The following comes from an Inland Catholic Byte article:
SAN BERNARDINO—In the spirit of the Year of Mercy, the Diocesan Office of Catechetical Ministry will offer its first ever Faith Formation Conference themed “His Mercy Endures Forever” on Saturday, September 10 at California State University, San Bernardino.
For the past 17 years the Office of Catechetical Ministry has offered four “Catechist Days” in different Vicariates of the Diocese at the beginning of the program year for those in religious education ministry. This year it was decided to bring catechists from all six vicariates together in one faith-filled day.
“There is something for everyone. It’s for the whole community,” said Maria Covarrubias, Director of the Office of Catechetical Ministry.
About 2,500 people are expected to attend the Conference, which will feature five keynote speakers. Dr. Timothy Hogan (Faith in Post-Modern Culture) and Damon and Melanie Owens (Gifts of the Family) will be presenting in English. Lupita Vital (Sowing the Mercy of God Inside of Us) and Dr. Hosffman Ospino (God’s Mercy is Forever) will be presenting in Spanish.
Joining them will be 29 presenters offering a total of 50 workshops in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, and American Sign Language. Worship and song will be guided by Chris Estrella and ValLimar Jansen.
The Conference will conclude with a Mass in Cousoulis Arena to be celebrated by Bishop Gerald Barnes.
The Conference is open to all as workshops include topics on Marriage and Family Ministry, Special Needs Ministry, Laudato Si, Ministry to the Divorced and Classroom Management, among many others.
With all of the catechetical conferences held by all of the dioceses in the U.S., you’d think that the Church would have the most outstanding and effective catechetical programs in its history.
Yet evidence supports the conclusion that the Church’s catechetical programs are failing in their mission to impart Catholic faith accurately and to form knowledgeable, committed disciples of Christ. Catechists in schools and parish programs cannot be relied on to uphold nor teach Catholic faith correctly, and the retention rate among children who have attended school or parish catechesis is abysmal.
So what good do these costly conferences accomplish, and why is a failed model of catechist formation being expanded?
Sawyer, what you say may be true, but how do you know, really? Have you attended these conferences? Do you know what they teach during faith formation at your parish? How is what they teach different from the “real” Catholic faith? What is a committed disciple of Christ compared to what they teach the folks to be? What should we do to make the current programs more reliable?
Bob, I have taught in Catholic schools and parishes. I have attended many catechetical conferences.
I believe the quality of my instruction is excellent, but I know from department meetings that other teachers do not impart the apostolic faith. I have had heated arguments at meetings because I insisted our role is to explain and defend Catholic faith and persuade students to accept its truth rather than present Catholic faith neutrally.
Only 10% of the students attend Mass weekly, and religion teachers are more ardent Marxists than Catholics. The year Prop 8 was on the ballot in CA was a difficult year: most religion teachers opposed Prop 8 and taught their students that the Church would eventually change its teaching about SSM; they…
Bob One– Haven’t you noticed, that many Catholics and their children, are no longer real believers in the Catholic faith– instead, many believe in the ideas preached to them, in the “Death Culture!” Including a great many of our so-called “Catholic” political leaders! Very sad! And how much good do these conferences do?? The statistics are also tragic, in evaluating the beliefs of Catholic parishioners– many do not believe in the Real Presence of Our Lord, in the Eucharist, for example! Many do not practice sexual morality. And there are fewer and fewer Catholic baptisms and Catholic weddings, in the Church! Read, and you will see for yourself!
Sawyer, all true! It is the fruit of the Second Vatican Council! Very sad! Nobody takes the Catholic Faith seriously any more! And how many more Catholic young people will grow up, to “shack up,” take birth control, seek abortions, and demand “marriage equality,” for homosexuals??? In another half century– when Vatican II celebrates its centennial anniversary– where will the Catholic laymen and their families be??? Oh— such great catechesis– for a MUCH IMPROVED VATICAN II CHURCH!! Oh, WOW!! Who is impressed?? Not me!!
Sawyer is very brave, to try to help out with catechism teaching, in today’s post-Vatican II Church! I gave up volunteering with teaching CCD classes, in about the year 1970! Liberal fools who were losing their faith, in the midst of the sickening “hippie revolution,” discarded traditional Catholic teaching methods, along with the Baltimore Catechism, with its excellent question-and-answer format. They came up with liberal, dumbed-down, educational psychology-influenced, secularized, non-intellectual, babyish, “touchy-feely” catechetical programs, with very little Catholicism left! The nuns were leaving, and the New Mass was a DISASTER!! Major TRAIN WRECK, for a once-great Church!
Many post-Conciliar clergy and catechists have sadly not learned their Catholic Faith well, and many try to teach God’s Love, from a highly -secularized, human-oriented (instead of God-oriented) “personal fulfillment,” “touchy-feely” point of view! This shallow, secular concept, is a sad mistake! God is LOVE, but He is NOT HUMAN, He is IMPERSONAL and PURE!! DIVINE LOVE is not a “hippie-luv-and-dope emotional, hormonal high,” for personal fulfillment– we must glorify God, by doing as Christ says, to “Love your neighbor as yourself”– but for the glory of God, not for our own “human-oriented” “personal fulfillment!” Big error!
Of course, the priest or nun who truly loves their vocation, will find immense happiness and fulfillment! But they do their work– for the glory of God!! I never liked Pope St. John Paul II’s emphasis, (and Pope Francis, too!) on “humanism,” instead of placing the emphasis where it truly belongs, in a grown-up manner– on God– serving and glorifying God!! To serve and glorify God, is not only what we are correctly called to do, by Christ — it will bring us true happiness!
You realize that what you just wrote is heresy, right? “He is NOT HUMAN, He is IMPERSONAL and PURE!!”
How many heresies can one person put into a single sentence and still make it onto CCD?
I think what Linda Maria was implying is that Christ is human, but not fallen as we are. He is perfect. He is not a respecter of persons, that meaning that He is truthful to those of high and low estate, holding nothing back out of a misguided sense that one’s station in life puts them above the law or renders them incapable of sin.
As for “heresies” you tend toward obfuscating the very real danger of engaging in homosexual sexual encounters and have advocated for “gay” marriage.
So your decrying heresies is rather comical, YFC.