Catholic Sensibility

Catechetical responsibility: taking it, not paying someone else to do it It's kind of weird blogging about catechesis in the context of touting a "conservative" value like personal responsibility. But here goes. I blame Catholic parents--that's where the buck stops--for faults in child catechesis. I have seen it among my peers when I was in Catholic school thirty years ago, and I have seen it rampant among Catholic parents of my own generation in sixteen-plus years of parish ministry. From the outset, let's be clear. Catholic parents have always had good intentions when it comes to raising their children in the faith. But good intentions do not always lead to effectively formed Catholic youth heading into their young adulthood. Elena seems to think I've insulted her forebears. The truth is that parents have always been those primarily responsible for catechizing children. The second line of support is the entire parish community: older generations, peers, and parish events, especially liturgy, and most especially Sunday Mass. After that would come children's religious education. The rites of initiation (both Baptism of Children and RCIA) outline these priorities, namely that formation in the faith takes place in the Christian community, both in the domestic church and in the parish church. It is a sad fact that many Catholic school parents have believed that because they fork over large amounts of tuition, this money will be a sort of religious safety net against any weaknesses in the family or parish. It's not true. The single most influential thing parents can do to ensure their children will be practicing the faith and will be active in it when they leave the nest is weekly Sunday worship as a family. Number two would be involvement in the other prayer events and in the social activities of the parish. Does this mean I'm anti-Catholic school? No. Far from it. I'm happy that my daughter has the oportunity to go to a parish school, as I did in grades 6-7-8. My wife and I support the school, and I'm involved as the chess coach and as a parent volunteer. But saying they're number three is not an insult. It reflects my wife's and my commitment to ensuring our daughter has every advantage we can provide to grow up as a fully involved person of the Catholic faith. What does it mean then? I'm critical of people who think they can simply outlay money for someone else to do a job they're better off doing themselves. These are the same parents and grandparents who opt for other activities when a handful of intrepid parishioners show up for adult ed, evening prayer, sacred music concerts, benediction, stations, the food drives, or the trips to the Catholic Worker house. Faith in God is not an intellectual exercise that can be learned 100% from a book. It's like reading a manual on plumbing and saying you're a plumber without ever getting your hands dirty under a sink or in a toilet. It's like learning to read musical notes on a page and saying you're a musician without ever sitting down to play the instrument. All a catechist can do for your child is provide the glue that connects the various experiences of the life of faith. maybe an outstanding catechist will engage children in activities that involve faith or service or prayer on a deeper level. And perhaps catechists of today (or even 60 years ago) are better equipped for that. But sending your kids to a catechist and thinking that's enough is like trying to build a wall with just mortar. Parents provide the brick. You can't get away from it. Maybe an exceptional child will get her or his own bricks. Lucky save in that case, but the parents are still irresponsible. So when people like Elena get angry about how the church and schools and catechists have let them down, I'm unsympathetic. The parents who raised my peers in the 70's were themselves products of the pre-conciliar Church. When the ball was dropped, they dropped it too. It seems more likely to me that catechesis probably wasn't all that great in a lot of places before the Council. The close-knit families and ethnic communities of Catholicism that existed before WWII probably were doing the bulk of the work. Maybe it was an illusion that catechesis was doing its job, when in fact, the groundwork of faith was being laid very well in homes and churches. It's more likely a fuller implementation of and enthusiasm for Vatican II saved many American parishes from a worse situation, the one we see in much of Europe where people have long fled the Catholic Church. For the record, my Catholic education experience was a mixed bag. A religious brother in high school once tried to tell us he could forgive our sins in a general absolution liturgy. I didn't believe him. A lay teacher took religion seriously as a graded course, but the administration didn't like it when only three kids passed the final exam (I was one of them) so they raised everybody's grades. On the other hand, I remember great experiences with the seminarians on the annual Scout retreats, a very difficult unit on the Stations in 6th grade (before I became Catholic), an associate pastor who did a series on Old Testament prophets in 7th grade, a high school homeroom teacher who insisted each student take a turn researching a Scripture passage for morning prayer, and other similar events. Catholics could take far more initiative with their faith lives. And I believe children should be encouraged to take such initiative. The drawback of the conservative approach of relying solely on the experts is that the element of personal experience is downplayed too much. Do I believe the religious brother who says he can forgive my sins? Or do I pay attention to my formed conscience saying, "Nooooooo, this is wrong."? The pendulum can swing too far the other way, of course, but that's why parental and community involvement in the formation of children is so vital. You learn a good balance without the laziness of relying on others.