Another year end is round the corner. And that means the end of the current sunday school curriculum in 3 weeks' time. It has been quite an eventful year which has slightly disrupted the running of our Sunday school classes and had resulted in unplanned holidays. Not that all children are complaining, I am sure. But still, I hope we teachers had done our very best and had put in our 110% effort to pass on our faith of the Catholic Church to our children.
Last Sunday, 10th October 2010, was Cathecatical Sunday. We had the blessing of the sunday school teachers and volunteers after the oath taking. Thereafter, all parents were invited to attend a session with Fr Vegeer to discuss on the role we all have to play, be it as parents or teachers.
Yesterday, we had a brief teachers' meeting on the coming closing ceremony which is to be held on 14th November 2010 at St Mary's Church Hall. The Coordinator in charge of this ceremony is Mr Bernard. Prior to this closing ceremony, most classes would be given a year end exam to check on whether our teachers have been successful in imparting Bible knowledge to the children. Presents for these deserving children would be given during the closing ceremony. So parents, do your part and help your little loved ones to revise what they have learnt during the classes.
Watch this space for more info on the upcoming event.
Our Mother Mary & Infant Jesus
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Is the heartache worth it?
Every year this time, we hear of some upset parents' frustration and despair when their children could not quite make it to the Sacrament of receiving the Holy Communion. Tears of anger and frustration; feelings of being short-changed by the church; feelings that the church is out-dated in its understanding of the modern world; feelings that the church is being unreasonable in imposing stringent requirements; feelings that the church is pushing away rather than embracing our children; and least but not last, threats of converting to another more understanding church of different denomination.
Cries of "what! another year of my children sitting through the communion class? another year of us parents ferrying our children and waiting for the extended hours of communion instruction classes?" "Doesn't the fact that we parents put in all those extra time justify our children to receive this Sacrament of Holy Communion?" "Just what more can the Church want from us?"
While all these cries do not go unnoticed and unsympathatized by the Church, nor by the teachers of these instruction classes, the Church holds steadfastly to certain basic requirements to be satisfied by parents of these children before they can be declared ready for this Sacrament.
And this basic requirement is - that parents would be willing and responsible enough to continue exposing and bringing their children up in the practice of our Catholic faith - both in and outside Church - both in and outside their homes. In other words, an active practising Catholic. There is no room for negotiation in that requirement.
Personally, I think the Church is right in upholding this requirement albeit it's painful to watch parents rant and rave against the Church for this seemingly unfair decision. I know of 2 families who did not do more than sent each of their children to the communion instruction class and confirmation instruction class at the relevant time. They were lost in space prior and in between those years of communion and confirmation. They were lucky to get their children through to confirmation before this stringent requirement was insisted upon by our St Mary's church. I have been observing these children over the years and not surprisingly, they do not manifest a desire to learn more about our faith. On the other hand, one is now studying aboard and the last I heard, he has stopped going to Sunday mass. As for the rest of the siblings at home, their mother told me that she has to drag them by the ear just to attend sunday masses - when she attends - sometimes.
I am not saying that these children would surely be heading for disaster time in the future. Nor am I saying that children from active practising Catholics would never ever come face to face with trouble in the future. But why should we turn away from the principle (ie of cultivating a loving and personal relationship with our Lord) for which our church rules are made to serve? Why should we deprive our children from every opportunity of finding that loving and personal relationship with our Lord?
So parents, take heart. And I am very glad to say that most parents, inspite of their cries of blue murder, do take heart and presevere to lead their children to the Lord. And I am sure that at the end of the day, when these children finally make it to receiving their first holy communion, no one would be prouder and more gratified than those parents who had hurled cries of anger and anguish against the instruction class teachers, the priest and the church. For is it not true of the saying - that the more difficult it is to achieve something, the more valuable that something is when you finally have achieved it.
So parents of this year's children who made it, congrats and God bless. Parents of those who need to go through another year, take heart, presevere and God Bless. May good things come in the end.
Cries of "what! another year of my children sitting through the communion class? another year of us parents ferrying our children and waiting for the extended hours of communion instruction classes?" "Doesn't the fact that we parents put in all those extra time justify our children to receive this Sacrament of Holy Communion?" "Just what more can the Church want from us?"
While all these cries do not go unnoticed and unsympathatized by the Church, nor by the teachers of these instruction classes, the Church holds steadfastly to certain basic requirements to be satisfied by parents of these children before they can be declared ready for this Sacrament.
And this basic requirement is - that parents would be willing and responsible enough to continue exposing and bringing their children up in the practice of our Catholic faith - both in and outside Church - both in and outside their homes. In other words, an active practising Catholic. There is no room for negotiation in that requirement.
