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Relying on a Catholic School to Catechize Your Child? Be Careful.

I loved primary school. I loved my teachers. I loved my friends. I loved history lessons. And I loved R.E. lessons. We had them about twice a week, and I believed that the topics we covered were helping me to become a better Catholic.

In hindsight, I see that I retained my faith not so much because of, but in spite of the religious education I received at school.

I have recently gone back to primary school for a placement needed for my degree – an opportunity for which I am still grateful. However, I was nothing short of horrified by the things that were taught in the name of Catholicism.

There were the ugly, modern, colorful “crucifixes” and crosses around the building, which I’m sure we’ve all seen. There were the “altars” in the classrooms, which were effectively tables covered in glittery fabric with some “holy” objects and words like “new start,” “kindness,” and “gifts.”

There was the first assembly of term, in which children were told that perseverance is the virtue of the month. It was drawn from the Gospel on Sunday, in which Jesus told the disciples they had to take up their crosses and follow Him. The children were then asked what sort of person Jesus was. “Nice,” “kind,” “thoughtful,” came the answers. Then “honest.” Then “courageous,” which was getting somewhere, but the child followed it with “and nice.”

When one child said a good way to persevere is to “believe,” the head teacher automatically assumed that he had meant believing in oneself rather than God, when in fact no such thing had been said.

During the first R.E. lesson of term, the class I was observing looked at the line from the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, “For it is in giving that we receive.” To explain its meaning, the children were effectively told that giving things, being generous, is good because it makes you feel good about yourself. The children were then encouraged to share a time when they had said “thank you” for something they had received and a time when they had given something to someone and felt good about it.

Where was God in all this? He floated into conversation occasionally, as a sort of friendly ghost who wants everyone to be happy. Jesus was talked about as though He were not God. “Ask Jesus and God for help,” one teacher said.

The R.E. lessons focused more on boosting the children’s egos with memories and displays of the good things they had done than on teaching them to know and love God.

My all-girls secondary school wasn’t much better. The offertory procession featured not only the gifts necessary for the Consecration, but also some of the exercise books with the neatest work, as well as objects that “symbolized” parts of our “journey” through the school. Girls were pressured into serving at the altar at end-of-year Masses. It was never made clear that in order to receive Communion, one needs to be Catholic (and therefore know exactly Whom one was receiving) and to be in a state of grace.

We had “retreats” with the nuns whose order had founded the school, in which we were encouraged to “meditate,” “anoint” each other with water, color in circles and “let the colors choose [us],” pour sand into jars, and burn pieces of paper with lists of things we were sorry for. Confession was not mentioned once. Mass was not celebrated. We had a discussion about the ban on burkas, in which our “catechist” compared it to a ban on crucifixes. All religions were considered equal. The following year, the catechist couldn’t distinguish between free will and the physical ability to do what we want.

We had year group assemblies in the chapel, and in order to save time and avoid being late for lessons, we were told to bow toward the tabernacle all in one go, instead of genuflecting. No one seemed to think it would be a good idea to shorten the assemblies by two minutes.

Our Sixth Form, attached to the secondary school, was described as multi-faith. The girls – both of other religions and the alleged Catholic girls who were angry on the others’ behalf – complained about how the school was “too Catholic.” We had a week in which a “missionary” group came to the school, singing charismatic songs, giving emotional monologues, dancing during the Mass, and implying (although never explicitly stating) that all people who believe in God are guaranteed both happiness on Earth and eternal life in Heaven. They wished a happy feast of Diwali to the Hindus among us and then followed with a series of role-plays and interpretive dances. It was all well meant but cringe-worthy. These events were compulsory, even for the Muslim, Hindu, and atheist girls. And so the complaints rolled in. “I knew it would be Catholic,” they lamented, “but not this Catholic.”

The tragic thing is, it was hardly Catholic at all.

This is not unique to the U.K. During the third year of my degree, I worked in two Austrian schools. One was a private Catholic school in which there was Mass at the end of each term. The teachers, wanting to make it all extra-“nice” for the children, came up with ideas like hanging objects on trees, objects that supposedly represented the different aspects of school life. This brought back many memories of my own school. In the officially secular school, in which the majority were at least nominal Catholics, there was an “evangelical Mass.” Thankfully, I was never around to attend on those days. God only knows what sort of liturgical abuses may have occurred.

