Modern Suffering

I've been helping at a local parish with some youth catechesis. Unfortunately I'm to the point where I dread the every other week two hour stint I'm there. The freshman class that I'm trying to help with is tough. The main teacher is a very sweet lady who is a retired teacher. She does the very best she can and if nothing else is showing them love even when they show her very little. This class has gained a reputation of being a tough group to handle and are continuing to live up to that. They are all public school kids who have been coming to religious education their whole lives but can't really tell you much about the Catholic faith. Most don't attend mass on Sunday but there parents make sure to drop them off at R.E. twice a month on Wednesday nights. Next year when they start Confirmation prep and are required to attend mass it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the parent drop their kids off at mass on Sunday and come back to pick them up.
The lack of parental involvement in the Church is in my opinion what is causing the majority of problems with religious education. I can't blame the kids that they can't take the faith seriously when they don't see their parents taking the faith seriously.
And then there is Kyle. Kyle's parents are in the midst of a divorce. The few classes I've been to I've never heard Kyle say a word. He sits with ear buds in and talks quietly to his friend. He doesn't participate, he doesn't follow any directions and he clearly does not want to be there. Tonight he pulled out his phone and the teacher asked him to put it away. He refused and as she went take it from him he got up and stormed off while uttering a few curses. I went to check on him and ended up sitting next to him on some stairs. With horrible rap music blaring very loudly in his ears he didn't acknowledge me at all, so I just sat there. He finally got up and moved to a different spot away from me, and that was that. There are most likely I believe some other mental or psychological problems there, but maybe not.
What frustrated me the most out of the whole encounter was this...

I did not know how to show him love.

This young freshman in high school and many others like him are suffering and I have to answer on how to help them.
It's getting to be too overwhelming when I think about kids like Kyle, who through no fault of there own are suffering in a very real way.

Pray, pray and pray some more.

Catholic Missionary at a Catholic School

Over Christmas break is was able to figure out just how this year has felt in terms of teaching theology at this Catholic school. I'm doing my best to teach a group of teenagers the Catholic faith. The tough aspects and the easy to understand, all with compassion and understanding. The reactions I've gotten coupled with the eye opening realizations have been fun but also sad. Questions that have been both encouraging while also slightly unbelievable. I've got students who have gone to a Catholic school for 10+ years who are learning new things, simple things, from me.
I feel like a Catholic missionary bringing the Catholic faith to a Catholic school.
It's a testament to what Catholic education has become across much of the United States. Being Catholic in name but not in substance. This Catholic school like many is not really ingrained into the community, rather it has created its own little community that it thrives off of. I have a few coworkers who have been at the school for 20+ years. They've seen small changes over the years, but at the end of the day the school hasn't really changed much. Being proud to be a Catholic school but failing to be authentically Catholic has been the way things have gone for a long time as far as I can tell.
I have a student who is extremely bright. She has recently been accepted to Notre Dame and is one of those students who has challenging questions every day and is always ready to pounce should I slip up. I mentioned to her class how I feel like a missionary and all she could do was laugh. She understood completely and the only reaction she could muster was full on hysterical laughter.
So I've got one semester left to continue my missionary journey at this school and hopefully leave it better than I found it.

Peace all

Frustrations Abound

I'm just going to rant a little bit for no one benefit but my own.

My car doesn't like to start when it's really cold out. So today I thought I would be proactive and get a brand new battery for my car. After installing the new battery I got in and started my car. It had a harder time starting then it did with the old battery! What the heck?! So I drove around, filled up the tank, and it started up fine that time. It sat for a while and again, it had a difficult time starting. So that's something I have to figure out now.

I'm helping a local parish with their R.E. on Wednesdays. The freshman class is rather large and they've had only one teacher all year. She's a nice older lady who has teaching experience and is doing her best. This group of kids though is tough and from what I hear they have been for a few years. I've worked with the class a bit and all of them are there because their parents are making them. The only way to get them to a point where they will be quiet is to give them assigned seating. But then they just tune out whatever the teacher is trying to do. Let them sit with friends and they constantly talk. None of them want to be there and quite honestly trying to teach them anything is almost a joke. It's a struggle for religious education everywhere. The parents drop their kids off and expect them to learn the faith. Or maybe they don't. Maybe the parents don't really care about the faith at all but something inside them pushed them to force their kids to go to R.E.
I envision having a Religious Ed program where the parents have to attend right along with their kids. Where parents are required to receive just as much instruction as their children do. I think the numbers of students going to R.E. would drop dramatically unfortunately. But the is what is needed. These parents do not know the faith and many parishes do not have the ability to be the sole instructors about the faith. There is no easy answer.

I feel like there was something else I needed to rant about, but I'm tired.

Peace all