Personally, I think the Church is right in upholding this requirement albeit it's painful to watch parents rant and rave against the Church for this seemingly unfair decision. I know of 2 families who did not do more than sent each of their children to the communion instruction class and confirmation instruction class at the relevant time. They were lost in space prior and in between those years of communion and confirmation. They were lucky to get their children through to confirmation before this stringent requirement was insisted upon by our St Mary's church. I have been observing these children over the years and not surprisingly, they do not manifest a desire to learn more about our faith. On the other hand, one is now studying aboard and the last I heard, he has stopped going to Sunday mass. As for the rest of the siblings at home, their mother told me that she has to drag them by the ear just to attend sunday masses - when she attends - sometimes.
I am not saying that these children would surely be heading for disaster time in the future. Nor am I saying that children from active practising Catholics would never ever come face to face with trouble in the future. But why should we turn away from the principle (ie of cultivating a loving and personal relationship with our Lord) for which our church rules are made to serve? Why should we deprive our children from every opportunity of finding that loving and personal relationship with our Lord?
So parents, take heart. And I am very glad to say that most parents, inspite of their cries of blue murder, do take heart and presevere to lead their children to the Lord. And I am sure that at the end of the day, when these children finally make it to receiving their first holy communion, no one would be prouder and more gratified than those parents who had hurled cries of anger and anguish against the instruction class teachers, the priest and the church. For is it not true of the saying - that the more difficult it is to achieve something, the more valuable that something is when you finally have achieved it.
So parents of this year's children who made it, congrats and God bless. Parents of those who need to go through another year, take heart, presevere and God Bless. May good things come in the end.
Walt Disney
Some years back, somebody pointed out to me that there were signs of satanic influence in the Walt Disney logo. Hud? walt disney cartoons? those wholesome family cartoons like Lion's King - Dumbo - Ariel - to name but a few. Those cartoons had been my secret weapon and ally for so many years in keeping my children totally engrossed and out of my hair while I snatched some precious quiet time to myself. How on earth can those wholesome cartoons be anything but wholesome and a beacon for decent family entertainment? Anyway, I soon put that out of my mind as my children grow out of the Disney years. And I seriously could not buy the idea that based on a simple logo, the whole production and the entertaining cartoons it produced could have had satanic influnence.
The reason why I choose to ponder on this issue today is because I came across an article in this month's issue of today's Catholic (Vol 22 No 8). That's right. An article on Why does Disney hate parents? Now isn't that confusing? I have always thought - and I dare say - that a lot of other parents too have thought - that Disney cartoons love parents. They love parents because they produced films of family values. And yet, there is this article written by a Sonia Poulton which pointed to the contrary.
Reading further on, Sonia pointed out the common thread among all these stories is the absence of parents or based on a single parent theme. In Lion's King, Simba was implicated in the death of his father and ran away in a vain attempt to escape his misery. Dumbo was a fatherless elephant who got separated from his mother. Neither Ariel (the Mermaid) nor Belle (Beauty and the Beast) had a mother. Think of Bambi (abandoned by his father before birth), Finding Nemo (spent most of his time estranged from his father and no mention of a mother) and Cinderella (an orphan ill-treated by her step-mother).
Apparently Walt Disney production, which has been accepted all these years without any question as the most child-friendly of organistions, appears to have something of a parent problem.
Well, Sonia Poulton's this month's piece had only been Part I, so I assume Part II will be following very soon. But in the meantime, perhaps, we parents should think twice before we sit our children down to another Walt Disney production just so we can have some quiet moments to ourselves. After all, we don't want our children to grow up thinking that it's ok or great to have a dysfunctional and broken family.
The reason why I choose to ponder on this issue today is because I came across an article in this month's issue of today's Catholic (Vol 22 No 8). That's right. An article on Why does Disney hate parents? Now isn't that confusing? I have always thought - and I dare say - that a lot of other parents too have thought - that Disney cartoons love parents. They love parents because they produced films of family values. And yet, there is this article written by a Sonia Poulton which pointed to the contrary.
Reading further on, Sonia pointed out the common thread among all these stories is the absence of parents or based on a single parent theme. In Lion's King, Simba was implicated in the death of his father and ran away in a vain attempt to escape his misery. Dumbo was a fatherless elephant who got separated from his mother. Neither Ariel (the Mermaid) nor Belle (Beauty and the Beast) had a mother. Think of Bambi (abandoned by his father before birth), Finding Nemo (spent most of his time estranged from his father and no mention of a mother) and Cinderella (an orphan ill-treated by her step-mother).
Apparently Walt Disney production, which has been accepted all these years without any question as the most child-friendly of organistions, appears to have something of a parent problem.
Well, Sonia Poulton's this month's piece had only been Part I, so I assume Part II will be following very soon. But in the meantime, perhaps, we parents should think twice before we sit our children down to another Walt Disney production just so we can have some quiet moments to ourselves. After all, we don't want our children to grow up thinking that it's ok or great to have a dysfunctional and broken family.
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