Is it any wonder that the youth are leaving the Church in droves? This sort of “worship” isn’t dignified. It’s patronizing and embarrassing.

While my parents and I disagree on some things liturgical and practical (I wish Vatican II had never happened, while they think it wasn’t so bad; I am all for being direct about the Faith and calling out all heresy, whereas they prefer more diplomacy), I am very grateful that they brought me up in the Faith and that they told my sisters and me about the importance of the sacraments, of praying for the dead, and of devotion to Our Lady. Without them, I would not be a Catholic today.

If you intend to bring up your child as a Catholic, it needs to begin at home, and you cannot rely on any so-called Catholic school to supplement your efforts.

46 thoughts on “Relying on a Catholic School to Catechize Your Child? Be Careful.”

  1. Jesus was talked about as though He were not God. “Ask Jesus and God for help,”

    It is possible that the teacher did not intend to diminish the Divinity of Christ. People often refer to the Father as God and the Son as Jesus.

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  2. A massive problem with Catholic schools in the UK is the fact that only two-thirds of pupils on average are even nominally Catholic. Both state funded and private “Catholic” schools take a large number of non-Catholic and non-Christian pupils to make them financially viable.
    One extreme case is a primary (I. E. elementary) school in Lancashire, once the most Catholic county in England. After decades of population shift, over 90% of its pupils are Muslim. The only Catholic children remaining are from Polish and African families. But fear not, the sacred money will continue to flow from local government into Catholic education coffers.
    I visited a local “Catholic” primary school in 2001. The angelic five year olds sang Away in a Manger and there was hardly a dry eye in the hall. Then the devoted and highly regarded head teacher (principal) stood up to plead with parents that they take their children to church at least for Christmas. How much of a Catholic ethos can survive in such schools?

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    • “One extreme case is a primary school in Lancashire” I suppose “extreme” is justified, but any inference that this is an isolated case would be incorrect. I live in Lancashire, in Preston, until recently England’s most Catholic town but where the Faith has been all but destroyed. There are at least two Catholic primary schools in Preston in which the pupils are almost all Moslem (I think but can’t be sure that there are in fact three such schools) and one Catholic secondary school which has – I kid you not – halal certification.

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      • “Unfortunate” children is too accurate. Especially if they are the offspring of first cousins, which is too often the case among the UK Pakistani community.

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    • In the US, where private school is not funded by the government, so called catholic school has become largely unaffordable unless you are upper class with no more than 1 or 2 children. The schools are geared toward presenting superior academics and sports programs, with only a catholic veneer, nothing too “catholic” to disturb the nominally catholic contracepting parents, or the many non catholic clients. It’s about “enrollment”. Short of a drastic change, and a push for Universality (catholicity as in All), the schools will predictably either collapse, or cease to be even nominally catholic.

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      • The money rules, by one route or another. In a private school it is a question of how much Catholicism the parents will stand – often the barest minimum, if they are non-Catholic or nominal Catholics. It is usually the academic results and prime university places they want.
        And if the school is state funded, how much Catholic morality will the Government tolerate on abortion or homosexuality? In the UK we have already had an education minister insisting that Catholic schools teach about abortion – they were saved by the election results in 2010. But not for long.

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      • That’s one of the reasons why I never went to a Catholic school at any level. Hanging a crucifix on the wall and requiring fancy preppy uniforms do not guarantee the faith. If the bishops actually cared about Catholic education they would give scholarships to low-income Catholic kids instead of profiteering on supporting illegals.

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      • Which reminds me of the old saying, “he who pays the piper calls the tune”. If Catholics own and pay for their own schools and are prepared to cover any losses due to low enrollment, they can be 100% Catholic. Obviously the staff and parents would have to be 100% in support of a truly Catholic curriculum. Once you invite the Government in, sooner or later they will start imposing conditions for giving money. Even a relatively sympathetic education minister in the UK tried to insist that 50% of places in newly built Catholic schools should be reserved for non-Catholics.

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  3. You have no idea how much I wish this article had appeared 6 years ago.

    As you say right at the end, it’s no good expecting a Catholic school to supplement your efforts.

    But in fact it is FAR worse than that.

    Not only do they not supplement any efforts, but actually undermine them whether it be in terms of Mass and prayers, or in terms of morality and social issues.

    I wish that I had not sent my sons to Catholic school. That way they would not have “Catholics” who they can quote against real Catholic views.

