” a faith formation class for an hour and fifteen minutes at the end of a long school day and right at the dinner hour “
Maybe that’s part of the problem.
“Why do Catholic parishes insist on having CFF classes on weeknight so...Why not on Sunday mornings the way Protestants do Church school?”
I agree and I’d go further. I think there should be a Mass every Sunday that Sunday School kids attend and go straight to class from — and attendance at BOTH should be mandatory every week. In addition, the Mass should be just for the Sunday School kids (and their parents) and for any Catholic school kids who would like to attend that particular Mass (because it’s mostly kids).
When my son was in public school, he went to (Catholic) Sunday school and I was appalled at how many of the other children’s parents told me that they (the parents) almost never went to church themselves — they’d hang out in the church parking lot while Sunday School was going on — and that they almost never took their children to church. Seemed that figured their children’s attendance at Sunday School alone “counted” as Mass for the whole family.
yes, that is part of the problem. It is also part of the reason why churches have problems recruiting excellent teachers. Parents with children can’t leave their homes to teach at 7pm at the craziest part of the day ( dinner, homework baths..etc)
Also, blame lies with parents and a lack of meaningful prayer in the home. Do you begin and close each day with prayer. Is there always prayer before meals. What about reading from the bible so the “stories” they hear in church have more meaning. It is hard. When parents work and are constantly bombarded with e-mails and phone calls that need attending to, it is easier to hook up little Johnny with angry birds on an ipad than to teach about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho.