Letters

Reform needed

T. Kalotas

Contents - Mar 2007 - Buy a copy now Editorial: How we can help young East Timorese - Peter Westmore WYDSYD08: Salesian provincial urges parishes to sponsor Timorese to World Youth Day 2008 - Peter Westmore News: The Church Around the World Sandhurst: Goddess worship at Victorian education conference? - Michael Gilchrist Formation: Continuing growth of Sydney's Catholic Adult Education Centre - AD2000 Report Catholicism flourishes in South Korea - Richard Stokes Leadership: The scandal of Australia's anti-life Catholic politicians - Marcel White 'Professional', a lá carte Catholicism and its papier màché schools - Andrew T. Kania Survey of Catholic teachers The changing panorama of Victoria's historic 'Rupertswood' - Michael Moore Catholic religion courses and the challenge of relativism - Audrey English Letters: Reform needed - T. Kalotas Letters: Catholic schools - Kevin McBride Letters: Null and void - Fr. G.H. Duggan SM Letters: Presumption - John H. Cooney Letters: Suitable wedding attire - Tom and Barbara Phillip Letters: Modesty of dress - Greg Byrne Letters: Ten Commandments - Arthur Hartwig Letters: Abortion counselling - Frank Bellet Letters: Leadership needed - Anne Lastman Letters: Human embryos - Rebecca Soares Letters: Ecumenism? - Peter Davidson Books: The Glory of These Forty Days, by Fr James Tolhurst - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: LISTEN MY SON: St Benedict for Fathers, by Dwight Longenecker - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) Books: SEEKING THE ABSOLUTE: The Founders of Christian Monasticism - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) Media: The Rosary of the Virgin Mary - 4 DVD or 4 CD set - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) DOES YOUR PARISH STOCK AD2000? Books: Order Books from freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: The Holy Trinity - source of true Christian unity - Fr John O'Neill

The abysmal state of religious education in Catholic secondary schools is no longer a question for serious debate. However, practical solutions on how to remedy the problem have not been forthcoming, and so herewith is presented a scheme that ought to head in the right direction.

The main thrust is to introduce into all six years of Catholic high school an accredited subject called "Roman Catholic Studies". This subject is to carry equal weight and be assessed equally with other secular subjects when generating a school leaving score. It should be centred on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, supplemented with Church history and appropriate apologetics to show that, despite some people's perception, Catholicism is not based on irrationality.

Since here the saving of souls is at stake, the design, execution and assessment of such a course need to be under the direct control of the hierarchy and not left to CEO bureaucrats. Teachers of this course must be practising Catholics with appropriate training and the only ones to teach it.

The next crucial step is to re- write the school manifesto and insist that such a course be compulsory for every student at every level in a Catholic high school. Some immediate consequences will be:

* Religion will cease to be a "mickey- mouse" subject and will gain meaningful content. It will have to be taken seriously to get good grades.

* Parents who wish their children to know and practise the faith will be reinforced, while those who are neutral about religion will nevertheless find their children in a better position to make serious faith commitments. Those antagonistic to all religion or just the Catholic faith in particular will of course not enrol their children.

(3) Through a progressive introduction of Roman Catholic Studies from year seven onwards, there will be minimal disruption to secular subjects while objecting parents will not have to withdraw students already enrolled.

In the absence of an urgent introduction of the above or some other meaningful scheme, we may as well kiss our high schools goodbye and sell them to the state as established secular education businesses. As they stand, most are largely useless and counterproductive appendages to the Church, where under the guise of religion, modernistic heresies are taught while an increasingly poisonous anti- Catholic spirit prevails.

T. KALOTAS (DR)
Rosanna, Vic

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 20 No 2 (March 2007), p. 14