Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 5-August 21,1975
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Times Have Changed
’ i »
Tuition Is Higher
BY REV. JOHN F. MEYERS
By Sept. 3, despite inflation, recession,
unemployment, every parent in the United
States will be happy, the children will be back
in school.
Four million of these children will be in
Catholic schools -- despite rising tuition costs.
Recently I was having lunch with a
distinguished layman whose four children are in
various levels of Catholic schools. After taking
his order, Bill, the waiter, hesitated. Then in his
delightful Irish brogue asked him: “How much
tuition do you pay for your daughter in
Catholic high school?”
“Nine hundred dollars. It cost me over a
thousand for all of them,” my friend replied.
“Gee, that isn’t much, is it?” was the waiter’s
response, “considering all they get for that. . .”
I was surprised. I thought a thousand dollars
was a lot of money. But then I remember when
I thought 50 years of age was old, too,
Times have changed. Tuition is higher. But so
is the price of bread, eggs, milk, and shoes and
ships and ceiling wax. People’s incomes have
risen correspondingly. Only perhaps the size of
the parish collection hasn’t changed much.
Bill was probably not one of the people
asked in Andrew Greeley’s last research survey
“American Catholics -- Ten Years Later,” but
he would be one of the 83 percent who reject
the idea that the Catholic school system is no
longer needed in modem life, and probably
would also be among the 81 percent who said
they would contribute more to solve the
financial problems that threaten the closing of a
parish school.
Despite the debate that has appeared in the
pages of Catholic journals and newspapers
(usually among celibate religious), a great many
American Catholics remain committed to their
Catholic schools.
Not without reason. While it is difficult to
measure the effects of Catholic schools -- or of
any school for that matter -- parents see and
live with the results. As the bishops of the
United States in their pastoral on Catholic
Education, “To Teach As Jesus Did,” state:
“Of the educational programs available to the
Catholic community, Catholic schools afford
the fullest and best opportunity to realize the
threefold purpose of Christian education among
children and young people. Schools naturally
enjoy educational advantages which other
programs either cannot offer or can offer only
with great difficulty.”
The threefold purpose of Christian education
was described earlier in the pastoral as “an
integrated ministry embracing three
interlocking dimensions: the message revealed
by God which the Church proclaims; fellowship
in the life of the Holy Spirit; service to the
Christian community and the entire human
community.”
These dimensions of course are interwoven,
and cannot be isolated, the one from the other.
Each is an aspect of Christian growth and each
one fuses with and reinforces the other. The
end result is Catholic education in its full
dimension, than which no more lofty nor
perfect has yet been conceived.
I suspect the argument will continue to rage
in the journals whether Catholic schools, which
were necessary in the immigrant days, are still
necessary today. For parents, it seems to be
merely academic. They answer yes. They see a
nation which has had a disastrous involvement
in the Far East, with hundreds of thousands of
refugees in this country to remind us of it.
They are fearful of a precarious involvement in
the Middle East. They’ve witnessed a President
forced to resign from the highest office in the
land and his chief advisors convicted in court.
They see race and sex prejudice still abound. In
large cities they are afraid to walk the streets at
night and sleep behind doors with three locks
on them. Fetuses fear they may never see the
light of day. \
f .
In public schools they see the cost of
violence and vandalism now equal the cost of
textbooks. Annually, there are reported 100
killings and 70,000 serious assaults on teachers.
Not long ago a 16-year-old boy was killed for
not paying a five-cent debt at cards. Hiring
additional policemen, building larger piles of
atomic weapons is not going to help much, or
at all. We might take our clue from what Msgr.
George Johnson Ayrote years ago: “Better times
are the results of better men.” What will help is
a value education which develops better men
and better women. A monopolistic public
school system which does not recognize the
existence of God, and which, rather than
encourage students to study and discuss the
ultimate issues of life and reality, actually
forbids them, does not meet the need.
Perhaps the Bicentennial we are about to
celebrate will serve to remind all people
(including the Supreme Court Justices) that
America was founded as a religious nation. As a
religious nation, we deserve a religious
educational system.
Deserve it? Bill would say: “Absolutely need
it. And each child has a right to it.”
High School Student And Religion
BY REV. JOSEPH M. CHAMPLIN
Msgr. Coseo and his two associates, Fathers
Jerry Service and Michael Toth, several times
each week drive from Notre Dame rectory in
Malone, an Upstate New York city near the St.
Lawrence River and the Canadian border, to
the area’s centralized religious education center
a few blocks away.
The building itself is a rather large modular
house corinected to the local high school by a
narrow, curving sidewalk. In the upstairs or
main portion of the structure lives the region’s
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KNOW
YOUR
FAITH
(All Articles On This Page
Copyrighted 1975 by N.C. News Service)
V—
CCD coordinator and his wife; downstairs,
there are three or four carpeted classrooms,
each suitable for about 30 students, and a small
office space.
