Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, calls in to break down the Alfie Evans situation in a more bioethic manner and discuss with Gus the ethical ramifications surrounding certain end-of-life issues. Afterwards, Gus talks more about Alfie and all the issues surrounding his situation with listeners.
Later, Gus talks about religious education for kids and asks listeners whether or not parents should be required to attend mass in order for their kids to receive the sacraments (i.e., first communion and confirmation).
Hi! I hope all is doing well with you and yours.
I was listening on my way to work this morning when you were talking about CFF and church attendance. I taught 1st communion for 7 years and am now currently teaching confirmation. I believe the church attendance is very important and goes hand in hand with CFF. Our church has tried mandatory, non mandatory, and highly recommended. In the end our Priest went back to mandatory because he saw a HUGH decrease in mass attendance. As a teacher it was mandatory in our class to attend Sunday mass especially if you wanted to take part(reading, collector, gifts bearer, etc) in the mass on their special day. This worked very well for the 1st communion class but in our confirmation class no so much. My biggest complaint, in our parish, is how a large majority only send their children for the sacramental years and now where they have made each sacramental class a 2 year program they are starting to only send them at 7th grade so they can make both 1st communion and confirmation so they make both in 2 years! GRRR! Parents (who send every year and attend mass) and teacher get upset but the DRE will not stick the “rules” set up. Father just back paddles and doesn’t want to cause waves so he says ok! As confirmation teachers we have to start from the basics do you know the Sign of the Cross? Not so shocking about 1/3 do not know it and another 1/3 have no clue how to do the sign of cross byt know most of the words. And the pains we get from parents to attend 2 mandatory parent meeting(one at beginning of year and one 8 weeks before confirmation) to go over the class and requirement for confirmation. As a parent and teacher is very frustrating I have said and will continue to say if it is not important to the parent and does not start at home it will not be a priority for the child and he or she will fall all the side and their faith will wither away just as the seed did in Jesus’s parable. It is sad and in our confirmation class we try our best to instill God is always with you and you can turn to him at anytime in your day or life. And let them know how important the last supper is and the gift of reconciliation that he gave us is. Then we pray that the seed we have planted in their young minds takes root and will grow so they can grow in their faith and love for God.
Okay sorry i guess i started rambling but in the end all we can do is plant more seeds and pray they grow. And yes to get the faith you must attend mass it is a celebration of life, death and eternal life.
Have a joyous week!