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I'm a lifelong Catholic with strong morals.
I have two daughters; the oldest is twelve.
She is an altar server in our parish. She
attends CCD classes and will be making her
Confirmation this year.
The other day, she announced that last night
at CCD , they learned what the F word
meant, and
I don't mean faith. I could not believe what
I was hearing. After investigating further,
it was accurate. The instructors used the F word
as an anagram. Furthermore, their homework
was to look up the definition of carnal
knowledge. My parish's reaction was to
have a meeting with the teachers and parents
to discuss this.
Am I wrong to demand that there is no
room for discussion?
This type of language has no place in a CCD class with twelve-year-olds.
Are there any Church regulations which
prohibit the use of profanity in a classroom?
Tim
{
Are
there any Church regulations prohibiting this
type of language in a Catholic CCD classroom? }
Mike
replied:
Hi, Tom —
I'm kind of puzzled by part of your
question.
You said: My parish's reaction
was to have a meeting with the teachers
and parents to discuss this.
Where's the pastor here?
He is the one responsible for the
quality of CCD teachers he hires.
You are correct, this type of behavior
is unacceptable. If the pastor does
not wish to take action,
I would write a letter to the local
bishop to make him aware of the issue
then try to make an appointment with
him but make sure you try to talk
to the pastor first. Going to the
bishop, without first addressing
it at the local level, will make a
bad impression with the bishop.
You said:
Are there any
Church regulations which prohibit
the use of profanity in a classroom?
I'm unaware of any. The last papal
document on this issue was by Pope St. John Paul
II in 1979:
I thought paragraph number 6 Transmitting Christ's Teaching, was interesting
but you should probably read the
whole thing.
6. Christocentricity in catechesis
also means the intention to transmit
not one's own teaching or that
of some other master, but the
teaching of Jesus Christ the Truth
that he communicates or, to put
it more precisely, the Truth that
he is. We must therefore say that
in catechesis it is Christ, the
Incarnate word and Son of God,
who is taught everything else
is taught with reference to him
and it is Christ alone who teaches
anyone else teaches to the extent
that he is Christ's spokesman,
enabling Christ to teach with
his lips. Whatever be the level
of his responsibility in the Church,
every catechist must constantly
endeavor to transmit by his teaching
and behavior the teaching and
life of Jesus. He will not seek
to keep directed towards himself
and his personal opinions and
attitudes the attention and the consent of the mind and heart
of the person he is catechizing.
Above all, he will not try to
inculcate his personal opinions
and options as if they expressed
Christ's teaching and the lessons
of his life. Every catechist should
be able to apply to himself the
mysterious words of Jesus: "My
teaching is not mine, but his
who sent me". Saint Paul
did this when he was dealing with
a question of prime importance: "I
received from the Lord what I
also delivered to you". What
assiduous study of the word of
God transmitted by the Church's
Magisterium, what profound familiarity
with Christ and with the Father,
what a spirit of prayer, what
detachment from self must a catechist
have in order that he can say: "My
teaching is not mine"!
Thanks so much for the reply. That's
pretty much what my feeling was in
regards to the pastor. He's rather non-confrontational. Unfortunately,
he also is one of the Associate Judicial
Vicars for the diocese. My fear is
that the meeting they have scheduled
will turn into a bashing of the teachers,
which, in my opinion, should not
be done publicly although I don't
think there is any justification
for this behavior.
At the meeting,
I want to try to keep emotion out
of my response but I must admit
I'm angry my twelve year old daughter
was subjected to this.
Thanks again,
Tom
Mike
replied:
Hi, Tom —
I agree! The Church teaches in the
Catechism that you, the parent, are
the primary educator of your children.
The duties of parents
.
.
.
2228 Parents' respect and affection are expressed by the care and attention they devote to bringing up their young children and providing for their physical and spiritual needs. As the children grow up, the same respect and devotion lead parents to educate them in the right use of their reason and freedom.
2229 As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators. (cf. Vatican II, Gravissimum Educationis 6) Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise.
If you believe your child is being
subjected to a environment that
is not conducive to Christian values, you
should make your feelings known, after
talking with the pastor, to the
local bishop.
Mike
John
replied:
Hi, Tom —
Certainly approaching the bishop
may be necessary at some point but
there is a protocol.
