Another refuses to teach her students to make the Sign of the Cross. When my daughter returned home on her first day in catholic school Kindergarten, pinned to her uniform was a picture of a child making the Sign of the Cross. Her homework assignment was to practice that for the following day. I still have that beautiful reminder from her catholic school days.
God bless Fr. Murr for making a sound decision. His reward will come later.
22 posted on
04/06/2004 9:43:08 AM PDT by
NYer
(The Maronite, works, builds, and plants as if he is celebrating the liturgy. - Father Michel HAYEK)
Yes, it's nice that your daughter got a picture of a child making the sign of the cross. But what's SAD about it was that it was thought NECESSARY...this isn't something you should HAVE to teach a catholic child at the age of 5 or 6. If you're having to teach that at 5 or six, rather than at age 1 or 2 that should tell you that SIGNIFICANT numbers of Catholic children are NOT being taught this at home. If a supposedly catholic child of 5 or 6 doesn't ALREADY know the sign of the cross, the Our Father, Hail Mary, or Glory Be, it should be obvious that the PRIMARY teachers of religious instruction are NOT DOING THEIR JOBS AS PARENTS AND CATHOLICS. This is something that should have been taught when they were toddlers and first learning to talk. I taught CCD for about 6 years, and I always KNEW the little ones who were going to be "lost" or have a difficult time being taught the faith, because it was evident that if a child didn't know the most elemental things by even K or 1st grade, they were NOT living in a truly catholic home, because they were NOT shown "by example."
I know some parents can not afford tuition, I know how difficult it is now, but if you can, PLEASE get your catholic kids educated in catholic schools. At best CCD is only a stop gap...and if you have to avail yourself of CCD classes because of lack of affordablity or availability, PLEASE do yourself as a parent to make sure YOU live the faith in front of your child. All the teachers in the world can't make up for it. Please try the best YOU can to know as much about the faith as possible. No good TALKING about reading the bible, saying your prayers, attending mass faithfully, showing your kids the courage to do the RIGHT thing in the face of a lot of easy, wrong choices. DO IT.
If you do these things as a WAY OF LIFE, they will do them too. If you don't, it's IN SPITE OF YOU, and not BECAUSE of you that they will do them at all....if ever.