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You are a conscientious Catholic parent who wants your children to learn about their faith.
So each year you enroll them in your parish religious education program. You cart them off to church once a week for class. You make sure they remember their books and finish their homework. You attend the required parent meetings. And you hope for the best.
In addition to sacramental preparation, however, how can your child benefit from religious education? Will she become knowledgeable about her faith? Will he embrace Catholic values? Will your child develop a personal relationship with Jesus, and work for social justice in the world?
We want the best for our children, and that means a rich Catholic spirituality. Yet to expect religious education to fulfill all of these goals is probably unrealistic. No matter how well designed the parish CCD program, if religious education does not go beyond the walls of the classroom, it is unlikely to have more than a minimal impact on our kids.
How can parents support the formal religious education of their kids so that they internalize and live out their faith? We asked that question of people who offer such programs—directors of religious education (DREs) in parishes. Here are some of their ideas:
Nurture your own faith. Does your parish offer adult Bible studies or special times of prayer or adoration of the Eucharist? Can you carve out fifteen minutes each morning for personal prayer? Do you read any spiritual books or magazines? In all these ways, we grow in our own faith, and that, say religious educators, is the single most important thing we can do to support our kids’ religious education. By strengthening our own relationship with the Lord, we become witnesses to our children of a living and active faith.
In a statement issued several years ago, “Our Hearts Were Burning within Us,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called on parishes to make adult faith formation the “central task” of religious education, because mature Christians energize a faith community and become witnesses to others in the body. Adult faith formation also benefits children and youth. “An adult community whose faith is well formed and lively will more effectively pass that faith on to the next generation,” the bishops stated, adding, “Moreover, the witness of adults actively continuing their own formation shows children and youth that growth in faith is lifelong and does not end upon reaching adulthood.”
One mother grew spiritually when her children started attending CCD classes and came home asking her questions about the Catholic faith. “Much to my dismay, I had no answers!” she recalls. She joined a parish adult education class. “There, I not only found my answers, but I also developed a hunger for more information.”
Anne Frederick, director of religious education for the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, says she often meets parents who are embarrassed to participate in religious education programs because they are afraid it will reveal how little they actually know about Catholic practices or even how to find a passage in Scripture. “We need to develop programs that literally start from the ground up and offer an overview of topics such as Scripture, morality, prayer, sacraments, and liturgy,” she notes.
Some parishes incorporate parent education into the education of their children. At St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, the director of religious education, Gigi Carroll, tells how parents whose children are preparing for First Communion attend two workshop meetings, which include prayer and education. “One of the important points we make sure our parents understand is that they are the primary educators of their children’s faith, that the family is the domestic church.” Mike Carrell, a DRE with St. Mark’s parish in a north Dallas, Texas, suburb concurs: “How will our children learn, if not from their parents?”
Make religious education a family priority. Kay Elliott, a DRE at Prince of Peace Catholic Community in Plano, Texas, notes that in her community, like many others in the United States, children are overburdened with after-school activities, sports, and academic extracurricular events. Religious education often becomes just another activity that has to fit into the scheme of things. “I don’t want religious education to have to be part of this ‘competition’ for their time and energy,” she insists. “In my opinion, it should be their first choice.”
It’s up to parents to make those tough judgment calls when another activity conflicts with CCD. However, if religious education is on the losing side too often, kids will sense that it’s just not that important.
Religious educators also stress the importance of continuous attendance over the years. Most parishes require at least two years of religious education before a child can receive a sacrament. Unfortunately, this often translates into big drop-offs in attendance after second-graders make their First Communion. Some parents send their children until they make their Confirmation, but see no need for religious education after that point. However, that’s often just the time when kids begin to question their parents’ values—and need to hear answers based on God’s truth, not the world’s.
Gigi Carroll explains that her parish tries to make parents aware that high school classes exist. “Encouraging parents to send their kids, and then engaging students in a way that makes them look forward to religious education each week, is the only way religious education after Confirmation can be successful,” she insists. However, beyond what is offered by the parish, she points out, “Parents ultimately need to make the religious education of their children a family priority.”
Get involved. The trend in religious education today is to make it a family affair. Elliott’s parish allows families to choose from several family programs. One in the planning stage is a weekly family program held at the church, followed by parent/child breakout sessions after Mass. Families can also choose to be involved in a family program conducted in their own homes, with all the families coming together once a month at the parish. “Religious education for our elementary-grade students does not happen without parental involvement,” Elliott notes.
Even if your parish does not offer these alternatives, parent volunteers are always appreciated. If you don’t feel you have the experience or expertise to teach religion, you could volunteer as an aide or be present at special retreats and workshops. One mom staffed the religious education office, answering phones while classes were being held on Sunday morning. This kind of involvement not only supports your parish program, it also communicates to your children the importance of religious education. (continued on next page)
In addition, parents can simply take a look at the lessons their children are learning and discuss them. If their religion book refers to a Bible story, maybe your family could read it aloud together. At Carroll’s parish, parents and children together paint a blessing cup during a pre-First Communion retreat. They also participate in a blessing cup ritual and receive a family prayer book to take home. Carroll notes that parents have later shared how these blessing cups have become a family tradition at their dinner tables.
Participate as a family in the life of the parish. Education is only one aspect of our lives as disciples of Christ. We are also members of a community. The interactions your family has with other Christians may ultimately have more impact on your child than the lessons she learned in class. In addition to liturgical celebrations, kids are likely to remember Lenten soup dinners, Seder meals, fundraising activities, and trips to bring lunches to the homeless. Getting involved at the parish level, developing friendships with other parish families, and serving the poor alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ will bring to life what your child is learning in class.
“If religious education does not have purposeful meaning or relevance for our everyday events, then it is difficult to motivate people to freely share their time with it,” says Frederick.
In a world where so much else competes for our attention, church attendance and religious education classes can seem irrelevant to kids. They may wonder, “What’s the point?” However, when our lives revolve around the Lord and his people, kids don’t need to ask that question. Religious education validates and confirms what they see operating in their day-to-day lives. That’s the best scenario for religious education to take place—and take hold.
Patricia Mitchell and Theresa Difato are on the staff of The Word Among Us Family Edition.
I enjoyed this article. Being a CRE myself, I know that we struggle with all those same issues. An RE teacher suggested that I share some of these same suggestions with our parents. Thanks!