Editor’s Note

On Catechetical Sunday, I highlighted the fact that parents are the primary catechists of their children ? preparing the soil and planting the first seeds of faith.

Feb 11, 2022


By Patricia Pereira
On Catechetical Sunday, I highlighted the fact that parents are the primary catechists of their children ? preparing the soil and planting the first seeds of faith. Apparently this is not always the case as you’ll see when you read the somewhat amusing article ‘Faith education – Who’s responsibility is it?’ (Page 14).

This article will definitely elicit a chuckle or two but, at the same time, it points to a stark, and maybe even scary, reality which begs the question, ‘What type of faith foundation are we building for our children?’ and whether we are placing equal, if not more emphasis on other academic subjects than we do for religious studies.

This brings us to another reality – are we, as parents, catechists, formators and even clergy, equipped or prepared to respond to the many ‘difficult’ faith-related questions that our young people are asking today or do we silence their ‘whys’ with a ‘Because the Church says so’?

To cite an example, a growing trend in the Western world, especially among celebrities, is declaring themselves as ‘non-binary’ (a term used for gender identities that are neither male nor female). While we can rest assured that this is something that will not be officially accepted in our country, some of our young people are, nevertheless, gyrating towards this way of thinking. A youth leader in one of our local parishes recently shared how his WhatsApp message to some male youths, which began with “Hi guys”, received a curt response from one of them who said, “Don’t assume my gender.” This same youth leader, who is a teacher’s assistant for catechism, also shared how, when faced with difficult questions from the students, his standard answer would be, “I don’t know. I’m just the teacher’s assistant.”

We cannot comfort ourselves by saying that these are not Asian realities. We cannot say that these are issues that only concern the West. We need to open our eyes to global realities ? realities which our young people are being exposed to daily via social media, and realities which they will face head-on if they plan to further their studies abroad.

There are bound to be questions on gender, assisted suicide, euthanasia and many other issues. What do we do? How do we address these challenges? If not already done, perhaps it’s time to review our faith syllabus and find ways to integrate faith into social reality. We can no longer give the standard “Because the Church says so” response. If we do, we will only be pushing our young people further away from the Church.

Total Comments:0

Name
Email
Comments