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It seems to me that in trying to teach the parents a lesson, no doubt a total waste of priestly time, their children are not being taught about Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. What the children are learning is about being rebuffed from a church because of something involving their parents. This memory will linger on into their adulthood. No matter the righteousness felt at the moment by those excluding them from contact with teachings about significant areas of Catholic belief. What can we expect these maturing children to think and feel about the Catholic church which in their minds is unwelcoming and punitive? Why the parents send the children to the classes is not relevant, and probably nobody's business. What is relevant is the opportunity for the teachers to reach the minds and souls of the children sent their way .

What is relevant is the opportunity for the teachers to reach the minds and souls of the children sent their way .

Well, what use is it for the kids to make the Sacraments and their family never darken the door of the Church again? I see this in my own Parish. The kids make First Communion, and since, until recently, they weren't required to make First Confession before making First Communion, some don't come back until it's time for Confirmation, then they have to make First Confession then. The only reason some of them even come back then is because their parents are offering a new car as a gift, or because they want to get married in the Church someday, and they know they can't if they aren't Confirmed. They don't pay attention in class; just sit there, and are Confirmed anyway. After that, no one sees them again, except with their family at Christmas and Easter, until Mama wants to have a big Church wedding.

It is not religious, it is cultural, and maybe, just maybe, what this priest is doing will actually get some of them to THINK about whether or not their faith is truly important to them; AFTER they've gotten their knickers untwisted.