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LinkExchange
Member
On Sacramental
Guidelines
Parents, Know
Your Rights
Within the
Church
On this
page:
Catholic
parents teaching their children at home are reporting all
sorts of diocesan regulations on sacramental
preparation.
Quite a number of these
guidelines use words and phrases which make it appear that
the pastor or the Director of Religious Education (DRE) can
withhold or delay the Sacraments from children simply
because they are homeschooled. (On a side note, a DRE holds
absolutely no
rights over other
people's children. Church teaching found in the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church and
the Code of Canon
Law and other
documents specifically mentions only the parents, the pastor
and ecclesiastical authority. In the majority of cases, the
DRE is a diocesan employee but
not
an ecclesiastical authority. Parents should keep in
mind they have the right to directly approach their parish
priest).
A
policy
statement, a set of
guidelines,
a list of
procedures
etc. are not official Church mandates. Any sacramental
guidelines can
and
ought
to be studied and questioned by parents. Policies,
guidelines and procedures
are not laws written in
stone (although some
diocesan officials will try to convince parents
otherwise).
Further,
the big problem with guidelines is that what is
actually
required
is often tucked in between layers of
suggestions. In some cases, the word
required
is used but the guideline
itself is not in line with Church teaching.
Some guidelines are stated in such
a way as to appear like a commandment, like "Be involved...
" when in truth this is only another suggestion.
Parents must know their
rights -- not only in
accordance with state law but also in
natural and divine
law.
What
appears to be
"proof-texting"
is showing up in some
sacramental guidelines for homeschooling parents and
children.
Proof-texting
is a term most commonly used to explain what
non-Catholics do when quoting Scripture in order to prove
their argument against the Catholic Faith. Scriptural
passages are used out of
context and given the
wrong interpretation (an opinion) in order
to strengthen the
proof-texter's personal
convictions against the
true Faith. Catholics who know this about this Scriptural
proof-texting method realize that proof-texters are basing
their beliefs on their opinions of what Scripture means,
not
what God intends them to mean.
Similarily,
if such proof-texting is being used when referring to
Church documents during the writing of homeschool
guidelines, those same Church documents will
appear to
mean what a particular diocesan committee
wants or decides
it to mean instead of what the
Church intended. No lay person, no homeschool
study group, no diocesan committee, no pastor, and no bishop
can lawfully do this.
The main difficulty is
the use of excessive verbiage in many of the guidelines. A
careful reading of guidelines which include words like
"should,"
"are
recommended,"
"are invited,"
etc. will show that these are not requirements. Neither
should they present Church
teaching in such a way that eradicates or lessens the rights
of parents. (This is
another method of proof-texting.)
An Important
Note - Keeping
It Catholic's Intention
Keeping
it
Catholic
has no intention of proof-texting various Church documents
when it presents evidence in favor of parental or pastoral
rights. Instead, we offer
excerpts
from such documents with
both a
hope and a
stated
intention.
Our
hope
is that parents and pastors
thoroughly
read the mentioned documents
for
themselves. Our
intention
is to provide excerpts so that parents can easily search and
refer to the entire document from which the excerpts came.We consistently refer to
authentic Church teaching so that parental rights and
responsibilities are clearly understood, respected, and
upheld.
At
the most, the study of such documents will assist both
parents and pastors in realizing guidelines
are
not neccesary. Parents
especially have an obligation to know and defend their
rights since it a duty conferred upon them God Himself. At
the worse, parental neglect to know their rights, duties and
obligations, affirmed
and upheld for them by the
Church, could very well
lead to all kinds of abuses perpetrated against their
homeschooled children's access to the
Sacraments.
Certified
Parents?
Guideline
Example, Cardinal Gagnon Comments on Catechesis,
"Approved"
Texts and Authentic Doctrine
Must
Parents Enter a Written Agreement with the
Parish?
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