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. |
"This is an only an attempt by a frustrated pastor to get some "Catholics in name only" to get off their dead asses and come to mass with their children as they should."
I can see why this is frustrating. I teach religious ed and am well aware of the issues. In my opinion you can handle CINOs in 2 ways. 1) Welcome them to Mass when they come and pray for their enlightenment 2) Prevent them from participating in the parish because they don't follow all the rules.
It isn't uncommon for CINOs to find their way back to the church and become good parishioners again. I doubt it will happen by refusing their children religious instruction.
You are 100% right. There is a better way.
So you are not Catholic then? You could have saved me the trouble by saying so in the first place.
Tell that to the priest.
Excellent
Did you read the article NYer posted about Pope Benedict and a smaller church?
More like "to track the money." I would feel very uncomfortable in any "church" that tracked its members by a bar code. That's just creepy.
I can assert it since actions speak far louder than words. If mom and dad are not compelled to adore Jesus, present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist, and to do it joyfully at least once a week on the Lord's Day as He commands, they are teaching their children that they do not believe it, truly. Children imitate parents, not the teachers they see once a week. Heck, kids don't do what five-day-a-week teaches say!
Darling, not if you have canceled checks.
(sigh) Your understanding of the Church's motives falls only a little less short than your understanding of Scripture.
Darling, not if you have canceled checks.
Only if your contribution is less than $250....Dearest.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf
Page 12
And an entirely valid rant it is! This has driven me berserk for years--Catholic schools at every level educating children from every religion under the sun--but not in religion while children of practicing Catholics wait their turns for admission.
"Do not give to dogs what is holy, nor cast your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you." (St. Matthew 7.6)
The Sacraments are not to be given to those who have no respect for them, and who do not actively practice the faith. There is absolutely no reason to instruct those who are not actually Christians.
The Church does not Baptise will-nilly, and once Baptised, does not Commune and Confirm willy-nilly either. A Pastor and I personally flunked several children from the confirmation class when I taught CCD. I would have kicked them out of the class completely to, given their utterly disruptive behavior. They needed an exorcism, not the Sacraments. They refused even to be taught the Apostles Creed and basic prayers, let alone the names and purposes of the 7 Sacraments, or the 10 commandments. These were 7th graders about to be confirmed, mind you. Of course they did not attend Mass at all during the year I taught them.
What a bunch of f***ing crap.
You expect that a family which obviously has people (1) working outside the house, (2) shopping for things like clothes, groceries, etc., (3) children in school, cannot find time to go individually for ONE HOUR between 4 pm Saturday and 8 pm Sunday to go to a Mass somewhere nearby?
You seriously expect us to believe the entire family is homebound with the sick parent 168 hours per week?
This will backfire. It plays right into the hands of those who label the RCC as Neanderthal and inflexible.
The priest's actions are also inconsistent with Christ's teachings.
All Catholics are under the pain of mortal sin to attend Mass every Sunday and all Holydays of Obligation (Christmas, Assumption, Ascension, All-Saints, etc.). This is Catholicism 101, like making the Sign of the Cross, genuflecting to the tabernacle, and knowing the Hail Mary.
The Council of Elvira, around AD 300 made the canon: "Canon 21. If someone living in a city does not come to Church for three Sundays, fasting is to be imposed on him for a short time, until he is seen to have reformed."
If you can't be bothered to attend Mass weekly, you are not Catholic. People who refuse to practice the rudiments of their faith, when it is widely and easily available are called APOSTATES.
Second, were the parents informed of the attendance tracking via the envelopes' bar coding? If so, were they able to verify their attendance by some other method (ex: what happens if you forget your envelope and just drop cash in the basket)? Could the student just inform a deacon, teacher, or lay assistant that they are there?
Having taught these classes, I found it easy to both ask and verify if students had attended. They were all very honest about it, and you could easily tell, since we asked nothing more than to remember the simplest point of one of the three readings or the sermon, or what moment was being commemorated (as on Palm Sunday, of the Baptism of the Lord, or the beginning of Lent or Advent). There would definitely be no mistaking who was and was not there.
Third, if parents were aware of the class requirement, why weren't they making some other arrangements with the priest if family pressures or obligations were interfering with their attendance.
Because they are CINO - Catholic In Name Only. They believe First Communion parties are the birthright of their children, regardless of their own beliefs or personal life.
A wise person would reregister at the other parish.
With the priest doing what he is doing, he is denying the children the right to come into Christ's presence!
The Priest isn't holding them back from attending Mass. The parents are refusing to attend Church or to bring their children to Church. The lack of access to Christ's presence is the fault of the careless and laxsidasical parents.
The Most Blessed Eucharist is not to be given to apostates from the Catholic Church.
It's cheaper to go to a rock concert most days.
tuff to be welcoming when there is no one to welcome
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