CCD Classes Every Year???

By Father Stephen Vaccaro

 Luke 18:16 – But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

What does every parent want for their child?  That they are able to have all that they need to be happy, healthy, and successful in life.  In fact, one could say that this is the awesomely exciting and centrally important “job” of a parent.  Our Catholic faith reemphasizes this when it teaches that each child is entrusted to his or her parents by God as wonderful gift and that the parents are to help this child to live a truly fulfilled life.  Especially through education, parents seek to form their children into good people by providing them with the knowledge that they will need to live life well.  But, often times, while parents emphasize the need for general academic and social education, these same parents can forget that their children, in order to be fully prepared to live the Christian life, need to have constant education in the Catholic Faith.

Now, sometimes this religious instruction is viewed as an unnecessary burden.  But, instruction in the Faith is never a burden, nor is it simply about learning lists of religious factoids.  When a child comes to religious education, they learn about the God Who created them, the God Who loves them, the God who will accompany them and support them throughout their lives.  More importantly, children who are in religious education MEET and ENCOUNTER this same God in a personal way.  Simply attending religious instruction when convenient or when it seems important does a great disservice to the relationship of the child with God.  Just like it is important for a parent to allow a child to be with a friend on a regular and consistent basis so as to foster a truly loving and fruitful friendship, so, too, a parent should make sure that their child “gets to know” Jesus Christ through religious education on a regular basis, consistently over several years, which allows the relationship to grow over time.  In so doing, parents will be giving their children the greatest gift in the universe: the opportunity to know Christ, their Savior.  So, parents, knowing His deep love for you, hear the words of Jesus and let your children go unto Him, and watch as miracles happen!