The pupils are released for one period every
sixth day (they follow those complicated
contemporary schedules), walk the short
distance to the center and receive religious
instruction for approximately 40-45 minutes.
Over 400 students participate in this program,
coming for the religion class at times when they
otherwise have study hall.
Eight parishes in the Malone district share
the expenses (building cost -- $33,000; annual
budget -- $15,000) and the teaching
responsibilities (priests, Sisters, lay persons).
In Fulton we hope to launch a similar
program this fall. Holy Family has purchased a
small National home across the railroad tracks
from our local high school. With the help of
paid professional workers plus volunteer helpers
we have converted this into a two-classroom
Christian Instruction Center.
The renovators took great care that the
rooms be comfortable, sound proof,
appropriately decorated and well suited for
audio-visual presentations. We anticipate cost of
the property’s purchase and renovation will
total approximately $25,000.
Under the present arrangement, the 200-300
participating students will be scheduled by the
computer into one of eight available periods.
Our three local parishes supply the teachers.
In a unique approach, five Protestant
clergymen have planned a team-taught course
for students of their congregations and also
intend to use our building at free hours for
their instructions. The magic computer will
likewise work out that scheduling arrangement.
During a period when many Catholic schools
have closed down or may be forced to cease
operations primarily because of the finanical
crunch, this type of staggered period,
convenient location, released-time religious
instruction effort becomes an important
alternative.
Critics who maintain they have never seen
viable or effective CCD programs, especially on
the junior and senior high school level,
sometimes summarily dismiss this even as a
possibility and occasionally employ their
assertion as a defense for additional funding of
Catholic schools.
I am sure no person actively involved in the
very best of high school CCD situations will
maintain these are ideal, totally adequate or can
accomplish what may be achieved in * the
Catholic school environment’.
Nevertheless, they form an alternative and, in
many circumstances, the only option available.
Moreover, with sufficient funding, cooperative
Church-school relationships and dedicated local
personnel, the programs can produce
encouraging results.
Process
A Constantly Growing
BY STEVE LANDREGAN
Whether it be a parochial school religion class
or a CCD class for public School students, the
parish community is obliged to furnish much
more than a classroom and a qualified teacher
for the students.
A religious education program for children
begins with their parents.
Parents are the first teachers of religion to
their children and their teaching and example
provide the foundation upon which any future
Christian formation will rest.
The question is: What is the parish doing to
insure that the parents are prepared to fulfill
their role as first teachers of religion.
Today many Catholic adults- operate with a
“First Communion” faith. They have matured
physically, intellectually and emotionally, but
often have matured very little spiritually.
These parents would laugh af the idea of
wearing their First Communion suits or
dresses . . . the idea is ridiculous. They have
long since outgrown those clothes. And they
have also outgrown their First Communion
faith.
Many are aware of their need. Burgeoning
adult education classes, prayer groups
multiplying across the country are only two
indicators that Adult Catholics are aware of
their need for Spiritual growth and are trying to
do something about it.
Parishes must recognize this need as directly
related to their religious education program for
children, and take positive steps to provide
opportunities for the spiritual growth of
parishioners.
The first step is to use the Sunday homily as
a teaching tool. It is the surest method of
reaching the highest percentage of parishioners.
First, we must take stock of the tools we
have for adult education. “To Teach As Jesus
Did,” suggests, “There are many instruments of
adult education, and the Church itself sponsors
many such activities and programs. Their full
potential in this area should be recognized and
used effectively. The liturgy is one of the most
powerful educational instruments at the
disposal of the Church. The fact that homilies
can be effective tools of adult education lends
urgency to current efforts to upgrade preaching
skills and to improve the entire homiletic
process” (Par. 45).
Where the highest percentage of parishioners
is reached with the Word of God is at the
Sunday Mass. Of course it is essential that the
homilies must be effective. Length is
unimportant. It is quality that counts. Properly
used to develope some point of the readings or
another text from the Mass of the day, homilies
will provide a means of real spiritual renewal
for a parish. They can also stimulate many
parishioners to involve themselves in discussion
clubs, adult education courses or lectures that
would broaden their spiritual insights and
deepen their faith.
“To Teach As Jesus Did” goes on to say,
“The Catholic press and other communications
media should be utilized creatively for
continuing education” (Par. 45). The KNOW
YOUR FAITH series carried by more than 90
diocesan newspapers is an excellent tool of the
Catholic press today. These articles which cover
a wide area of subjects from Sacraments to
Scripture, could well be referred to in homilies
and used by discussion groups or individuals as
a means of updating themselves.
