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