If a bishop gets a call from you,
the first question he's likely to
ask you is:
Did you discuss this with your
pastor yet? or
What did your pastor say when
you discussed this with him?
You are better off going to the priest
first. That way, if you've made the
priest aware, and if he does nothing,
or blows you off with a phony answer,
when you go to the bishop, you will
have a good reason for contacting
him directly. Obviously, you would report
the lack of satisfaction you got
from the pastor.
Now if the pastor is aware of this
problem, you may want to attend this meeting with
the other parents. Go and see what
they say. They may want to apologize
to everyone.
Who knows?
I think it's very important that
you stick up for your rights. I also
think that, if possible, it's important that you
follow the chain of command.
In the end, you will have more influence
and credibility with the bishop's
office, if you first, talk to the pastor
or next in the chain of authority.
That's my two cents.
John D.
Mary
Ann replied:
Tom —
The bishop will want you to have
gone to your pastor before approaching
him. They hate what they perceive
as tattle-tales.
Go to the pastor, in writing and
in person then,
if necessary, take it to the bishop.
Mary Ann
Tom
replied:
Hi all,
Thanks so much for your input. I
have indeed addressed it with the
pastor. He has scheduled a upcoming
meeting to discuss the issue, but
I see no good coming from it; only
hard and hurt feelings. Here is an
e-mail I received this afternoon from
the teacher. It went to all parents.
I'm amazed that only two found it
objectionable.
Am I overreacting?
I don't think I am.
Dear Parents,
My purpose for sending this letter
is twofold. First, is to inform
you of the subject of the parent
meeting on Tuesday. The meeting
relates to a short discussion
we had in class about acronyms
(not anagrams). Be assured the
meeting does not pertain to your
child's behavior. In fact,
given the large size of the class,
Coleen and I have managed to maintain
control and accomplish some learning
at the same time.
For those of you who may be unaware,
there are 29 seventh graders in
the class and we meet in the Parish
Center with 2 other religious
education classes. The acoustics
are not ideal and we were all
clustered on one side of the room
on this evening to facilitate
hearing as the students read aloud.
The reading was about symbols
which led into a discussion of
acronyms. The suggested teaching
tip in the manual recommended
exploring symbols and whether
they supported the Christian message
or were in conflict with it. I
wrote an acronym where the letters
were written vertically down the
board. The letters were f, u,
c, and k. This is an acronym;
for unlawful carnal knowledge.
I, myself, learned this in religion
class at the Catholic school I
attended. After the initial giggling
died down, we had a short discussion about it. The lesson had the desired
effect. We had all their attention
and they grasped the concept of
symbols. Two parents sent e-mail
complaints to Monsignor Jim; one
insisting that I step down as
teacher for the class.
The second purpose of this letter
is to allow all parents an opportunity
to hear my side of the story and
afford them the time to consider
this issue. I have enjoyed teaching
your children throughout the past
five years. However, as this is
a volunteer position, I am ready
to step down as a religious education
teacher if that is what the majority
of parents want.
Tom
John
replied:
Hi, Tom —
It sounds like this woman is the
product of horrible catecheses herself.
It doesn't sound like she was trying
to pervert the kids or promote fornication
, so I'd attend the meeting to see where
it goes.
Looking forward, this thing shouldn't
happen again, then again. As kids
enter their teens, it's important
that they get both a pro-life and
chastity talk before they are confirmed.
When I was teaching that grade level,
I was dealing with students who came
from families where the parents claimed
to be pro-choice. Some came from
homes where the parents weren't married
or the mother was single and her
boyfriend wasn't the father. Put
in that situation, in the course
of explaining the Church's teaching
on life and chastity, certain topics
had to be covered.
In doing so we
tried to be as discrete as possible
but certainly it's not always easy.
Parents might get upset for bringing
up the subject because they weren't
living the Church's teachings. Other's
didn't want their kids to know anything
about sex. Well you can't talk about
keeping yourself pure and chaste
to a teenager, without mentioning
what impurity is.
I'm not defending the foul language
that was used, but I wouldn't be
too quick to hang this woman.
John
Mary
Ann replied:
Tom —
If this is for high schoolers,
it is legit, but a better way
to do it would be to write the
words and let the kids deduce
the acronym.
If this is for elementary school,
it is definitely wrong.
If it is for middle school, later
grades can learn about unlawful
carnal knowledge, but not in mixed
groups.
Mary Ann
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