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. |
It doesn't say "the Pastor's or the Parents' responsibility"...
If the Pastor enrolls these children in the sacrament knowing that there will not be support from the parents, he is violating the directives of the catechism.
Where is the record of Blessed Mary havin sex with anyone?
"For this is my Body". Repeated in the Gospels of St. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians.
Your understanding of them?
I'm very sympathetic to your point of view, and would do anything (and have done much) as a teacher to get them to worship the Lord every Sunday. But this is ultimately a matter of their free will and grace, not my pedagogy.
Hmm, so if you came to my house, I couldn't present to you my 6 year old, my 10 year old, wouldn't that be "little" how about my 2 year old toddler or 4 year old who can run or walk? No, sorry that doesn't bode right...
I can present to you my 18 year old child...
Presenting = Introducing...
The only Religion God gave to man was Judaism..
I don't know - see #445.
The question is, do we admit someone to Communion for the sake of a ceremony and a photo op, thereby imposing on that child a sure future of spiritual starvation?
Good question. I don't know what the best answer is. I think about it every year while discussing with my second graders their future reception of the Sacrament of Confession and their upcoming Holy Communion. Too many of the parents think that their childs second confession can be 14 mos after the first when the kids make their First Holy Communion. (The Religious Ed program provides opportunity for the sacrament 2 or 3 times during our school year.) And that same laxness is evident with Holy Communion, too.
Are these kids better off or worse off twenty years later when they're shacking up and having same-sex intercourse or atheist or having abortions? Is the proper response, "well thank God they had their First Communion," or "Gee, I wish someone in the church had the guts to tell their parents to take their religion seriously and be role models for their children"?
Instead, people like you are worried that the "appearance" of Catholicity is preserved instead of insisting that the "essence" of Catholicity be lived and modeled for the benefit of these children.
Knew her not = Old english means, didn't have sex. The kicker... the word until she had born a son...
So after Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary were just like any Jewish couple
You may be thinking of koine Greek, but Aramaic is a full-fledged Semitic language, related to but distinct from Hebrew (though Rabbinic Hebrew adopts many Aramaic words).
Here is the NIV Version Matthew1:25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Everyone makes choices. The parents choose not to practice their faith. There are consequences for everybody. If it's addressed now, they have the opportunity to do what's right. By robbing their children of a life in the faith, they do them no favors by creating a charade out of Hiloy Communion.
Remember, God is merciful. He will equip these children with everything it takes to make the decision for themselves if the parents choose not to. The weight of this rests on the parents, not the priest.
Hiloy? Uh - I meant "holy" communion
I do not disagree with you. I do recognize how much of yourself you devote to your faith and I admire you for it.
Our objectives are really the same. It is sad that so many children are put into such an awful situation. Like you, I would do anything to get them to worship the Lord every Sunday.
I will devote some time to this today at Adoration.
New American Bible, Matthew 1:25 He had no relations with her until she bore a son, 12 and he named him Jesus. (from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
Is it still dropping? Did it drop again?
I think it is wrong what the Priest did. That class was probably the only way these kids were going to know anything about Jesus...
I may disagee on theology, which is evident. But I respect the Catholic Church on it's disciplines and it's commitment on teaching the children.
This was certainly the wrong approach in getting the parents attention. What ever happened to the house visit?
Holy Communion to me is a different issue from religious ed. Sacrament preparation is very serious. If a child is not in a state of grace they should not recieve the sacrament. Religious Education is offered throughout 10th grade (at our parish). A child does not have to be in a state of grace to receive religious instruction. In fact, without religious instruction, the child will have little chance of ever attaining a state of grace. I have no problem with the priest withholding the sacrament. I have a much bigger problem with the priest withholding religious instruction to children who are likely not getting much of it at home.
Ok, there is a precise moment, 10 seconds to midnight....
so it isn't midnight until 10 seconds after the ball is dropped. Your logic is twisted. the Ball has a specified time to start to drop as was the time of Christ's birth. It wasn't midnight until after those 10 second. Jospeh didn't have sex until after the birth.
You can't have any desert, unitl you finish your dinner...
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