Posted on 10/23/2015 11:48:42 AM PDT by NYer
When it comes to teenagers, you expect a certain amount of eye rolling and apathy, but put those same kids in a faith formation class for an hour and fifteen minutes at the end of a long school day and right at the dinner hour and you’ll see a level of teenage disinterest that could make you wither on the spot. That’s what my husband and I faced when we stood before the 21 high school sophomores we teach at our upstate New York parish.
The scene was nothing new and nothing unexpected. We taught most of the same kids last year since they’re in a two-year program that will culminate in confirmation this spring. However, I’m willing to wager that their apathy isn’t necessarily related to a surge of teenage surliness but rather to a lack of foundational catechesis, and I say that while having taught many of these kids in fourth and fifth grade. I have used every trick in the book—from group activities to stump-the-teacher sessions to outright bribery through baked ziti and brownies—to get these kids to hear me when I talk about the Mass, about the Gospel, about our beautiful Catholic teachings and traditions. Yet every year, when they reluctantly return to class, I find I’m grateful if even half of them remember the Our Father.
When I look out at these kids—regardless of age, regardless of whether they’ve gone to Catholic or public elementary school—I assume I am seeing 75 percent as future ex-Catholics.
The blame falls squarely in the lap of the Church, which has, for decades, let the parents of these children go spiritually hungry, through misguided catechesis in their youth and preaching that failed to challenge and engage them as adults. As Pope Francis told priests at ordination this year: “May your homilies not be boring; may your homilies touch the heart of the people because they come from your heart …”
Some might say that even with unchallenging preaching the Holy Eucharist should be enough to draw people in, but how can that be if people have no grasp of the power and wonder of the Sacrament because no one has taught them—not in a classroom and not from the pulpit?
People are hungry, yes, but before they can run to Jesus in the Eucharist, they must walk into a parish on any given Sunday and hear the words that feed their flagging spirits and find fellowship that reminds them they are not alone. As a speaker and retreat leader I can tell you, from both personal experience and from encounters with other Catholics around the country that neither of those things exist in abundance in US parishes. Some communities are getting it right, but these lucky few are the sad exceptions, not the happy norm.
And so people go elsewhere. Perhaps to the nondenominational church up the street where the preaching is riveting and relevant and the community is fully engaged and made up predominantly of former Catholics. They don’t have Eucharist, but people are feeling fed, and returning, week after week. When you sit in Mass this Sunday, try to experience it as a newcomer, and ask yourself: If this was your first and only experience of Catholicism, would you ever return?
Back when I wrote my Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Catholic Catechism, I heard the same refrain time and again from adult Catholics disconnected from the faith: “Why didn’t I learn any of this when I was growing up?” Many of them were raised, as I was, in what I call the “Era of the Collage,” with lots of cutting and pasting of happy Jesus, but little basic information about the things that sustain you for a lifetime, the beauty of a living, breathing faith. I credit my mother with bridging the wide chasm that grew between my official religious education and my actual faith, and that’s why I know we first and foremost need our families to turn our Church around.
Catechesis must begin by drawing families in, by making them feel welcome, by giving them something more than registration deadlines and weekly envelopes. Only when they feel as though they belong in this Church—to this Church—will they be open to retracing the spiritual steps of their childhood and embracing the path of faith as an adult. When they do that, they will bring their children with them, and faith formation will no longer be seen as a ticket that must be stamped in order to receive a sacrament and then “graduate” from religion, but rather as a first step on a lifelong journey.
Of course teens will be teens, and they will still roll their eyes and answer questions with stony silence, but beneath that will be a foundation of real faith, and the powerful, life-giving knowledge that they are loved beyond measure by a God who created them, and saved them, and waits for them.
I believe the kids sitting in our class acting like they couldn’t care less about religion desperately want and need a God like that, as do their parents. Unless we find a way to make God real and relevant to their lives, he will always remain an abstract idea to be sat through, rather than engaged, which is a loss not just for them but for all of us.
Well, that’s what happens when you believe Genesis is symbolic. If you can’t get the beginning right you’re on shaky ground going forward.
Please stop insulting my intelligence.
Wow.
Then please show specifically in the NT where it says the Catholic Church, and by that you mean the Roman Cathokic Church, is what you claim in your post.
Sure right after you show me incontrovertible proof of ANY Christian Church existing before the Catholic Church, right after you show me incontrovertible proof of any Christian Church that was involved with the assembly of the Bible, the establishment of the Apostles' creed, the Nicean Constantinople Creed, the defining of the incarnation, etc.....
However, there was a Christian church that existed before the Roman Catholic Church.
25And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; 26and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Acts 11:26 NASB
I can also point to the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the church was born through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
We also see the early church in Paul’s letters as well. But no Roman Cathokic Church mentioned.
As usual you are wrong. Learn some real history.
THIS. IS. MY. BODY. Stop avoiding it. Deal with it.
In my experience I’ve seen them asserting that more frequently, especially when they suspect a lot of lapsed Catholics are present (First Holy Communions, Confirmations, and naturally Easter Sunday and Christmas). Parishes run primarily on voluntary donations; they have little choice in the matter but to push them.
There is not a single credible historical source that believes that any other Christian church existed before the Catholic Church. We are the first and until the non-Catholics get that through there skulls discussion is darn near useless.
My diocese gets smeared in the news constantly because our soon-retiring archbishop has quite a lavish retirement home; that, coupled with the fact that this area has been hit hard by the recession, makes raising money difficult. I know I’m not in a position to give much; I’m the primary breadwinner with a family & mortgage (in an area with very high property taxes - not an expensive home), and I have debt to deal with. I see little reason to subsidize Catholic schools I can’t afford for my children while I’m barely scraping by; at this point we’ve gone from closing schools to closing parishes.
I have. That’s why I can say there is no Roman Catholic Church seen in the NT.
Yet you cannot point to a single verse that says what you claim and I e given you two already that the church existed well before the roman cathokic church.
Do you really think God cares how hold a church is? If you want to claim this as credibility for the rcc you’re on thin ice.
I think Catholics have a right and a duty to ask about how the church spends its money; I think Catholics also have an obligation to donate money regularly. In fact, giving money consistently is the surest way to wield influence when nonsense goes on in a parish or diocese. I can’t comment on your particular situation, but I think everyone can give something to his local parish, even if it’s just $10 or $20 a month.
Those verse refer to the Catholic Church. So sola Scriptura is out the window, Now show me a legitimate SECULAR document that supports your opinion. I will accept sources such as the World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, etc...
In other words real sources.
(correct spelling of cathokic to catholic)
Those verse refer to the Catholic Church. So sola Scriptura is out the window, Now show me a legitimate SECULAR document that supports your opinion. I will accept sources such as the World Book Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, etc...
In other words real sources.
Utterly amazing.
From your statement one can only conclude you do not consider the Bible, God's Word, to be a "real source".
You will accept the words of secular man over the words of God on this.
God's word is either the final authority on Truth or it is not.
For the catholic apparently that is not the case.
Amazing.
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