From the daily newsfeed of the National Catholic Register
Nov 10, 2010 10:08 pm
By Matthew Archbold
I traveled yesterday with my five children to attend my niece’s confirmation. It was a beautiful event that was so well attended my kids and I had to park in a nearby neighborhood. But there’s a reason I’m telling you the story. Look, I know it can be difficult to have kids in church. Believe me I …
Read the whole article -and the interesting comments- here.
Tags: Keeping the Spirit Alive
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I realize the article enjoins bishops to pounce on parish priests; however, I read this and I am not in the center on this or any where near it. The parents are completely at fault. Go any where and you see the kids ruling the roost. The announcement about pagers, phones etc. would be unnecessary in “the old days” due to parental control carring through the years. Today’s kid is a different animal. Can be controlled with parental help. The stronger spine must be given to the parent.
Bill B.: I agree with you. It’s something akin to pouncing on teachers to instill basic behaviours that should have been taught at home. The problem, of course, is that parents aren’t doing their job so that leaves the priest and the teacher with having to deal with the problem. They are on the front lines and can’t ignore the behaviours. I know how one priest deals with it. You’ll either get the stink eye or some biting comments from the pulpit –immediate response!– and then a tongue lashing in the next bulletin. Seems to work but is probably frowned upon by the higher ups (WWJD). In the public schools I can tell you that such a teacher would probably get a reprimand in his file for damaging the kid’s self esteem. Priests and teachers walk a very fine line and are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. But, that’s what they get paid the big bucks for!