The Pope Directs Severe Criticism on Religious Instrucution and Catholic Employees

The Eponymous Flower ^ | 11/25/2010 | Tancred

[0beron]

Pope Benedict has criticized religious instruction in Germany in his book "Light of the World": "The Bishops must reconsider here how Catechesis can be given a new heart and a new face.

Rome (kath.net) Pope Benedict has directed severe criticism against religious instruction in Germany in his new book, "Light of the World". Peter Seewald asked the question how it is possible that with the responsibility falling at the end of the day to the Diocese that the children might know Buddhism, but on the other hand know almost nothing of the fundamentals of Catholicism: "That is a question which I've also asked myself. In Germany every child has nine to thirteen years of religious instruction. How so little can come from that, as it is expressed here, is inconceivable. The Bishops must reconsider here how Catechesis can be given a new heart and a new face."

[narses]

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[netmilsmom]

Please Holy Father, get on the “Faith Formation” teachers here in the states too!

[johniegrad]

A couple of years ago, I taught religious instruction classes to 10th graders in our local parish. I did a lot of preparation for the classes and had regular handouts and fairly lively discussions. It's not always easy to get people to teach these classes and, when you can, educational level, motivation, and personal relationships with God may not always be what you would want.

I have never attended a public school. I was flabbergasted at what these young men and women did not know. But one thing I do know, they left with a lot more after I got done with them than they had before.

[Notwithstanding]

“faith disinformation”

The fault lies with the professionals whose only familiarity with the official Catechism is to misquote it to claim that the death penalty is always objectively immoral (and who think Eucharistic adoration can take place anywhere people sit in a circle or where there is a mirror).

The volunteer catechists are usually victims of the same crapola system.

[Talisker]

...how it is possible that with the responsibility falling at the end of the day to the Diocese that...

The world will not be free until the use of the phrase "at the end of the day" makes the speaker subject to criminal charges.

I'm not kidding. It's a Hillaryism that has done massive damage to critical thinking, by replacing it with groupthink parroting obedience - precisely as she intended it to.

Evil is where you find it.

[A.A. Cunningham]

That includes the parents too, most of whom forget the promise they made at the Baptism of their child:

Celebrant: You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (her) in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him (her) up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbour. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?

Parents: We do.

[netmilsmom]

>>Parents: We do.<<

The problem with that is, the parents don’t know what they don’t know.

I was part of the Education Committee of my last parish. The DRE wanted the kids to have a good experience and didn’t really care about the CCC. She SAID that.

I told her that the parents were paying 90.00 a year to have their kids instructed on how to be Catholic because they weren’t taught themselves. Basically if they wanted “God made the flowers” and “Jesus loves you” they could go to any Protestant church free Sunday school.

I left not long after. My new pastor told me, “There are more Catholic teachings at the local Baptist church.” than in the books we had been using. Pitifully, the parents had no clue.

[A.A. Cunningham]

There's no excuse for abdicating their responsibility.

To those whom much is given, much is expected.

[netmilsmom]

>>There’s no excuse for abdicating their responsibility. <<

They have no clue what their responsibility is. They are told by DREs and Priests, “We have got it covered.” The parents don’t know differently, because they JUST don’t know. The kids are learning just what the parents were taught so it looks just fine to them.

You are talking about a generation of people who were taught by lib hippies that nothing is really a sin because Jesus loves us, one Christian religion is just as good as another and give peace a chance, Kumbaya. The entire generation since Vatican II was taught how to make felt banners and not much else.

You can’t blame the parents for their own ignorance.

[livius]

Talisker, I think you’re overreacting. All “at the end of the day” means is “finally,” “in the long run,” “ultimately,” etc.

Regardless of that issue, I was glad to see the religious instruction industry get some criticism. I have know adult potential converts who left the process because it was so idiotic and content-free - and parents who have taken their kids out of Catholic school because of the abysmal quality of the so-called religious instruction.

[Jvette]

Sounds a lot like public school, huh?

Parents don’t want to take the time to know what their kids are learning or even who is teaching them.

I had the pleasure of teaching and though we were supposed to follow the whole book lessons, most of the them were banal and not necessarily about what separates Catholics from protestants.

I actually had students who did not understand that Catholic is CHRISTIAN!