Recently I was involved in a discussion about contraception and other elements of the Catholic faith that are so poorly understood or followed by Catholics. In the course of that discussion, one of the participants insisted the problem was entirely the Church and its failure to educate people in the faith. As it was a diversion from our real point of discussion we sort of tabled that line of thought for a later day. I didn't wholly agree with his attribution of blame, but it wasn't until later that I gave it a lot of thought.
That being the case, I certainly recognized where my friend was coming from. I certainly look at my catechesis as being lacking. That's part of the motivation behind me volunteering to teach PRE and I certainly plan my curriculum around trying to provide some of the critical pieces I think were missing in my catechesis. But, while I do see where my formal catechesis was lacking and at one point did have a tendency to blame the Church for not teaching me, as I honestly considered my entire faith journey and as I have been involved in teaching, I've realized that blaming the Church is a preposterous position to take.
While this is not the same order I came to this truth, I think a good place to start to see the flaw in this argument is to look at how the Church teaches and the opportunities it has. For the sake of argument, let's look at a "perfect" Catholic at age 20. By "perfect" Catholic, I really mean a perfect attendance Catholic that has never missed a Sunday or obligatory Mass and attended PRE weekly as required through high school. Those two activities, Mass and PRE, are the Church's opportunities for teaching. In my assessment I don't think it's fair to say that the entire Mass is teaching, most of it is worship. The homily is quite certainly teaching and the readings in most cases are to some extent. But the rest of the Mass is primarily worship and not teaching, it's doing and experiencing what was taught, much of which is not understandable without teaching having been done... We'll be generous and say that 20 minutes of every Mass is teaching. And we'll also be generous and assume that each week at PRE the teacher teaches for a full 60 minutes, that's quite unrealistic, getting kids quieted, announcements, attendance, holiday parties, and other activities take away from that 60 minutes per week. As a base assumption we'll also say that there are 30 PRE classes per year. I'm certain that is a gross exaggeration as our parish teachers only get 20 classes per year with students, the rest of the time is school holidays, reconciliation services, Masses, parties, etc... But, some parishes have longer school years, longer class periods, etc...
Now, a "perfect attendance" Catholic will attend Mass 58 times per year (52 Sundays plus 6 Holy Days of Obligation). 20 minutes of teaching times 58 is 19:40 per year. We'll round that up to an even 20 hours per year. Each year they are school age through 12th grade they will get an additional 30 hours of teaching. Now, most Catholics are too young to learn anything prior to age 4, and PRE is only 12 years of their life. So, that 20 year-old "perfect attendance" Catholic will be in the Church's teaching environment for 16 years of Masses and 12 years of PRE. Total hours: 680 hours.
680 hours sounds like a lot of time doesn't it? But is it really? First, let's compare it to a few other things... Assuming that 20 year old did not go on to college, how many hours has he devoted to learning math? 12 years of school, 50 minutes per day, 5 days per week, 36 weeks per year: 1800 hours spent learning math... Now, while many may not be familiar with this, let's look at what it takes to become a Certified Microsoft Systems Engineer (MCSE), this certification basically says you have a basic understanding of Microsoft's core products and are sufficiently knowledgeable for an entry level job in I.T. Systems Administration or Architeture, certainly not an expert or experienced, just an entry level undestanding. attaining that basic "You're ready for OJT" level of certification means passing 7 exams. Preparation for those 7 exams each involves taking a 5 day, full day course. 280 hours of training. And passing those tests typically requires another 10-20 hours of studying and outside reading to prepare for and pass the test, so another 70 hours of time teaching yourself. 350 hours to just have basic knowledge of a handful of Microsoft products. Then, what about a basic college degree? Most colleges require 120-130 credits to graduate. A semester is typically 16 weeks. A class that meets one hour per week for a semester earns 1 credit. So, 16 hours times 125 credits is roughly 2000 hours. That's time in class. How much time must a student spend outside of class reading and educating themselves in addition to that to earn their degree? 1000 hours? 2000 hours?
