Commentary
Religious education classes are offered by many of the parishes of the Diocese. The typical format of this approach is a one-hour class held weekly throughout the school year. Students gather at the parish in groups according to grade level with an adult catechist. Textbooks typically provide structure and content to classes.
Advantages of Religious Education Classes
- The schooling approach is familiar to both adults and youth.
- In areas of the Diocese where there is a long tradition and strong parental support for this approach, attendance may be quite high (typically in rural areas with little local access to Catholic secondary schools).
- Textbooks and teachers’ manuals provide approved content and clear structure. Most catechists can use the teachers’ manuals with a minimum of formal training.
- Management is simple because classes occur on a regular basis on a specified day of the week.
- Other events (e.g. service, prayer, etc.) may be added to provide variety and breadth to the program.
Some Concerns about the Religious Education Classes
- Except in areas of the Diocese where there is a strong tradition of this approach – reinforced by potent parental support – attendance can be extremely low. Numbers of participants typically drop off dramatically each year as young people move from junior high through senior high school. Many parishes have completely discontinued this approach during the high school years due to poor attendance. Similarly, Confirmation programs that utilize this approach may enjoy strong participation leading up to the sacrament, but little or no participation afterwards.
- This format tends to focus narrowly on the cognitive dimensions of education. While some individual catechists can supplement the material to take into account the faith needs of their students, untrained and/or unseasoned catechists will likely not have the skills or resources to do so.
- Prescribed course curricula often do not engage the real faith needs of adolescents. Without skilled and seasoned catechists who can translate lesson plans into effective learning/growth experiences, textbooks can be more of a hindrance than a help.
- The one-hour time slot is typically inadequate to the development and presentation of the material, and leaves little or no time for community-building, prayer, experiential learning activities, and the like. Catechists often find themselves frustrated by too little class time, and much too much material that they feel obliged to cover.
- This approach can be insensitive to the fact that during the school year young people spend the better part of their waking hours in classrooms, and may have little or no inclination to spend more time in a classroom. Although they may be very interested in growing in their faith, the prospect of one more weekly class can be abhorrent to many youth.
- Even in areas where this approach generates high attendance, it is worth raising the question as to whether this approach supports or detracts from comprehensive youth ministry. If a parish’s youth ministry efforts are limited to religion classes, it will likely be marginally effective in passing on the faith.