My wife and I were both very secure in our faith. We both had family that did the teaching, and our foundation was not just laid at the church classes.
What is taught, the time of day or night, whether or not food is served, matters little IF the faith is not practiced in the home. Over and over again, I have seen these scenarios play out - the parents (or grandparents) drop the child(ren) off at church for their class and depart, only to return when class is over. With the support of our parish priest, we implemented a requirement that children had to remain after class for mass. This, unfortunately, turned into a "gift" for the parents who used the time to go shopping or run errands. We have a new, young pastor who welcomes local families to have their children baptized. They are required to meet with him over the span of several weeks in preparation for reception of the sacrament. On the big day, they attend mass with the baby; however, their "guests" (other family members) show up AFTER mass for the actual ceremony. Not one of these families has ever returned, afterwards. We will probably see them again when the child is in 2nd grade and they want him/her to receive First Communion.
Last year, I was asked to prepare several teens for the Sacrament of Confirmation. We met, at the convenience of the children, on a weekday afternoon, after school and before dinner. Since this was a small group, I prepared my materials by incorporating YouTube videos and used social media to maintain contact with them in between classes. I also requested the parents to remain for each class. Not surprisingly, each one had an excuse as to why that was not possible.
It has been my experience that most parents are ignorant of their faith and lay the responsibility on the church, to properly form their children. The message communicated to their children, unfortunately, is that faith belongs in the church not in the home.
Those of us who are older, never questioned our faith instruction. If our parents said this was important, it was .. period. Our family attended mass on Sunday and lived the faith in the home. Young people today are taught to question everything. Unlike us who grew up at a time when Sunday was a day for worship and family, these youth spend Sunday doing sports, attending birthday parties, shopping at the mall, oftentimes because both parents now work.
There are no simple answers to resolving this dilemma.
“What is taught, the time of day or night, whether or not food is served, matters little IF the faith is not practiced in the home.”
True, but for those MANY kids who — THROUGH NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN — are growing up in homes where the faith is not practiced, the church should be offering the strongest educational program to help supply this deficiency, and not just act as if they’re lost and nothing can be done. And sensible times for the classes, along with well-thought-out pedagogical methods, and strong substance (it should go without saying) is essential -— but SORELY MISSING from the FRUSTRATINGLY INSIPID educational programs of so many Catholic parishes.
You can tut-tut about their parents till the cows come home, but that doesn’t help the kids. The Catholics could learn a lot from some of the evangelical mega-churches with their energetic programs to engage and teach kids. You may not like the doctrine, but they run circles around the typical Catholic parish in the way they teach it.
Sure, in an ideal world - or back in the 50s - you could leave it up to the parents. But not today.
You think the communists left it up to the parents to teach communism? To the contrary, they taught the kids DESPITE what the parents were saying at home.
The churches should be making the kids ambassadors for Christ to their own families — and not relying on lukewarm parents to propagate the faith, or consigning kids to secularism if they’re unfortunate enough to have lukewarm parents.
A lot of the evangelical churches get it - and focus their evangelism on young people. In contrast, too many the Catholics are confused and complacent.