Break with ‘drop-off’ model of religious ed bearing fruit at Metairie parishes

Above: Children and their parents create Blessing Bags during a family faith formation gathering at St. Benilde this past Lent – part of the Metairie parish’s mission to make children’s catechesis and faith formation more family driven. (Photo courtesy of St. Benilde Parish)

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

It’s enshrined in the very “Catechism of the Catholic Church”: “Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children” (Paragraph 2223).

Yet, in a practice that has been allowed to go on relatively unchecked over decades, many Catholic parents have been “handing off” the religious education of their children to two main groups of outside professionals: religion teachers at Catholic schools and catechists at Parish Schools of Religion (PSR).

Helping to lead a return to parent-led catechesis is Audrey Huck, who for the past several years has been working with pastors at St. Angela Merici and St. Benilde parishes in Metairie to rethink their faith formation and sacramental prep programs.

“We (Catholic parents) have this stop-drop-and-roll mindset of, ‘I’m going to send my kids to CCD or PSR, and they’re going to take care of it,’ or ‘I’m going to send my kids to Catholic school, and they’re going to take care of it,’ or ‘I’m going to send my kids to youth group, and they’re going to take care of it,’” said Huck, a mother of five who recently left part-time roles at St. Angela and St. Benilde to take on her current full-time position as St. Benilde’s director of pastoral initiatives.

“I firmly believe that the way forward with religious education, in any capacity, is through the family,” Huck said. “Our Catholic school parents need (to embrace family faith formation) just as much as our public school parents do.”

Family faith-sharing

To move the two Metairie parishes closer to the goal of parent-led, family-centric faith formation, Huck, with the support of pastors, did away with the traditional model that had parents dropping their children off for sacramental prep or their weekly, hour-long CCD classes. In its place, the parishes required parents and guardians to accompany their children to the parish once a month for a group meal and 90 minutes of age-specific presentations and faith-based activities guided by parish catechists. 

At each monthly gathering, the attending parents would receive an overview of the religious education content for the coming month – so they could lead additional faith-based assignments and discussions at home with their children.

“The idea was, we’re going to give you the blueprint, we’re going to give you the foundation so you feel prepared and equipped to teach your children at home,” Huck explained. “With the children, the teachers would cover about half of the material for that month, and then the other half of the material would be covered by the parents (at home).”

For example, during last year’s “Family of Faith” CCD program at St. Angela and St. Benilde focusing on the seven sacraments, the adults received a presentation on each sacrament at the monthly parish gathering. They were also given a checklist of 10 assignment options to take home with them, with a requirement to complete five of the listed activities with their whole family over the course of that month.

“We really wanted to give them the freedom to pick what fit their family – to have that autonomy,” Huck said. “All of the activities are designed to be done as a family. That’s very important, because as a mother of (multiple) children, if you’re telling me to go home and I’ve got to do this with my first grader and this with my second grader and this with my fourth grader, it becomes very overwhelming. It’s also relational for the family because it’s creating a space where they’re coming together as a family and spending time talking about the faith and learning about the faith. It’s basically giving the faith a place in their home.”

To spark family discussions, parents were given leading questions to ask their children. With baptism, those questions might include “Do you remember attending someone’s baptism?” “What did you notice?” “What did the child wear?”

“(The parents would) lead a lesson on the symbolism of water – that idea of being made new – and so then they could have a family conversation about what water represents. How do we use water to wash our hands?” said Huck, noting that younger children could follow up by doing a related craft or coloring sheet while their parents continued went into more depth with their older children – perhaps by finding scriptural references to baptism.

The family’s list of monthly assignment options also deliberately included one or two parish-based activities. For example, during Lent, one of the activity challenges was to attend the parish’s Stations of the Cross and fish fry as a family.

“It’s a win-win because you get (more families) at the parish,” Huck said. “That’s very important, because I think CCD families historically tend to be kind of nomads. They don’t anchor into the parish because they don’t feel like they belong, and so anything that we can do to create those relationships and make them feel like, ‘This is your parish, you belong,’ is really important.’”

We’re all in this together

Encouraging Catholic parents and guardians to take a more active role in their children’s religious education – and to embrace their own continuing faith formation – are more important than ever, Huck said. Pew studies show that children will faithfully mirror the faith practices of their parents, for better or for worse. The single greatest indicator of whether a child will continue practicing the faith as an adult is the example set by his or her parents. 

