Fall has arrived and you know that can mean only one thing.  No, not the start of another school year, but the reappearance of the Catholic Ministries Appeal.  This year the theme is: “The Power of Many…Stronger as One.”  On the diocesan brochure, found here, the Gilooly family says:

Through the support of the CMA, our children, and thousands of other children and young adults across our Diocese, will be well-prepared for a life with Christ through faith formation and the sacraments.

Now, I am not picking on the Gilooly family, but I really want to know how they define “well-prepared.”  Based on my personal experience with faith formation and Sacramental preparation at my local church, I can confidently say that there is no way my children have been well-prepared for a life with Christ by the educators at our church.  No, that has been, and should, as the first and primary educator of my children, be my job.    But if we are going to have church-based programs they better be more instructive than the awful “Blest Are We” catechism series used by my church!  Also, Sacramental prep programs need to be more than felt banners and making pretzels (to represent a “hug”) out of bread dough to convey the “source and summit” of our Christian life in the Eucharist.

Hopefully, not every parish is stuck using lackluster catechetical programs.  I understand that both the “Faith and Life” and “Image of God” series are very well done with beautiful artwork, but more importantly with orthodox and serious content.  I’d be interested in hearing about our readers experience in this regard.  In the end, when I read comments like the one above, I am reassured that my money is better spent on other teaching apostolates (like Catholic radio or EWTN or Catholic Answers) than on the CMA.

P.S. For parents looking for a good program to do at home with kids, I really like the website CatechismClass.com.  It is a lectionary based program that covers a wide range of subjects from the Mass, to the Ten Commandments, to the Mysteries of the Rosary.  It is quite flexible and affordable.  It also offers prayers in Latin and refers to the Baltimore Catechism in addition to the newer catechism.