Faith Formation

I've been spending some time recently reflecting upon the role of the catechism (CCD, PREP, Religious Ed. or whatever the parish chooses to calls it) classes for children who do not attend Catholic schools.

This year I'm teaching grade two's, which happens to be a very important year. This is my first year as a catechist and I kind of got thrown into the position. I was approached by the organizer of the program, which I agreed to. Then both she and my parish priest asked if I would consider teaching a class. I'm very busy, have no experience, have no children of my own (heck, a year and a half ago I was a child myself theoretically), and I have no 'formal' qualifications. My parish priest told me that all that mattered was that I was enthusiastic about my Faith and enjoyed spending time with children. Apparently, that's all you need to be able to teach kids the Faith. Throw in a bit of pressure, a desperate need for catechists, a care and concern for the spiritual formation of children, and a homily on “serving Christ in the Church,” and I couldn't say no. Don't get me wrong, I agreed according to my own will and take for responsibility for my decision to teach. The thing is, I agreed to teach anything but a sacramental year. I definitely did not feel qualified to teach the sacraments. Low and behold, to make a complicated story short, I'm teaching a class full of nine boys and three girls preparing for first communion and first confession. That's enough about my situation right now though. The only thing I have to add is keep my class in your prayers.

My question more though is: What role does catechism class play in the faith formation of the children?

When a couple gets married in the Catholic Church they agree to raise any children they may have in the Faith. What does that mean? It obviously means much more than sending them to their local parish for catechesis once a week for an hour, eight months out of the year, and to the age of twelve (or whenever confirmation is, depending on the diocese). But do parents realize that? Do they know what they are consenting to? Do they know what it entails? On the other hand, many of them are not living in accordance with the Church's teaching themselves, so perhaps they feel hypocritical to teach the Faith they do not abide by. Perhaps they don't care. Perhaps some feel bound by their vows but have rejected the Faith themselves and thus feel that sending their kids to catechism class will fulfil their vows but allow them to ignore the Faith themselves.

How am I supposed to prepare children for the Eucharist when their parents tell them its just a symbol or when they're only taken to mass on Easter and Christmas, if that? Is it really MY obligation as a catechist to make sure that they really understand the Faith, or am I only in a supportive role?

God knows how much I desire for these children to truly understand their Faith to the best of their abilities, to see Christ in the Eucharist with the eyes of a Child and to see the great beauty of the Sacraments. But there's only so much I can do one hour a week! I can plant seeds, but the parents must nurture and water them by the grace of God for them to grow. It's extremely frustrating for me because I long to see “my kids” alive in their Faith, but I know that some are not getting the support they need at home.

On the other hand, perhaps it is good that they are getting something rather than nothing at all. I know from my own experience, I didn't get much faith formation at home in my early years. My mom was (is) a cradle Catholic but my dad was atheist (perhaps agnostic) at the time. Thanks be to God (no sarcasm intended) my mom made the effort to take all four of us young children to mass on her own every Sunday. But my dad never came. Because of their wasn't a consensus of spiritual belief between my parents, our spiritual formation was left more or less in the hands of the parish catechism program. Interestingly, I actually do remember some stuff that I learned. I also remember though being told not to ask too many questions because my questions were too complicated. That was told to me by my parish priest when I was about eleven years old. How sad. Many of the kids in my confirmation class told me that they were looking forward to confirmation because it meant they wouldn't ever have to go to mass again!!! Once they were confirmed, their parents felt they had fulfilled their obligation to raise their children in the Faith!

Thankfully, even though I took a few turns and became periously close to letting go of my Catholic Faith at one point, my story didn't end up a tragedy. My dad converted and entered the Church shortly after my confirmation and subsequently has become one of my greatest personal spiritual models in my life. He went from being a physician who volunteered with planned parenthood to entering the Church through the back door by reading Humanae Vitae, recognizing the truth this encyclical held, and therefore concluding that since the Catholic Church was the only one preaching a complete Gospel of Life, it must contain the fullness of Truth. His decision was one which transformed his life, his career, and our family. His conversion is another story entirely, but back to the issue of formation in the Faith, I eventually did get support from my dad. Unfortunately for my older siblings it was too late and the parish catechism program they received as children was not enough to keep them in the Church.

Anyways, my point is, the parish based religious education programs are not enough. And they shouldn't be expected to “be enough.” Parents have an obligation to raise their children in the Faith. That means more than sending them to catechism class and it even means more than taking them to mass on Sunday. The burden of transmitting the Faith does lie in the community, that is true, but the primary persons responsible for teaching the Faith to children are the parents.