Unfortunately, because many Catholic parents are uninformed in the faith themselves, they are leaving the church and taking their children with them.

“The analogy I use with my parents is the parable of the sower and the seeds,” Huck said. “The family is the soil. The CCD and religion classes could be the water, the nutrients, the sunlight – all of which are important. However, if you don’t have that rich soil, the seed does not flourish.”

Part of the disconnect could be that because parishes and schools have stepped so far into the role of being the primary educators of children, they have neglected to give parents “meaningful tools” to teach, share and model the faith at home, Huck said.

“A lot of parents will say, ‘I’m not equipped. I can’t teach my children religion. I’m not a theology teacher,’” Huck said. “But what we need to have parents understand is that truly none of us is equipped! We’re all learning, and our children will have nothing but respect for us if we learn with them – because our kids know we don’t know everything. They also know we don’t know everything about math and social studies, but that doesn’t stop us from helping them (in those subjects).”

As more parishes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans adopt family-centric catechesis models, another part of the battle will be getting parents to understand that their role as their children’s first educators will not add to their load.

“It’s trying to do it in a way that’s saying, ‘We’re going to help you; we’re going to accompany you; we’re going to do this with you,’ because if it’s burdensome, they’re going to quit, because parents are stretched very thinly,” said Huck, noting that St. Angela’s and St. Benilde’s fresh approach to catechesis has actually lightened families’ load. Parents and children only have to worry about going to the parish monthly for religious education, rather than weekly; dinner is taken care of once a month; and children are enjoying learning with their parents in both the parish and home setting. 

“We really tried to focus on making (the monthly catechetical gatherings) as engaging and fun for the children as possible and not making it overly academic, where they just had to sit and listen,” said Huck, who favors small amounts of instruction interspersed with movement activities, crafts, short videos and lots of music.

The family-centered approach is flourishing at both St. Angela and St. Benilde, Huck said. This past year, St. Benilde had four mothers come into the church through RCIA as a direct result of their immersion in family-centric catechesis.

At St. Angela, the switch to whole-family formation three years ago led the parish’s CCD program to grow from 12 to about 50 students. Parents “stuck with it” and even asked their friends to join, Huck said.

“I think that speaks for itself,” she said. “Last year, the universal response that we got from the parents was that it was so hard to find the time (to teach the faith at home) because our families are so busy. But when they did it, they were shocked by how fruitful it was! They expected it to be something they had to fight with their kids to do, but instead it was the opposite. The kids would beg to do it! The kids loved the (home) activity boxes and the parents were surprised by the depth of the responses of their children.”

Builds community

Another fruit is produced when parishes invite parents to take the leading role in their children’s faith formation and learn the faith alongside their children – it has alleviated the alienation some “CCD families” have harbored in the past about not being part of a Catholic school community. Huck has noticed that parents who gather for the monthly family catechesis are attending Mass more joyfully now because they know more of the families with whom they are worshiping.

“The Mass is so beautiful – it’s the pinnacle of our faith – but it’s not great at forming relationships (between adults),” Huck said. “How many people do we see in the pews every Sunday, but we don’t know their names? We recognize their faces, but we don’t know their names. We need to create a way for parishioners to be known so that they feel like they belong.”

[email protected]

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Family faith formation at St. Benilde

St. Benilde Parish will host two family faith formation initiatives in 2023-24, each of which will roll out in monthly gatherings held after the parish’s newly established 4 p.m. Sunday Mass. All sessions will include a meal.

• “Built Up,” St. Benilde’s sacramental prep program, will hold its first session Aug. 27. Attendance is required for children preparing for first reconciliation and first Communion and at least one of their parents or guardians; high school juniors preparing for confirmation; and those who wish to come into full communion with the church through RCIA.

• St. Benilde’s other family faith formation opportunity, set to begin Sept. 10, is called “Rooted.” Modeled after a successful initiative at St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Slidell, sessions are open to the entire parish family, regardless of age or family situation. Rooted also fulfills the CCD requirement. A typical night will be structured in three parts: a fun introduction for the whole group on the theme/topic; break-out sessions grouped by age; and a concluding family dinner. This year’s Rooted gatherings will examine the Creed.

For more information, email [email protected].