Posted on 06/27/2005 1:42:52 PM PDT by Coleus
| Parents miss Mass, kids get ax |
|
|
|
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 about religious education (what used to be called CCD or Catechism). They are classes to teach the Faith to children.
The classes, or some subset of them, are required for the children to receive First Communion and Confirmation.
What happens if the family was on vacation and attended Mass where they were at that time? Or if they were attending Mass at another church nearby? Or if they didn't remember to put an envelope in? What's next - a sign in sheet? What is to stop someone from putting an entire month of envelopes in on one visit(and thus paying their way out of attendance) or having someone else put their envelope in for them? This is ridiculous.
I'm not Catholic, but I can see the pastor's point. If the parents won't attend mass, then religious education of the children is a waste of time because they won't be attending either. Even when they become old enough to go on their own they will be less likely to attend more than occasionally. Parents must set an example in their children's spiritual lives.
(In our town, a lot of non-Catholics send their kids to Catholic school because the local public schools are hotbeds of liberal crap. They took a field trip to "PrideFest" downtown.)
Well to extend that I'm not sure why you can't just leave someone home to take care of the sick and have someone else take the family to mass as well as become -Sorry for my lack of terminology here- one of the people who get qualified to bring communion to the sick.
No. During the baptism the Parents are specifically charged with being the teachers of their children in the Catholic Faith. If the parents are not practicing Catholics they cannot set an example to their children.
Disgusting--visiting the sins and omissions of the parents upon the innocent children.
This is all about money, anyway. Since the priest sex scandals began, revenues have been decreasing every week in most parishes.
These strong-arm tactics will only result in the families leaving the parish of this tyrant and joining another parish, or leaving the RCC altogether. There are many Evangelical churches waiting to welcome these people with open arms--and no hand in their pocket.
Some priests just don't get it.
The issue is the (Catholic) kids being expelled from school entirely because of their parents' non-attendance at Mass on Sundays.
Do they only allow Catholic children to be enrolled?
Maybe it's different down South where I live, because there has always been at least 10% non-Catholic students in mine and my son's Catholic schools
Exactly. Call the rectory and a Eucharistic minister come to your house. They will never refuse you. I think they are called "Extraordinary Ministers".
Our Sister talked about this problem earlier this year. She said that if the Church gives the Sacraments to children whose parents are non-practicing, they're imposing an obligation on the child that he or she is not capable of fulfilling without support from the parents, and that's not fair to the child.
Exactly.
A lot of people send their children to Catholic schools to avoid having to send their children to (God-less, amoral) public schools.
I'm not catholic, but I play one on tv. Whoops, I mean I'm not catholic, but I am Godfather to my buddy's youngest son. The way I've understood it, I'm to make sure that the parents are doing their job raising their kids in the ways of the church. If anything ever happens to the parents, then I'm to personally take charge of my Godsons religious up bringing.
Cichon is a jackass. Satan himself couldn't have come up with a better plan for chasing people away from the church.
This is regarding CCD not regular school.
Should this be considered "mass expulsion"? :) >>
You bet.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.