic Church. I also know it is hard for those who take their religion and worship seriously to accept or tolerate those who do not. I have no problem with parents being accountable for their failure to donate or their failure to attend mass. My problem comes with refusing children access to religious education.
When I was young, my parents would have fit into this category. They did not attend Mass and did not participate in the parish. They did send me to religious ed. Had this pastor been in charge, I would surely have been removed from classes. But, I wasn't.
Believe it or not, it was these classes that gave me the basic element of my faith. (I wasn't able to attend these classes regularly either). It was this very basic faith that guided me through some very difficult family times. Had I not had that small amount of religious ed, there is no telling where I would have ended up.
Eventually, my mom got her act together. It took years and a lot of encouraging from my siblings and I. She is a fully practicing Catholic now as are my siblings and their families. Very simply stated, CCD once a week was the only thing I had. It provided a foundation that I have continued to build on throughout my life. Maybe as you say, I didn't deserve this Catholic education, but I thank God every day that I received it. As I have shared my story with others, I am amazed at how common it is. I am very thankful that God and my pastor did not give up on me, as this pastor is giving up on the children in his parish.
For crying out loud, read ALL of my posts on this thread before you comment.
THANK YOU!
Sheesh
I do wish the system was different. It is very difficult to come up with $25,000/year for my children to attend Catholic School. It is the best money I have ever spent and would sacrifice much before removing them. I am not sure why it is this way, but I am sure that there is a reason. I would prefer the Philadelphia system and $4500/year.
First, this may be the Church's only chance to minister to these children before they go off into the world.
Second, the pastor can always influence the children to get their parents back into the pew, e.g., "Daddy, Father Martin says that if you love Jesus, then you will come see him on Sundays. Why don't you like to visit Jesus, Daddy?"
Third, the pastor may be burning the only bridge than might lead a lapsed Catholic back to the Church.
While I certainly understand the Pastor's frustrations, and do not in any way excuse the conduct of the Parents, I truly believe that the Pastor is being shortlisted in his actions.
You recall things as better in this way pre-NO? I know of people who left the church long before VII because of the constant harping on money. And in my own high school parish (ok, this was in the mid-60s, but it was long-standing practice), the girls in the secretarial course in the high school got credits for a one hour a week course in Office Practice, during which they recorded the weekly offerings by parishioner.
I do recall hearing back then, too, that if you wanted to get your kids into Catholic school (they were crowded then), your chances were infinitely better if the parish could see a good record of contributions.
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