LinkExchange Member


 


Sacramental Guideline Examples

On this Page:

Excerpts from Boise, ID Guidelines with Commentary

Parents Are Not Denying Rights of the Church

Cardinal Gagnon on Catechesis

Authentic Doctrine

 

Keeping It Catholic wishes to provide just two guideline examples (Boise and Chicago) so that parents may compare them (and similar guidelines) against Church documents. The excerpted examples (i.e., the guidelines are not presented in their entirety) and our commentaries follow:

 

From Boise, ID:

Be active in your parish religious education program. Home schoolers may include religious education programs with materials approved by the diocese but should not isolate themselves from their parish programs. Sacramental preparation must be done through parish programs.

2. Utilize Catholic religious education programs approved by our Bishop for home religious instruction. All parish religious education programs have this approved list.

3. Please note that our bishops have not endorsed a Catholic home schooling program. The issue of an official home schooling program based on Vatican II and the new Catechism of the Catholic Church is currently being addressed at the national level.

 

 Keeping It Catholic Commentary:

 

In reference to Boise, ID guideline number 1 above: Parents are not required to enroll their children in any parish religious education program. Children are not required to prepare for the sacraments via parish programs.

It is true to say that while parents retain their natural rights to teach their children, they must follow the authentic doctrinal teachings provided by the Magisterium of the Church. Guidelines, policy statements, and procedures in and of themselves do not fall into the category of the infallible Magisterium.

The Charter of the Rights of the Family (Article 5 a and 5 b) states:

 "Parents have the right to educate their children in conformity with their moral and religious conviction...parents have the right to freely choose schools or other means necessary to educate their children in keeping with their convictions."

In fact, Canon 799 demands that education be available "in accord with the conscience of the parents." Also, Canon 791.3 recognizes that parental duty to teach extends to "...the right to select those means and institutions suitable for Catholic education."

The means are the books; the institution would be the homeschool if the parents so choose. As long as the books used for catechesis contain authentic Catholic doctrine, neither the books nor the institution (in this case, the home school) can be opposed or burdened by extraordinary guidelines.

Further, marriage itself in an institution. The Catechism of the Catholic Church proclaims:

1639 The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God himself. From their convenent arises "an institution, confirmed by the divine law...even in the eyes of society." (Note: the reference within the catechism refers to GS 48 s.1) The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God's covenant with man: "Authentic married love is caught up into divine love." (Note: reference to GS 48 s.2)

 

1641 By reason of their state in life and of their order, [Christian spouses] have their own special gifts in the People of God. This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this grace they can "help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children."

 

Parents are not trying to deny the Church her rights. They understand that religious education is subject to legitimate Church supervision. The question now is what is and what is not a legitimate form of supervision.

Catechesi Trandendae (Nos. 67 and 68), written by Pope John Paul II, says, "...that the parish community must continue to be the prime move and pre-eminent place for catechesis" and then continues, "In short, without monopolizing or enforcing uniformity, the parish remains, as I have said, the pre-eminent place for catechesis."

This means the Church may assist parents without monopolizing or enforcing uniformity. This does not give the parish the right to put burdens on parents or to usurp parental rights, especially in the name of "community." To suggest homeschoolers are not members of the Catholic community is grossly unfair and unjust. To sacrifice individual needs or refer those rights in the name of the community is also wrong. The law of subsidiarity still applies.

 

Even further, Edouard Cardinal Gagnon, while President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said:

But while the Canon states that the Pastor should judge about the fitness of a child's preparation for the reception of Confirmation and Eucharist (Canons 890, 914), it also requires that the pastor's judgement be made together with the parents. This judgement is to be based not on the arbitrary criteria of the pastor but upon the truths of the Faith and legitimately established norms."

 

The role of the pastor, therefore, is to give a service of assistance by providing the parents with the means for form their child. The parents, however, are not obliged to accept this assistance if they prefer to exercise exclusively their obligation and right to educate their own children. (Note: This is a natural right and is not altered by the rights of the Church, e.g., Canons 793 and 794, 914)

 

Cardinal Gagnon continued:

 

In times past, parents were only too happy to be assisted by the Catholic school system in the formation of their children. Now, however, it is no longer the case in many a diocese where Catholic schools are permitted to use certain catechetical texts, which though bearing an imprimatur, are gravely deficient in following the Magisterium.

 

To continue in reference to Boise, ID guideline #2: Again, any catechetical books that contain the Catholic Church's authentic doctrine are acceptable. If such religious text meets this criteria of containing Church doctrine, they cannot be rejected (as some do to the Baltimore Catechism, for example) by making the claim they are "not in the spirit of Vatican II" or "not on the diocese's approved list."

Authentic doctrine is that which is approved under the authority of the Pope. Books that contain watered-down doctrine, or - even worse - hardly address matters of faith and morals are not acceptable for either the parish or the home for catechetical use. As Cardinal Gagnon claimed, there are catechetical texts which are gravely deficient in following the Magisterium.

Some dioceses either suggest or outright claim that all catechisms prior to the new Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) are defective. This is the same as proclaiming that the Church erred when it allowed any catechism before the new CCC to be promulgated. To suggest the Church could err in in her doctrines and defined dogmas at any time is wrong. Therefore, it still remains true that parents have the right to choose those means they find suitable, and this includes any catechisms promulgated by the Church at any time in history.

It is also wrong to suggest that the Church did not exist before Vatican II. Neither should it be implied that any catechisms before Vatican II were not orthodox, sound or doctrinal. The Church existed before and after any councils, including the Council of Trent!

In addition, many Vatican II documents themselves (and those that followed Vatican II) consistently address and affirm the rights of parents to educate their children religiously, civilly, morally, academically, etc. Such documents include The Charter of the Rights of the Family, Letter to Families, the Code of Canon Law, Catechesi Tradendae, and Familiaris Consortio.

  Back to Certified Parents?

 Next Example: Must Parents Enter a Written Agreement with the Parish?(Chicago)


  Return to Keeping It Catholic Home Page