Church views parents as primary catechists

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Sept. 13, 2007

Parents are not only responsible for a child's physical and mental health but also for his or her spiritual well being.

"Spiritual is even more important than physical," said Mark Thomason, diocesan director of catechesis, evangelization and RCIA.

While that may sound radical, he added, "If a child is dying, the parents would say 'make sure they are baptized.' Sometimes we can't prevent tragedies but we can always prevent a lack of spirituality."

If a child is brought into the world in a sacramental marriage, Thomason explained there is "a secondary layer of sacramental grace. It gives parents a commissioning as a primary catechist - so by natural means, sacramental means and supernatural means parents are important."

That's why the Catholic Church views parents as primary catechists, he said.

Besides, parents have the most one-on-one time with their children and they usually have the most influence on them.

Teaching children about the Catholic faith, Thomason said, can be done through formal and informal means.

The diocesan director said he recently listened to an interview with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI. The pope spoke about his childhood and said his parents didn't teach him lessons using workbooks and such, but they talked about the faith and faith was part of their everyday life.

"It's that lived faith experience where parents become the primary catechists," said Thomason. "There are times when parents need to sit down and do bookwork with their kids - that's a part of life - but it's the overall attitude about the faith. When parents make church first, kids make church first."

One of the informal ways of teaching about the church is through living the faith and setting good examples.

Pat and Renae Hinrichsen, parishioners at Immaculate Conception Church in Sioux City, teach the faith through daily living. The Hinrichsens have three children: the oldest son Mitch is away at college, daughter Shelby is a junior at East High School and Bryce is a sophomore at East. They attended Mater Dei Grade School.

"What Pat and I have always done is teach the kids through example. We have always been active in the church serving as Eucharistic ministers and lectors. The kids have followed by being altar servers and after Mitch received confirmation then he became a Eucharistic minister," said Renae. "When your kids see you do it, then it becomes a part of life."

Pat said he can't expect others to do something that he isn't willing to do himself.

"I can't expect them to grow up and be part of the church if I'm not a part of the church," said Pat, who is also a member of the Knights of Columbus.

The Hinrichsens pray regularly at home - prayers before meals and evening prayers. They also have made it a tradition to pray the rosary on longer roadtrips in the car.

"We pray it before for a good trip and pray it after as a way of saying thanks," said Renae.

The importance of faith has been instilled in their children.

"Shelby has really become a leader in a lot of the things she has done with youth group," said Renae. Shelby is involved in the parish youth group To Heaven's End as well as the interdenominational Teens Encounter Christ.

Pat said they always stress "that everything we have comes from God, so you have to give back."

Thomason agreed that parents must model good behavior.

"If I have a child and I skip Mass, then why would he go to Mass?" he questioned. "If I bad mouth the church at every turn, then he will bad mouth the church. But if we talk about the faith and faith is part of our common air - if the air we breathe in our home is Catholic then it will eventually be a part of children's lifestyles."

Daniel and Peggy Pohlen, parishioners at St. Anthony Church in Hospers, are the parents of one of the diocesan seminarians.

Like the Hinrichsens, the Pohlens nurtured the faith by going to Mass, prayer in the home and living good lives. At seasonal times - such as Lent -Daniel would read Scripture to the family and pray the rosary.

"When the kids were smaller, we tried to teach them to be sensitive and loving to others," said Peggy. "We tried to help those in need and support the church."

She said they also encouraged the children, who attended Spalding Catholic School, to look for opportunities to expand their spiritual experiences. For instance, Aaron, who is the seminarian, attended Steubenville youth conferences, took part in a service project in Mexico and participated in diocesan programming such as Camp CAYOCA and Search.

Peggy remembers that Aaron was in the third grade when he decided that he wanted to be a priest.

"I always said, 'If that is what God wants you to be, then it will happen.' I encouraged it, but didn't push it," she said.

Once the faith foundation is laid by the parents, structured classes in parish religious education program or Catholic schools can build from there.

"We, the church, should be the supplement to the parents," said Thomason. "If they are the primary, we are the secondary. The church's main role is to be the primary catechists of adults. We teach the parents and they teach the kids."

He said parents teach the basics and the church teaches the depth. He described it as the parents teaching the ABCs and the church teaching the grammar. For instance, parents teach such things as the seven sacraments and religious education classes teach the nature of sacrament.

"It becomes a nice division of labor - we, of course, working with the parents. There is nothing that we as church can do that the parents can't do themselves as far as education goes but it really has to be a cooperative effort," said Thomason.

Through reports and statistics he said the church knows and must acknowledge that most children do not know their faith. At the same time, the church also knows that parents who go to church and are informed about their faith have children who are better educated about their faith.

When parents take the role of primary catechist seriously, one positive side effect is that they learn more about their faith.

"Every catechist I've ever talked to - and myself included - say you learn more when you start teaching because you have to know it," said Thomason, who added that adult faith formation is essential to the church so that parents can convey faith knowledge to their children.