its absolutely not predicated on the initial condition that we are homeschooling because we are dissatisfied.
its predicated on a. the parents are the primary educators of their own children as defined *by the Church herself* and it is up to THEM to determine the means best suited to form their children. many parents are happy to utilize …
its absolutely not predicated on the initial condition that we are homeschooling because we are dissatisfied.
its predicated on a. the parents are the primary educators of their own children as defined *by the Church herself* and it is up to THEM to determine the means best suited to form their children. many parents are happy to utilize offerings of CCD programs but that doesn't *meet the needs* of others AND OR many parents are happy to *do. it. them. selves.*
and b. the only way to build community, parish unity and the Christian faithful is NOT the desks in a classroom once a week coursework from a text.
I missed the part of Acts of the Apostles where everyone attended a once a week desk course with textbooks. Good for you for making interesting and engaging presentations, as well as prepping for class. Guess what? Parents are doing that too! For their own kids! Its great to have such services offered, but some of us already already DOING the service.
The initial conditions of homeschooling families are not at all what you describe. The fact that dissatisfaction with what is offering in many parish RE programs comes into play as additional factors but is was never stated as initial starting point by the people doing it.
Regarding your (a), I handed on day one/session one every parent a letter making it abundantly clear that they were their child’s primary educator in the faith. So no need to rehash that.
My daughter is 31 now, but when I taught - and the pastor made the rules - homeschooling was the narrow exception rather than an appreciable fraction of kids. And if kids weren’t catechized - in your terms, in a desk with a textbook - they did not receive the sacraments in the parish.
Calling me “uncharitable” is a bit much and a bit defensive. Nevertheless I hope your parish and you in some way guide your children - infused with divine life in baptism - along their participatory and maturing journey to the fullness of divine life. Amen.
Please….. my original concern - how is the root cause of deficient religious Ed getting fixed? As church we all own it. Spare me your non-sequitur garbage. I try to solve problems, not propagate workarounds.
Ha! Well, in my experience, one avenue for a solution is exactly what the now-banned homeschool groups are trying to do- work within their constraints to provide catechesis for those in their charge. (Their constraints= let’s do it during the school day, let’s do it in the context of this homeschool community with the parish, etc). And that solution is getting shut down! So telling folks “no, not THAT way!” Is not necessarily constructive either. It is probably the case that it will take multiple approaches to fix a problem that is decades in the making.
There are a lot of people who can only see a problem through the lens of an existing structure or institution. I think a lot of homeschool parents see things fundamentally different. They look at the existing structures and say "I could spend all my time trying to fix something with a very limited prospect of success or I could just get on with the business of doing what must be done - educating and transmitting the faith to my children". For those who can only see the problem in institutional terms, there's little you can say to convince them. That's why parallel structures or practices exist in the first place. Some of these parallel practices will succeed. Some won't. A healthy Church would be able to incorporate all this. But we don't live in a healthy Church unfortunately.
BTW - when i say "existing structure or institution" i don't mean the divinely ordained structure of the Church. I mean the structures and practices of how we get on with our daily lives as families, parishes and dioceses. There's nothing divinely ordained about the way we've done education and catechesis over the last 100 years.
The first responsibility of a parent is to their children, not to their parish. That is why they can move and leave the parish behind, but they cannot move and leave their children behind. For a mother or father, the family is literally the primary responsibility. It isn't selfishness to put it first - it's an obligation. The *pastor* has the parish as his primary obligation. He also has the catechesis as his responsibility.
its absolutely not predicated on the initial condition that we are homeschooling because we are dissatisfied.
its predicated on a. the parents are the primary educators of their own children as defined *by the Church herself* and it is up to THEM to determine the means best suited to form their children. many parents are happy to utilize offerings of CCD programs but that doesn't *meet the needs* of others AND OR many parents are happy to *do. it. them. selves.*
and b. the only way to build community, parish unity and the Christian faithful is NOT the desks in a classroom once a week coursework from a text.
I missed the part of Acts of the Apostles where everyone attended a once a week desk course with textbooks. Good for you for making interesting and engaging presentations, as well as prepping for class. Guess what? Parents are doing that too! For their own kids! Its great to have such services offered, but some of us already already DOING the service.
The initial conditions of homeschooling families are not at all what you describe. The fact that dissatisfaction with what is offering in many parish RE programs comes into play as additional factors but is was never stated as initial starting point by the people doing it.
Regarding your (a), I handed on day one/session one every parent a letter making it abundantly clear that they were their child’s primary educator in the faith. So no need to rehash that.
My daughter is 31 now, but when I taught - and the pastor made the rules - homeschooling was the narrow exception rather than an appreciable fraction of kids. And if kids weren’t catechized - in your terms, in a desk with a textbook - they did not receive the sacraments in the parish.
Calling me “uncharitable” is a bit much and a bit defensive. Nevertheless I hope your parish and you in some way guide your children - infused with divine life in baptism - along their participatory and maturing journey to the fullness of divine life. Amen.
This is all a total non-sequitur to your original claim that the concerned parents do not volunteer (?)
Please….. my original concern - how is the root cause of deficient religious Ed getting fixed? As church we all own it. Spare me your non-sequitur garbage. I try to solve problems, not propagate workarounds.
Ha! Well, in my experience, one avenue for a solution is exactly what the now-banned homeschool groups are trying to do- work within their constraints to provide catechesis for those in their charge. (Their constraints= let’s do it during the school day, let’s do it in the context of this homeschool community with the parish, etc). And that solution is getting shut down! So telling folks “no, not THAT way!” Is not necessarily constructive either. It is probably the case that it will take multiple approaches to fix a problem that is decades in the making.
There are a lot of people who can only see a problem through the lens of an existing structure or institution. I think a lot of homeschool parents see things fundamentally different. They look at the existing structures and say "I could spend all my time trying to fix something with a very limited prospect of success or I could just get on with the business of doing what must be done - educating and transmitting the faith to my children". For those who can only see the problem in institutional terms, there's little you can say to convince them. That's why parallel structures or practices exist in the first place. Some of these parallel practices will succeed. Some won't. A healthy Church would be able to incorporate all this. But we don't live in a healthy Church unfortunately.
BTW - when i say "existing structure or institution" i don't mean the divinely ordained structure of the Church. I mean the structures and practices of how we get on with our daily lives as families, parishes and dioceses. There's nothing divinely ordained about the way we've done education and catechesis over the last 100 years.
The first responsibility of a parent is to their children, not to their parish. That is why they can move and leave the parish behind, but they cannot move and leave their children behind. For a mother or father, the family is literally the primary responsibility. It isn't selfishness to put it first - it's an obligation. The *pastor* has the parish as his primary obligation. He also has the catechesis as his responsibility.