ping
I can honestly say that where I grew up we had May Crowning (and it still happens) and Friday afternoon Benediction complete with Monstrance and incense, but there are so many things described here that reflect my childhood. Would that this could be repaired.
And even more vital - would that the people about my age would care enough to learn about it.
Funny you should bring this up. My wife and I are reading the Mother Angelica biography together. We had a good discussion about the post-Vactican II changes this morning. While we were both born after V-II, we were in different parts of the country.
My rural Minnesota parish responded to V-II by using English and turning the Altar around -- but changed nothing else. We experienced the post-Vatican II changes in the late 70s/early 80s. I had a very traditional experience, she had a very "modern" one.
So often when a topic like this one comes up, she cannot identify with why people have a problem with the "new" language and practices.
So many people don't know what they've lost...
Must have been even earlier than that. I have always said "because of your just punishments" and my first Confession was in 1955.
Of course, being taught in the Baltimore Catechism method, I understood exactly what that meant. That would be Hell. Which, if God gave us what was just, would be the final end for everyone. It's only through His mercy that we have any hope of Heaven.
They are still failing. But, that is old news. It has almost always been thus. It is easy to fault others;the Prelates and Clerics,but, the Christian truth is it is Christian parents who have the initial and primary duty to Catechize their children
One MAJOR failing of the Church in America is the way it became Clericalized to the point of destruction; from lack of Catechetical Instruction to the introduction and acceptance of queerdom, to the feminization of Christian men. The "greatest generation" failed in their Christian Catholic duties every bit as much as did the Clerics and Prelates of that generation but we have all been raised to be good liberals and so we blame others.
later read.
Why is she struggling? Doesn't she have a Catechism?
What an excellent article! I was just going to post it!
She can even tell you what the Fruits of the Holy Spirit are.
They found out about 3 days before the Big Event that the new archbishop was coming to our parish to do his Very First Confirmation, and he said he wanted to come early to meet with the kids . . . our parochial vicar and the lady who runs the youth program were beside themselves with anxiety. You could hear the kids muttering the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins to themselves . . . mass consternation!
But it got worse - the archbishop DID come to meet with the kids ahead of time, but didn't catechize them then. Instead, as their sponsors brought them up one by one to the altar, he catechized them individually in front of God and everybody! Fortunately, the kids were all well prepared (he made the mistake of asking my daughter a question about her patron saint, whom she admires greatly, and she probably told him more than he wanted to know . . . ) and I think the folks in charge were relieved.
But our parish is run by an old-fashioned rector who makes sure that things are done right.
Faith sharing bump.
I'm a cradle Catholic raised post VII. It's only in the last 10 years that I began to realize what I had missed. The past year I searched my area and went to a different church almost every weekend until I found one that was trying to be more traditional. I can't stand being out of town on Sundays now.
I homeschool my kids with a very Catholic curriculum (Seton) and they are memorizing catechism questions/answers. I've found that I am learning right along with them on some things. They are only 5 and 7.
I took my son out of one parish Reconciliation program because it was so horrible. We're working with our parish priest and deacon individually to make sure he is ready for first confession and first communion. It's an exciting year!
Thanks for posting this article. So many of us feel the same way!
Boat? Did somebody say boat?
I think the article clarified this. Now please open your hymnal to number 47 for the entrance antiphon.
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
Would you like to glide in my beautiful balloon?
We could flat among the stars together, you and I.
For we can fly.
We can fly!
Up, up and away, my beautiful, my beautiful balloon!
The world's a nicer place in my beautiful balloon.
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon.
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky,
For we can fly.
We can fly!
Up, up and away, my beautiful, my beautiful balloon!
Suspended under a twilight canopy
We'll search the clouds for a star to guide us.
If by some chance you find yourself loving me,
We'll find a cloud to hide us, keep the moon beside us.
Love is waiting there in my beautiful ballon.
Way up in the air in my beautiful balloon.
If you'll hold my hand, we'll chase your dream across the sky,
For we can fly.
We can fly!