Some parishes have libraries or tape
ministries. A parish library should be kept
current and have a reasonable budget for the
purchase of resource books, spiritual reading
and religious fiction. Religious book
publication is once again on the increase.
Tape libraries consist of cassettes purchased
or recorded by parishioners of talks on
everything from understanding the Bible to
understanding your teenager.
A Catholic high school in Texas will
introduce a new concept in parent education
next fall when members of the religious
department will teach an evening course for
parents once a week paralleling the course being
given to their children. Many parishes could do
the same thing.
If CCD classes are held on Sunday morning
for children, adult education classes could be
held for parents at the same time.
Every encouragement should be given to
parishioners to participate in prayer groups,
Cursillos,. Marriage Encounter and any other
program that will help them to develop a more
dynamic Christian life.
Religious education in the parochial school
and the CCD needs the full support of the
parish community, financially to provide
books, visual aids and qualified teachers; and
spiritually to provide parents with the
opportunities they need to deepen their own
faith commitment and enrich their Christian
family life to provide the proper spiritual soil
for the seeds of faith to grow and bear fruit.
“TIMES HAVE CHANGED. Tuition
is higher, but so is the price of bread,
eggs, milk and shoes and ships and
ceiling wax . . . Despite debate . . . the
overwhelming majority of American
Catholics remain committed to their
Catholic schools.” A sign at St.
Lawrence School in Pittsburgh tells a
story of financial commitment on the
part of Catholic parents, resulting in a
benefit for the community at large.
(NC Photo)
/ — *
CCD-Alive And Well
V
BY REV. THOMAS E. KRAMER
To ask the question “What is the future of
CCD?” is to risk a blank stare, a shrug of the
shoulders or a response something like “What is
the past of CCD?” from many Catholics. Those
who are familiar with the Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine of 20 and 30 years ago do
wonder about its present status and its future,
but there are many who are not in any way
familiar with the CCD.
In its glory days of the 1940s, 1950s and
early 1960s, the CCD was organized in a parish
to provide catechetical instruction to all persons
in the parish except those youngsters enrolled
in Catholic schools. In plain fact this very often
meant providing religion classes for public
school children, but in many parishes it meant a
program for parents of pre-schoolers, a program
of adult discussion clubs, visitors to new
parishioners and a variety of other programs.
A brief column is no place to discuss all the
reasons for the decline of many of these
programs and for the very notion of CCD itself.
In looking back one can see positive and
negative factors and can count wise decisions
and poor ones. The fact is that the Church in
this country has moved to an idea of total
religious education in the parish that
encourages parish boards of education and
parish council committees on education to take
the responsibility for the total religious
education program in the parish.
What the CCD Board in its full functioning
was supposed to do, namely, provide
catechetical instruction for all members of a
parish, has now become the responsibility of
the Board of Education or the Committee for
Education. But it is not yet evident that this
change has effected any improvement in parish
religious education.
More parishes have paid professional
coordinators of religious education today, and
this is a step forward. But in many cases it
seems that the feeling of responsibility on the
part of parishioners to get involved, to work for
the programs and participate in them has not
grown accordingly. In fact it seems at times to
y
have declined. This is not due to a simple
change in parish organization so much as it is
due to a change in our society, in the way
people live, work, play and pray. And the
answer to the problems is not a return to the
past but a creative response to the new
situation.
Some of the hopeful signs which are not
often labelled CCD but would have easily fallen
within the scope of the old CCD, easily come to
mind:
The programs to assist parents in preparing
their children for their first reception of the
Eucharist and their first sacramental celebration
of Penance.
Family type programs that bring families
together for religious education in specific
themes on peer levels and in family groupings,
usually culminating in a Eucharistic liturgy for
all the participants.
Programs of preparation for parents and
godparents prior to the Baptism of a new
member of the family.
Also included could be a wide variety of
adult education programs, from the older style
discussion clubs on sacred Scripture, family life,
ethical questions or any other subject, to
retreat type programs, lecture series and other
efforts at adult education.
In all of these it is important that they be
seen as a function of the parish community.
They must all be efforts provided by the parish
community to enhance the faith of its
members. We have not mentioned the programs
more directly concerned with service or
community formation that have been coming
into existence in response to the Bishops’
pastoral, “To Teach As Jesus Did,” but they
also are a sign of hope.
In a living parish community, and there are
many in the dioceses of the United States, we
can find a wide variety of programs that cause
us to conclude that CCD is alive and well in
many places but living under a different name.
“SOME OF THE HOPEFUL SIGNS
which are not often labelled CCD
(include): . . . Family type programs
that bring families together for religious
education in specific themes on peer
levels and in family groupings.” In a
Maryland family education program,
parents and children symbolize their
unity by joining links in a paper chain.
(NC Staff Photo)