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    • Dont beat yourself up. It’s nearly impossible to prevent our children being severely impacted by the culture. Well even the Church could not protect its seminarians. So much depends on each person individually. I just met an 18 yr old from a ‘normal’ catholic family who said he’d located 2 other Catholics in his catholic high school. This boy is a full on Catholic proactive. Each time I speak to him I m filled with amazement with what God is doing for him!

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  4. My son suffered abuse in the ‘catholic’ school. Taking him out was one of the best decisions we ever made for him. His long time ‘catholic’ friends that went to the school have left the Church but my son is still a Catholic.

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  5. Two or three years ago a friend of mine had a daughter at St. Bernadette’s Catholic School in Bristol, in the south-west of England.

    The then fourteen-year old came home with her Religious Education homework, which had to be completed in time for the next lesson: an application form for an abortion from the local Marie Stopes abortion clinic.

    That’s British “Catholic” education for you.

    I wouldn’t dream of sending a child of mine to a Catholic school run by anyone except the SSPX or the Dominican nuns affiliated to them. Lapsation rates from Novus Ordo Catholic schools is said to run at around 97%.

    New Mass – means protestant meal service
    New Church – means Anti-Church
    New Evangelisation – means no evangelisation
    New anything in the modern Church means its antithesis.

    It’s all diabolical.

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  6. At the required parents’ meeting of our parish’s Faith Formation year, barely 20 women showed up — a minority of those expected; no fathers at all. The parents were encouraged by our eminently-qualified Director to do the work with their children, availing themselves of both “quality time” and a chance to “review” the Catholic Faith themselves. No one looked enthusiastic.

    I assisted with a class of seventh graders in FF at a different parish several years ago. It was clear that the required homework was shoddily done, if at all. No sign of parental involvement with most of the children’s religious education.

    “That’s not my job; it’s the parish’s job!”

    Baptisms are performed during Mass quite regularly in our growing SC parish. The pastor reminds the parents of the child and the parishioners in attendance — that they are the “first educators in the Faith” for their children and grandchildren.

    We have parents (who are not members of the parish, and who have not had their children in FF classes) show up and actually *demand* First Holy Communion or Confirmation for their child at the “right age.” In the class is a Godmother who is taking on her Godchild’s FF. One parent reported that, at a previous parish, the children were considered so innocent as to not need First Penance before First Holy Communion, so they were never initiated into that Sacrament at all.

    Please pray for catechists, that they are filled with grace and inspired in their teaching. Pray for the children, too, that they may grow in their Faith because — or even in spite of — their catechesis or lack of same.

    Please pray for me, too. Father *requires* the parents presenting their children for “instant sacraments” to attend our “Catechism Review” classes. I was asked to teach the class. As much as they need “instruction” and “information,” what I hope to convey is a deep love for Our Lord and Our Lady and a full and grateful heart. I was not hit by a bus during the 25 years of mid-adulthood, when I wandered in the desert. I want to strike a match, and hope their hearts catch fire!

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      • Faith Formation. I’m sorry, I thought that could be implied from the use of the phrase in that first line of my post, with uppercase initials, and from context. (Are you kidding?)

        In the “Olden Days” (when I made my First Holy Communion, in 1960), “Confession” was called the “Sacrament of Penance.” Before we received our First Holy Communion, we were trained — heavily — in the proper approach to the Sacrament of Penance. “First Confession” or “First Penance” was a necessary prerequisite to receiving our First Holy Communion. And, believe me, *none* of my class of 6-years-olds considered ourselves “sinless.”

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        • Don’t worry, PatrIcia, commentators here are from anywhere in the world and may not be familiar with American phrases and ways of teaching religion. I live in England, 40 mIles from London. But I lived in Michigan for 2 years and understand the utterly different US practice of having a paid professional in a well funded parish who teaches children who attend public school.
          British Catholic parishes do not have that kind of income; a British Catholic child will learn, or more likely not learn, the faith at home or at a Catholic school. Most Catholic schools here receive state funding.
          But both the state funded and the minority of expensive private schools have the problem of a large minority or even a large majority of non-Catholic pupils. Of course, the fantasists will declare that this is a glorious opportunity for outreach and evangelisation. But it dilutes the Catholic identity of the school. And in the modern world the teachers will be walking on eggshells in case they say anything which might offend anyone.

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          • I understand.

