The "gay lobby" in the Vatican and the still widespread rejection of the Church's teaching on homosexuality are not the only problems that need the urgent attention of the Pope and his allies. One that is of very great importance is catechesis, especially in Catholic schools in some places, and in parishes and dioceses. Young people are casualties of the long-standing failure to teach the WHOLE faith in schools and many adults have become confused about what they are expected to believe because bishops and priests have been afraid to speak the truth and to teach the faith clearly and unambiguously. The scandal of high school children receiving Holy Communion when they have no interest in or intention of attending their local parish weekend Masses has to stop. Many of them may not be at fault because they do not know any better and, in some cases, because of lapsed parental influence, but those of us who have been charged with the responsibility of preaching the Gospel and teaching the Faith, have a sacred duty to teach the Faith as it is - welcome or unwelcome. It is time the hypocrisy of Catholic education in the West was openly recognised and it is time to insist that bishops implement - or encourage the implementation - of Vatican directives regarding Catholic education.
It cannot be right that so many people, aged now as high as the late forties, apparently have such a poor understanding of basic Catholic moral teaching, and receive Holy Communion and hardly ever go to confession. We cannot know who is in mortal sin of course, but there is something wrong when the Sacrament of Reconciliation is ignored (more or less) and almost everyone receives Holy Communion. There needs to be some investigation, especially in schools, and our young people need to be taught the WHOLE Faith. I hope that Pope Francis helps us to deal with these problems and insists on a faithful presentation of Catholic Truth.
Thank you Father for this excellent post. You are so right to focus attention on the poor state of Catholic Education. I hope that the HF does act swiftly in this respect.
ReplyDeleteWhat you say is true Father, but the clergy must take some reponsibility. Why are they admitting to First Communion and Confirmation children who do not attend Sunday mass ? I was recently told by a Parish Priest that it was reasonable nowadays that only 50% of First communion children went to Mass outside school.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more with your post. In my parish there are 30 young people who are going to receive the sacrament of confirmation and the priest told me that 30 is not a bad number these days. This may be true but having spent time with many of them I know that almost all of them do not pray, do not go to confession and the majority do not ever go to Mass. When Sunday Mass is mentioned the usual response is smiles and laughter. I don`t understand why they are receiving this sacrament as it is not about numbers.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see more Bible study also and would welcome any educational teaching regarding the Church. I have a power point presentation of the Carmelite order, made on behalf of the OCDS if you would like a copy,it can be run on the computer--of course if its being watched by others it needs a personal commentary. Once we start going into the scriptures and Church history, as well as prayer groups, everything becomes more meaningful and can only deepen our faith.
ReplyDeleteBarbara
Much of the problem was caused by schools having an anti-Christian curriculum imposed on them and Headteachers fearful of staff playing the discrimination/human rights card, if they tried to insist on a strong Catholic ethos e.g. at one primary school, a Catholic member of staff openly lived with his girlfriend who had also taught at the school for several years and paraded the fact when his girlfriend became pregnant, using the pregnancy as a resource when teaching reproduction to year six. The Head, Chair of Governors and Parish Priest were reluctant to 'interfere in the lives of others', claiming this sort of benign tolerance as a type of moral high ground when parents complained...
ReplyDeleteHowever, the new Free Schools system is the perfect opportunity for Catholic schools to take back their power. When Bishops begin insisting on rigorous Catholicism, Training Colleges, Parish Priests and Headteachers will have to follow suit - but there is so much filling in of the gaps to do since we are coming up to our second generation of barely catechised parents. How we would now so much benefit from the return of Religious Orders who teach.