And the Church has 680 hours... 680 hours to teach and look at what all there is to be taught... It's not as narrow and simple as math that we spend 1800 hours in class learning. It maybe as complex and diverse as a college education that we invest 2000-4000 hours into earning. But, go back to that 1800 hours of basic math, notice I omitted the time spent on homework and studying... I did introduce that with the college degree... and I introduced a small amount for the Microsoft Certification.... Truth be told, what area of knowledge do we ever simply learn by being taught and not have to invest our own independent time into learning? And how much time must we personally invest to go with time spent under a good teacher's tutelage?
That in mind, who does the Church say has the primary responsibility in teaching the faith? Parents. From age 0-20, if a person never misses Mass or PRE the Church will have 680 hours to teach a kid. Assuming the kid is paying attention. Also, don't forget that the 20 minutes at Mass per week, the priest is trying to speak to 7 year olds and 70 year olds, new Catholics and life-long, devout, deeply informed Catholics. There is repetition, there are teachings way beyond some of the faithful in attendance at that moment... But the parents, how much time do they have that they could spend teaching? If a parent were to spend one hour every night with their child talking about their faith starting the day their child turns 7, when their kid blows out 9 candles on their birthday cake they will have spent 730 hours of one-on-one teaching their child in an individualized and focused manner. But... if the kid doesn't care or doesn't pay attention, is that of any help? No.
So that takes us to another consideration and we can look back at how much time we spend on homework or self-study in those other areas... what if a 10 year-old spends just 10 minutes per day reading the Bible or other writings that teach the faith, commits herself to learning a little more on her own each day for 10 years in 10 minute increments? 608 hours by they time that kid is 20. Now... anyone that thinks that the Church is to blame must honestly ask themselves "How much time did my parents spend trying to teach me the faith? And how much time did I devote myself to learning it?"
Since my personal conversion of heart I have spent a minimum of 30 minutes per day learning my faith, many days I have given myself over to the Bible, the Catechism, the writings of the Church Fathers and other Catholic writings for over an hour. It is safe to say that over the last 5 years I have averaged 45 minutes per day teaching myself. And I've spent another 50 hours per year attending Bible Studies, retreats, conferences or other adult faith formation opportunities. That's over 1400 hours I have devoted to learning about my faith. And the more I learn, the more I find there is left to learn... That's the funny thing about trying to learn about an infinite God... there is no finish line...
Blame the Church? Go right ahead if it makes you feel better about yourself. But you're lying to yourself. The problem starts with you. The Church has given you the Bible, the Catechism, and volume upon volume of Summa's, treatise, Encyclicals and writings of the Church Doctors, Saints, and members of the Magisterium, nearly 2000 years of written knowledge, wisdom, and theology exist that the Church has preserved and made available to us. If you haven't picked it up and read it, that's your fault. If you skip Mass, don't go to Bible Studies, conferences, don't listen to Catholic radio, watch Catholic programming once in awhile, don't blame the Church. Well, unless you think that they are supposed to come drag you out of your house, handcuff you to the pew and force-feed you. You might feel justified in blaming your parents for not instilling the desire to learn about God and your faith, and I won't dissuade you from that thought. While God does plant that desire in our hearts to learn about Him and know Him, parents accept the responsibility for nurturing that and while they are obviously not able to completely kill that seed that God has planted, they can do a lot to stunt it. But the Church? It's limited by how much your parents exposed you and how much you were willing to engage and participate.
We all love to assign blame elsewhere. But if you failed math and you never did your homework, can you honestly blame the teacher? If you were studying English literature and you failed a test on Shakespeare because you didn't read the book is that the professors fault? The Church teaches, the Church provides the information and opportunities to learn, the Church clearly indicates who has primary responsibility for teaching the faith, and the blame squarely rests on parents and the children that don't take responsibility for their own growth.