            My fellow catechists, some of us with university degrees and work experience in education, are volunteers. I’ve never been a paid catechist.

  7. The “Catechetical Collapse” was a deliberate, chosen disaster. It depended for its “success” on the fact that, when it comes to trusted institutions that have become corrupt, it takes people decades or even generations to wake up. Think of Cardinal Dolan declaring that the Slavery/Segregation/Abortion Party is “the natural home of Catholics.”

    Many good catechisms have been produced in the last 40 years, but the other essential element of catechetics, memorization, has not been widely revived.

    Any parent who desires to transmit the Faith to his children will obtain the Baltimore Catechisms (1, 2, 3), and make sure his children have them memorized.

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    • I wonder if many good Catholics choose to teach in non-Catholic schools ? I know at least one, who was persecuted by advisers and nuns (etc.) because she was a good starightforward Catholic (not actually a Traditionalist). She moved to a non-Catholic school where, as a teacher and a catholic , she is treated with great respect and allowed to survive as a Catholic. I know of a school where they would love to get good Catholic teachers and can’t find them.

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  8. My son also suffered greatly in a Catholic School run by a former disgruntled Nun and a Priest who, during the Mass, tossed The Holy Bible onto his chair! We finally were forced to change schools and had no place to enroll him except into a non Catholic school (homeschooling wasn’t a realistic option). My husband and I were heartbroken over it. As if that wasn’t traumatizing enough. While in France last year, my daughter visited a Catholic Junior High School in Paris and was shocked by what was being taught in their “science” class. In her notes, the teacher had them copy down the types of birth control and how they function!! I’m pretty sure my daughter didn’t know what it was she had written, but she did mention the “very inappropriate” video they were shown in class. I was sickened. Two Catholic schools are responsible for shattering my children’s innocence! It was a lot of money for our family to sacrifice for the kids to attend these schools. Currently, neither one is in a Catholic school, and we pray to God they don’t end up leaving the Church.

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    • Yes, I attended a Catholic high school in Buffalo in 1975-1976. By orders of the bishop, Bishop Head, all high school students were to take “marriage class.” The Felician sisters did not make open comments about this class but it was clear to us that they did not care for the class or the teachers that were sent in especially to teach it.

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      • Ah, Lorimav, you know Buffalo!

        I taught Social Studies at Mt. St. Joseph Academy, Buffalo, 04/77-06/78. It was operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph and had become a modernist haven of post-Vatican II “Catholicism” by then. (The girls called the teachers by their first names — just a symptom of the deterioration of discipline.) Contrary to the Wikipedia article, MSJA terminated its high school operation in 1978, when it sold that part of the campus to Canisius College. The grade school operated for some years afterward, but it is also closed now.

        I lived in the city of Buffalo and its suburbs throughout my school years (St. Bartholomew School in Buffalo, Infant of Prague School in Cheektowaga, and Sacred Heart Academy (the Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart) in Eggertsville).

        Both grade school were operated by their parishes, free of charge in those days. The teachers were mostly Sisters of Saint Francis (St. Mary of the Angels Mother House, Williamsville). My private Catholic girls’ high school was run by the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity (Stella Niagara, Lewiston).

        The grade schools are closed (St. Bart’s was torn down recently), but SHA is still going strong, along with two of the best private Catholic boy’s high schools, St. Joseph Collegiate Academy and Canisius High School.

        My father attended St. Bart’s, Blessed Sacrament in Kenmore, and Canisius.

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        • So sad to hear about all of those school and church closings in the Buffalo area! The two years before I left Western New York I taught Spanish at a number of Catholic grammar schools, including one year at Infant of Prague. A few years back while visiting I wanted to show my daughter one of my favorite schools, St. Agatha’s in South Buffalo, and it had closed and became a Head Start school. You state the grammar schools were free. Later when I taught in the 1987-88 school year’s tuition at St. Agatha’s for the first child was $225. Less than 10 years later when my daughter was going to Catholic school in the Binghamton area it was already around $1500. Today a Catholic school here locally in VA. is probably close to $10,000! Students go there for the rigorous academics and to go to a private school, not really for the faith.

