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. |
I agree. This priest doesn't get it. The kids should stay in the classess. This is where they learn about the obligation to attend mass. I am not making excuses for the parents, but to penalize the children and to prevent them from religious education just doesn't make sense.
We had a priest near us that would not verify parish membership for admission to Catholic Schools unless the parents were contributing large amounts of money. He actually sent out letters telling the parents that they have no business paying for their kids to go to Catholic school if they do not contribute enough. People just changed to another parish.
I was personally just creeped out by the bar-coded donation cards.
I recall distinctly the passage in Matthew(?) that states that donations/charity should be anonomous.
One church I went to tracked people's donations if they used a check -- I had special checks printed up with no name --- just because the issue was tacky.
That's a pretty inaccurate attendance-tracking method on which to base such a serious punishment. Methinks the priest did not think this one through.
Isn't this really explusing the kids who's parents don't put cash in the collection plate?
Could be, but why would they have their children in RE (and preparing for First Communion) at a parish where they won't attend Mass?
No one is being prevented from going to church. What the priest is trying to do, is force the parents to live up to the very principals the parents are trying to have taught to their kids.
If you're a pastor or priest who is only concerned with numbers and dollars, then you'll just view kids in your school as more revenue.
But if you're a pastor or priest that is more concerned with the quality of your flock than the quantity, then you'll do things, like this, that will inspire others to be more devout, but the less devout might leave. Which would be a good thing, as the less serious delute the richness of the entire flock.
Sort of like the RINO's in the RNC.
If you read the article, the targets were people who attended Mass less than once a month for an extended period of time.
Due to vacation, visits, etc. I probably attend Mass at a different parish than my home parish 10 times a year.
Not 40 times a year.
Now that you mention it, you're right. I wonder if the gentleman quoted is not Catholic (which might explain why the family doesn't go to Mass.)
I had the same problem, so I formally joined another parish. Takes about five minutes by phone.
Did you read the article?
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.
And....they attended together as a family.
However, I DO NOT agree with the arrogance of the leader of this parish to DARE to punish children and keep them from making Holy Communion becuase their parents do not attend church. Who does he think he is? Perhaps the pedophile priests should have been dealt with as severely as these families are being dealt with and then maybe children would not have been assaulted.
Personally, I would find me another Catholic Church with a real leader and not this pompous you know what!
At the parishes here, the RE director runs the program, with little to no input from the pastor (the "liturgical committees" probably work the same way, but that's a different problem). At another local parish, the RE director is very conservative, while the pastor is, well... less so, to put it kindly. I would never attend mass there, but I would probably let my kids go to RE. The cafeteria is far from closed here in the trenches.
That's despicable. You should ashamed of yourself.
Goodness sake! You guys gotta read the article!
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.
If the parents are not attending Mass, and these are children about 7, 8,9 years, how are they going to fulfill their obligation to attend Mass? They can't exactly borrow the car and drive to Mass.
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