Up, up and away, my beautiful, my beautiful balloon!
Ping and an echo:
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3b555c262d74.htm
Yesterday, I heard an NPR blurb about the new Bishop of Camden saying he wanted to make the laity, the religious and all the Priests on equal footing in his diocese and I thought "What about the Princes of the Church, the hierarchy that has been part of the Magisterium and the role of the Pope. How can their be equal footing when there is supposed to be Ordo".
I visited a Catholic school kindergarten class a while ago, and the experience was so odd that it hasn’t left my mind. I envisioned their sweetly bowed heads as they reverently recited the rosary, or perhaps a decade of it, before a crucifix and a statue of Our Lady. I was in for a shock.
Several years ago, the pastor at my former RC parish asked me to teach one of the Confirmation classes. I was truly humbled by this request and committed myself 100%, by showing up for each and every preparatory meeting. Finally, the Catechist's Guides were distributed and I anxiously sat down hungry to prepare for the first night's class. Turning to Chapter 1, I reviewed the list of items to bring the first night of class. Here it is and in the book's order:
* one or more dice
* newsprint and markers
* stones of similar size and texture, one for each student
* 3 narrow strips of dense fabric to serve as blindfolds
* candidates's handbooks
* pens, one for each candidate
* a large rock to serve as a symbol of Jesus
* two pillar candles and matches
* a Bible
* a tape player or CD player and songs on the themes of loneliness and friendship.
(NB - for those with children preparing for Confirmation, this is the Thomas Zansig, 'Confirmed In A Faithful Community' series from Saint Mary's Press, Christian Brothers Publications, Winona Minnesota).
Like the author of this article, I was shocked! On the first night of class, I brought along the Bible, a Rosary and the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. We progressed from there - without rocks, stones, pillar candles and mood music.
When it came time to selecting a Confirmation name, anticipating that these kids wanted to pick something different or unusual, I pointed them to a web site that lists ALL the catholic saints back to the 1st century. Not only did they appreciate the link, they enjoyed reading up on some of these forgotten saints, especially the martyrs. All of my students chose saint's names whereas many kids in the other classes chose unusual contemporary, even invented names. Ironically, the pastor's nephew was in one of the other classes. He chose some funky name to rile his priest uncle and to express his ability to be different. Even more ironical, the name he chose just happened to be that of some 2nd century saint which eased the qualms of the pastor who never let on to his nephew :-).
To all of you with small children enrolled in Catholic School or Religious Instruction, check and double check the teaching materials being used. If possible, work to have the unseemly materials replaced with more orthodox ones and always fill in the blanks with your children. Be the oasis in the desert!
Very true and very sad. I went to CCD from K-8 grades and parochial schools from 7-12 grades. I learned next to nothing about my faith. Nearly everyone else my age who went to Catholic schools all their lives had the same experience. There were a few exceptions, almost all of them had been homeschooled.
Everything I know about my faith I had to learn on my own. Thank God the internet happened to become widespread when I was in high school. We got a connection in my house when I was about 16 and that's when I started to finally educate myself (as well as un-educate myself from some of the junk I'd heard passed off as Catholicism at school). It was a great way for me to access tons of information from the privacy and comfort of my house. At the time, I would've been too self-conscious, and frankly too lazy as well, to go to a library or buy books on my own.
Baltimore Catechism, have used it with all my kids. I never found it old fashioned, and the results are children who know their catechism.
Tis true. We went through RCIA last year, came into the CC at Easter Vigil. We were told, for our first confession -- 'Just think of one thing. It takes too long when people go on and on.' And we were not taught the Act of Contrition.
Later that spring, we visited a little church in NYC. I went to confession; the priest said, "Don't you know the prayer?" "No, they didn't teach us that." Duh.
Only later still, at a retreat, the priest said, "You are supposed to confess everything in your life to this point, when you come into the church. It is a new start." How much more meaningful that was.
There is much to be said about teaching Doctrine in church.
So many sermons are given like a day time talk show.
No substance...just good feelings.
Christians should mature beyond infants in their faith and grow to be teachers.