          In the 1880’s the American Bishops ordered that all parishes should have a school. Most of the parishes complied and the church and the schools were the center of life for many Catholic families. What has happened, when it costs $10,000 or more to send your child to a nominally Catholic grammar school and in many parishes there aren’t even enough children to fill a school, even if it were free? My friends and I struggled to home school and to support parish life. Still sometimes we loose some of our children to the world, maybe one child but maybe more or even most of the children in a family. A few truly Catholic schools were started by a religious or by parents, but for the most part, you see most of the “remnant” in the US in the home school movement.

          Things look pretty bad but then again things must have looked hopeless about me to a truly Catholic observer until my conversion. I was sent to public school, I had only one year of Catholic high school (my last), and in 8 years of CCD classes every Sunday somehow I never learned about the Real Presence. I actually learned about the Real Presence from reading a news magazine while in college that was discussing what Catholics believed! The little seed that I had was bits and pieces of the faith practiced around me, some bible stories, some stories about the saints, and some of the Sunday sermons. That and people’s prayers for me finally brought me to the faith in my 30’s.

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          • Never learned about the Real Presence?! Oh, how can the Faith survive when its very Core is ignored? We have been blessed, those of us who recovered our Faith in the midst of what our world has become. Yes, the prayers of many bearing fruit! Thanks be to God!

          • CCD today is about coloring pictures and saying “Jesus luvs u.” As a kid my parish only had sacramental prep on Sunday mornings and 2 weeks in the summer. Some of the kids went to Catholic schools yet they were required to attend the parish classes to get the sacraments in the parish.

            The only true Catholic school in my state has grades 1-12 (no Kindergarten) costs $2500/yr., starts the day with the TLM, and is taught by mostly nuns and brothers, which helps the lower cost.

  9. I am truly saddened to hear about the above mentioned schools. I have a collection of Catholic Textbooks that were published through the 60’s and as a Sunday School student I got to sit in the classrooms of those parishioners who attended our parish’s Catholic School. I could tell that the faith was a strong element of Catholic School Education probably through the 60’s. By the time my daughter went to Catholic grammar school, in the 90’s there were very few sisters teaching and no Catholic school textbooks except for the religion text. Still my daughter’s school was tremendously better than the above mentioned schools. Unfortunately this school that had a healthy enrollment in the 90’s is now closed .

    For high school I choose to enroll my daughter in the Seton Home School. This is where she truly learned the faith and where most of the textbooks were Catholic. Most of the Catholic home school providers use a majority of their texts that are Catholic in content. If you go to Seton Home School, Our Lady of Victory School, Kolbe Academy, Catholic Heritage Curricula, the Catholic Textbook Project, etc. websites you can see samples of their wonderful texts. Up through the 60’s most of the textbooks the Catholic School Children used were Catholic. Most of those printed before the 60’s were outstanding. It is truly important to have teachers who are properly catechized and who are strong in the faith, but it is also very helpful if the textbooks are Catholic. It really helps in shaping one’s world view.

    Later I adopted 3 older boys from Russia and what a joy it was to use a collection of older texts and wonderful new texts that brought the faith into all areas of study. It was also wonderful to be part of a Catholic home school coop, so that my children could be with other families that were trying to form their children in the faith. I can see from the successes that some other parents have had that it appears that being able to send your child to a truly Catholic College can also be very helpful. Most of my friends’ children who attended good Catholic colleges are still Catholic. My daughter did not go to a Catholic College but fortunately she was part of a young adult group run by Domincan priests that organized wholesome activities for them as well as lectures and classes. Believing young adult peers is so important for that age.

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  10. I would like to add a thought too if I may. Even if a child is receiving a good catechism from a school this aught be but an extension of what they receive in the home. The parents play such an important part as teachers of the faith that they really cannot be surpassed. It can never be left up to someone else no matter how good they may be. No matter how inadequate you may feel, or your situation may be.

    We have been taught as a society in recent times that there are professionals out there who can teach our children so much better than a parent can. I am reminded of a new mum I knew many years ago now. She put her baby into the daycare because she felt they would do a better job there than she could because they are ‘professionals’. Do you think that that little child would not have preferred sandwiches made by mum? or to have had a cuddle from mum after a fall? So it is with the faith. A child wants to receive these things from mum and dad, they need to hear and see these things from their parents.

    Those reading who find themselves in a situation which is not ideal: single parents, one parent not living the faith, children already grown etc. never loose hope! God is asking YOU to be a light. Don’t let despair make it go out. God doesn’t give grace for nothing. By it He will work. Children don’t need their parents to be perfect, but do need to see their parents struggle and never give up in being perfected in Christ. What a blessing to a child to have had as an example a parent who wouldn’t quit in spite of all their failings. Then they too when they fail and find themselves also lacking can know, I can get up from this fall too by God’s grace, which is never refused to someone who asks for it.

