Posts by Chris Edwards4

Sarah Hall53 said:Well, whether you believe it or not, or whether you know the truth or not... look, I'm just repeating what my cousin actually went through about ten or fifteen years ago.

Ten or fifteen years ago? People experience all sorts of things these days—in education and life in general—so I suppose we aren't really setting rules based on exceptions anymore, just trying to move past the bad stuff, maybe.
In our local schools, religious ed is basically just kids doing homework—mostly coloring, really—and everyone gets an A with almost zero effort. There’s no real discussion about whether they actually attend mass, let alone any connection between their grades and showing up for Holy Mass.
I'm not sure where we stand with the Church on this—whether a priest expects them to actually participate in school religion classes—though I assume he does, and it’s only natural to expect regular attendance at church. I don't know for certain, but it would seem reasonable to me that if my child wants sacraments, or if I want them to receive them, then I should also understand the need to attend religious education. In fact, it seems right that if we are pursuing the sacraments, we should actually want to learn more about it—and alongside the family, religious ed should be the best place for that, at least in theory.

Richard Perez3 said:Which case are we talking about?

I’m thinking for that one, assuming all this stuff actually holds up. The Joker has an ace up his sleeve.

😬

Yeah, I guess that’s mostly the issue—some people seem pretty unsure about their own faith, or lack thereof, regarding God. They’d rather dodge religious ed classes and the Church entirely, but they still want everything to feel "blessed" by the Church. Honestly, anyone claiming religious education doesn't belong in schools, or complaining that Priests demand too much consistency from families, could just take the easy way out and stop worrying about it—since it isn't mandatory... unless, of course, it actually matters to them.

☕

wanderingbadger44 said:Does your school only have two classes total? Because if we're looking at it logically, a single teacher could only cover one first period and one last period.

If there are more than just two classes, then I assume your school employs enough teachers to ensure every student gets their religious education during those specific slots? So, if there are 16 classes in the building, does that mean you actually have eight different religion teachers on staff?

Or, to put it simply, you're just being untruthful. ☕

It’s far too easy to throw around accusations of lying. Religion class isn't on every single day's schedule—not that everyone follows the same timetable—so classes don't even start or end at the same time for everyone. You also have to factor in that some schools run on split shifts... I guess I don't know the exact probability of this happening at any given school, nor how many classes actually take religion, but I know my own child. It might just be a coincidence—though, granted, her class hasn't had any issues with religion class both last year and this one.

Edit; though I have to admit, I don't really hear anyone complaining about religion classes at our local school—though who knows, maybe people are just venting about it on forums. Honestly, I don't see any real issue here for parents who'd rather their kids skip those classes. As for the ones who do attend, they aren't losing anything by being there, nor are they forced to step foot in a church unless they actually want their child to receive the sacraments. Otherwise, we don't even have formal religious instruction through the Church here; it’s more like a Sunday school program that only the interested kids join. There isn't much drama regarding Holy Mass, either, but if a parent—or the child—decides they want to move forward with the sacraments, then I suppose they should respect certain rules set by the Church or the Priest. I don't want anyone accusing me of lying, but I haven't encountered a Priest yet who tries to impose anything nonsensical. This idea being discussed here—about people refusing to recognize mass attended elsewhere—just seems incomprehensible to me. I suspect the issue lies with that specific Priest, but I'm willing to believe he's an outlier, and something like this could probably be settled with a simple conversation between the parents and the clergy. 🤔 It’s usually possible to reach an agreement with them—but if you actually want your kid to take religious education seriously or stay within the faith, I don't quite get why it's such a struggle. It shouldn't be a mystery that they need to learn the basics and show up for Holy Mass regularly, I guess.

Sam Kim12 said:We’re all on the same page here—no doubt about it.😉.
I don't exactly consider myself a Catholic—and that’s solely because, in my view, faith isn't something you can measure by how often you show up at Mass. Honestly, seeing the crowd of people who make it an obligation to sit in those pews every single Sunday just makes me feel a bit nauseated. To me, true prayer isn't a scheduled performance; I find myself praying when I actually feel the need—most often when I'm standing over my brother's grave.

I didn't sign the kids up for religious education classes—they insisted on doing it themselves, and frankly, if they had asked me, I would have been the first one to say no. But neither my husband nor I wanted to be the ones standing in the way of their own little desires. Besides, the kids don't exactly complain about going to Mass—it’s the extra classes that feel like a chore. They just end up sitting through unnecessary, tedious lessons that they'll eventually learn and forget anyway—though, I suppose there's always the occasional old man showing up with cookies to make it slightly more tolerable. 😬)
It isn’t the faith itself—nor is it the core theology that bears the blame—but rather the people tasked with presenting it. I am talking about the clergy, the religious educators, and even those responsible for drafting the textbooks. They are the ones who distort the message.

Maybe I’m misreading the room, but from where I’m sitting—and I’ve been watching this play out in my local school district for a while now—it seems like everyone is losing their minds over the scheduling of religious studies. It’s an elective, plain and simple. Yet, for some reason, it constantly gets jammed right into the middle of the school day. Meanwhile, look at how they handle a second foreign language—also an elective, mind you—which usually gets tucked away in the first period or shoved to the very end of the day, or even moved to a different shift entirely once the kids hit high school. At least in my district, there's some semblance of logic applied to the languages, but the religious education classes seem to be treated like a mandatory centerpiece of the schedule.😉

Well, you might be looking at it wrong; in my district, religious studies is either the very first thing in the morning or the last thing before dismissal, and most kids just go along with it. Still, some parents find something to gripe about—whether it's the textbooks or the fact that religious studies is even offered at school. I heard one mom say she didn't want her kid singled out from the group—like, if everyone else is going, her kid should go too. Honestly, it's hard to wrap my head around the logic regarding these classes... there's always some reason why certain kids are "forced" to attend, even when parents claim they don't agree with any of it. Meanwhile, nobody bats an eye if half the kids go to soccer practice and the others sign up for different extracurriculars 🤔🤔

I mean, what can I say—I didn't end up buying them. Not because I changed my mind, but they were just nowhere to be found. I only spotted them sitting in a fridge somewhere, though it seems plenty of people have already decided to give them a shot... which doesn't necessarily mean they're actually good or healthy, I guess. ☕

Morgan Martin7 said:But why would anyone actually buy them? Just because the commercial claims they're healthy? Right... especially when you end up deep-frying them in a sea of oil—you'll be practically glowing with health after eating those pops. (Sorry if I'm being harsh about something you were thinking of buying; I just can't get past the marketing)

No need to apologize... anyway, I actually spotted them at the store today.😉

Apologies if I'm off-topic here... but since they're being advertised everywhere, does anyone actually know where to find them? I've checked both Walmart and Target—nothing but empty shelves where the Crispy Pops should be.🤷