Sacramental Season and Herding Cats

I got my dream job in 2017.

Okay, it was my second dream job.  My first was in law enforcement (non-sworn, so I did not have to carry a gun) and it prepared me well for my second dream job which is the one I have now.

I am the Coordinator of Children's Catechesis for a large Catholic Parish in California.

The boss is great, the atmosphere is holy and the mission is clear: evangelize our children and make sure they can weather the slings and arrows of a rapidly disintegrating society.  A society that will tell them to their faces that everything Holy Mother Church has taught them is a lie, that only stupid people believe in God and that being Catholic is not really different from being a Methodist. We are fighting an uphill battle but, I do believe, we are winning.  However, I have a lot of work to do during the year.

Simple enough.  After all, I am a lifetime Catholic (a re-vert of over 20 years) with training in Catechetical Instruction from Franciscan University of Steubenville.  I am a Third Order Dominican (following in the footsteps of St. Catherine of Siena, by golly).  I was a Rhetoric major at Berkeley (St. Augustine is a Rhetorician) and am full on in love with the Angelic Doctor himself, St. Thomas Aquinas.

What could go wrong?

We are entering into what I have named Sacramental Season.  Now, technically there is no Sacramental Season but any person who works in either a full on Catholic School or, like me, for the Parish School of Religion (think CCD for us old-timers) knows full well that starting in February the anxiety level of every parent begins to rise.

Why?

Because everything from First Reconciliation (confession), First Holy Communion, Confirmation and Easter Vigil is suddenly on the horizon.  Every piece of paper we have been giving them since SEPTEMBER with instructions, requirements, helpful hints and deadlines suddenly have meaning.  This translates as the phone in my office ringing off the hook, my email box being full and my personal phone pinging in the middle of the night with text messages from parents who suddenly recognize they should have been paying more attention all along.

Now look - I am not bashing the parents.  They have a HUGE amount of stuff on their plate.  Catholics love children and even though the average size has shrunk overall, in my parish a 'small family' is at least 3 kids and 2 parents, plus two sets of grandparents and a dog.  Usually, in order to make rent in California, both parents are working and Grandma and Grandpa are the Uber drivers.  The kids have to be involved in stuff so they do not spend all their days glued to a electronic device.  They are dancing, singing, swinging a bat at a ball or kicking one around a field.  They are cheering, tumbling, and involved in the Chess Club.  Once a week someone remembers to bring them to us for Catechetical Instruction and then they practice prayers with them and go to Mass with them (we hope) all the while trying to raise children who are gang and drug free.  At the very least they want to make sure their child is not bullied or, worse, the bully in the classroom.  This is all done in a framework of Catholic Media that basically tells a lot of parents that if two of them are working they are bad, if they are not reciting the Rosary twice a day (in Latin) they are bad, and if they are not registered Republicans they are bad.   The pressure is enormous - and it doesn't help when your parish is full of wonderful families with 12 children, all beautifully behaved at Mass that can make someone like ME feel inadequate when I stumble in five minutes before the priest walks down the aisle without make up on.   I mean, come on you guys.....stop making it look so easy.

That being said, we require things of our parents at the parish.  These requirements are not designed to punish; rather they are designed to help them fulfill their primary purpose - to be the First Catechists for the child.  We ask them to stretch themselves, to challenge themselves, to look at themselves squarely in the mirror and ask the question, "Am I trusting Jesus enough in my life or am I doing the bare minimum?".  My experience is becoming that parents respond to the challenge with grace and dignity and often surprise themselves when they realize they are pretty darn capable of being the Stewards of their children's Catechetical Instruction.

A lot of my parents don't think they know enough to instruct their children.  When I can give them resources to do just that, their confidence level shoots to the top.  They are shocked that they can do stuff.  Some of them end up in my office asking to help the next year in the school.  They can do it.  They just need to have someone cheering for them for a change instead of always being the cheerleader for their families.

I actually get a kick out of the phone calls.  The questions are hilarious.  I can sometimes get the caller to start giggling and relieve some of the tension.  Yes, we are serious when we say ten hours of Adult Faith Formation if your kid is receiving a Sacrament and no, the Knights of Columbus Crab Feed does not count.  Yes, your kids need to go to confession BEFORE they receive their First Holy Communion - going afterwards won't help much if what you are hoping to do is present a clean heart and mind to Our Lord that morning.  No, the boys cannot wear jeans and a Metallica tee shirt.  Please, if you are Madrina, wear a dress that covers your boobs.

All in all, Sacramental Season is full of stress, laughter, beauty and gauzy fabric for aisle decorations.  I get to work with some of the most amazing people.   The Church that Jesus founded is served with determination and a clear goal in mind - to get those kids Baptized/Forgiven/Receiving Our Lord with an eye towards a firm hope and foundation in Truth.

Keep us in prayer....we are gonna need them.