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    • I so agree with this. I taught CCD (now considered Religious Education) in
      a Novus Ordo parish for 10 years before I started at the Latin Mass.
      I was TOTALLY stunned at the difference between those children that
      were taught the Faith at home and those who were just sent to RE
      to learn the Faith. It was so blatantly apparent I could not believe it.
      I was one of those parents who just sent my kids to RE to learn.
      All my older ones have already left the Faith, but the ones I have
      taught in the home still retain it and are actually now Latin Mass
      “goers” Truly, it is the parental responsibility. It’s also a good review
      for reverts (that’s me)!

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  11. There are some pin-pricks of hope, though: for example, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is preparing to open an authentically Catholic school in Preston, England. Please pray for the success of this initiative.

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  12. In reality, it’s necessary to speak up when these things are seen. If children see courage from their parents in trying to charitably correct a wrong it will rub off onto them and hopefully strengthen them and their faith.

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  13. Even in America, there are few Catholic schools worthy of the name – but that is not quite the same as saying there are *no* such schools. There are a few (generally private), here and there. The Cardinal Newman Society list is not a bad place to start.

    But vigilance is needed. And even if one is fortunate enough to have access to such a school…forming in the faith must begin at home.

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  14. I thank God for the good Sisters of IHM that taught us in St John the Evangelist elementary school. Back then, (1962ish) we observed reverence, prayed a decade of the Rosary after recess, participated in May Crownings of Our Our Lady, Stations of the Cross on Fridays during Lent, monthly Confessions, holy day Masses, Morning Offering prayers EVERYDAY, and the list could go on. Religion class included lives of the saints, the 7 sacraments, and even used the Baltimore Catechism. We processed in double lines, to the church during the school day for events in the church. The Sisters admonished us to kneel before Jesus, not slouch back. We were learning about and meeting Jesus. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, hourly ejaculatory prayers, meditations on the Sorrows of the Immaculate Heart, offerings of joys and hardships – all part of our daily routine.

    By 1971, things changed. We gathered around the alter for Consecration, used chunks of bread, sat in circles to work-out our inhibitions over handling the Eucharist, listened to rock operas in our favorite Sister’s office, learned that Jesus didn’t know He was God, and the new, big yellow smiley face was synonymous with virtue. We were introduced to sexual foreplay in health class (which had been combined with religion class by 1971 or 1972).

    But in my family, there was the daily Rosary. Every. Single. Day. We kids hated it! Occasionally we spent an hour or more due to the instruction resulting from questions one of us presented. It was the unrecognized antidote, counterbalance, inoculation, remedy – and it still works. Just as Mary promised.

    Maybe if Pope Francis promoted the Rosary as a remedy in the field hospital instead of jumping into Communion for all. The Rosary prayed well, will lead to holy reception, eventually.

    Reply
    • We were raised during the same era, KAM. I attended Catholic schools from first grade (1959-60) until I graduated from high school in 1971.

      We had the same routines of prayer, devotion, and instruction in grade school but my high school religion classes (first period every morning) were a mish-mash. At our Junior Class Mass, the priest used crackers and Coke instead of bread and wine — to be “more relevant.” (Relevant to what?!) We still had Mass once a week. The guitars and tambourines and sappy lyrics were certainly designed to humble … not Man, but God!

      What got me in your post: working out “inhibitions over handling the Eucharist.” A proper subject in Catholic education should be “expression of the proper awe and worship due Almighty God under the appearance of bread and wine.”

      Reply
  15. Catechesis is supposed to begin with the family. CCD is mostly too little, too late. This is a problem at all levels, though. The bishops aren’t leading and except for a few traditional enclaves almost all of the parish priests were formed at probably the worst time possible… when almost everything traditional was being scorned. Unfortunately this will be our next generation of bishops… We’re probably past the nadir, but still a long way from the peak.
    Every parent should be going through the Baltimore Catechism with their kids on Sunday before and/or after Mass. Ideally a couple questions nightly.

    I’ll admit to be disappointed in the archdiocesan schools… but at least they pray the Rosary in the morning, have Mass once a week, etc.

    Reply

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