my poor CCD kids...

[Fides_et_Ratio]

So I received the book I'm supposed to use to teach CCD to 7th graders this upcoming year (starting in about a week...)...

[url="http://www.catholicculture.org/sites/site_view.cfm?recnum=2298"]http://www.catholicculture.org/sites/site_...cfm?recnum=2298[/url]

[quote]RATINGS  
[b]Fidelity: [/b][color=red]DANGER![/color]  [/quote]


[quote] WEAKNESSES  
· Undermines the Church's teaching on Baptism 

· Incorrect definition of the Church and Apostles Creed

· The Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Sick and the Dying are improperly presented. 

· The Mass is treated as a [i]meal [/i]rather than a sacrifice and Real Presence is not acknowledged. 

· [i]Confusion on the divinity of Christ [/i]and promotion of religious indifferentism

· Questionable section on Islam 

· Rev. Richard Fragomeni, whose specialties include [i]Tarot cards[/i], [i]New Age[/i], [i]seances[/i] and a particular fondness for Cardinal Mahony’s GFT Letter, is one of the authors of this series. [/quote]




Now I have to make my own curriculum and lesson plans.

[Era Might]

Their reviews are generally good, but they can be uptight sometimes. For example, they list as a Phatmass weakness "There are people in the forum who disagree with the Church and Her teachings." Give me a break. So there are actually non-Catholics here. Big deal.

Edited September 2, 2005 by Era Might

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Era Might' date='Sep 1 2005, 09:20 PM']Their reviews are generally good, but they can be uptight sometimes. For example, they list as a Phatmass weakness "There are people in the forum who disagree with the Church and Her teachings." Give me a break. So there are actually non-Catholics here. Big deal.
[right][snapback]708117[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

Yeah, they list ecatholic2000 as a yellow because it has an article on meditation and contemplative prayer using the spiritual fathers as guides because they (Catholic Culture) called it "Centering Prayer"...I know centering prayer, and that ain't it...

Notice that Catholic Culture has NO authentication for any level of authority in their judgments...it's an independent organization.

[qfnol31]

[quote]Further Information in Support of Example:
"Questionable links"

Here are a few examples:

    * Catholic Doors
    * American Catholic Online
    * Order of St. Benedict
    * Network
    * Roman Catholic Webring[/quote]
Looks fine to me.

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

i wouldn't use such a book

Edited September 2, 2005 by Extra ecclesiam nulla salus

[qfnol31]

[quote] Fidelity:  CAUTION    ||  Resources:  Good  ||  Useability:  Excellent
First Evaluated: 08/27/01 Last Updated: 04/06/05

DESCRIPTION 
e-Catholic 2000 is an online community of believers on the internet, who profess to be loyal to the Roman Catholic Church. Their mission is to build a sense of "community" on the internet by providing a warm friendly atmosphere for socializing, faith sharing and religious discussion as well as prayer. The site also provides resources on Catholicism as well as links to Catholic websites on the internet.

STRENGTHS 
·  Catholic Reflections/2000, a monthly online webzine (Resources)
Example(s)
·  Catholic Chat Rooms and Discussion (Resources)
·  Links (Resources)
·  A number of articles on Catholic topics (Resources)
·  A section on RCIA (Resources)

WEAKNESSES 
·  Questionable links (Fidelity)
Example(s)

CATEGORIES 
Catholicism[/quote]

They may not be to ya'lls standards, but I've not found issue with them, yet.

[Cam42]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' date='Sep 1 2005, 09:18 PM']So I received the book I'm supposed to use to teach CCD to 7th graders this upcoming year (starting in about a week...)...

[url="http://www.catholicculture.org/sites/site_view.cfm?recnum=2298"]http://www.catholicculture.org/sites/site_...cfm?recnum=2298[/url]


Now I have to make my own curriculum and lesson plans.
[right][snapback]708113[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]


Don't use it. Or if you are "required" to, only use those things which are faithful from the book and create your own curriculum.

[Fides_et_Ratio]

I dunno... somethings in the book I've read so far, sound a little "iffy"

I know CatholicCulture.org tends to be overzealous and critical in their judgments (but so am I!)... thus, we get along well. A lot of the book seems to dance around things rather than really address them.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

With regard to the book itself...if it really does have those things...yeah...that's sad.

[journeyman]

Sounds like the book appears "ambiguous" giving you plenty of opportunity for "clarification" . . . I would hope your class would appreciate clarity

are you the lead teacher? if there is another adult, make sure both of you are teaching the same thing, or the kids are going to tune out . . . can't have conflicting authority figures

[homeschoolmom]

Ah, but these are 7th graders. They [i]can[/i] be good thinkers. It's a blessing to them that YOU are their teacher, rather than some less-educated (but well-meaning) person who would just go by the book. You can really educate them by playing, "let's find the errors in this book"... At some point in their lives, they will read heretical stuff. But you have the golden opportunity to educate them with Truth while helping them spot heresy.

[Fides_et_Ratio]

I'm the only teacher... so I think I'll probably just make up my own lesson plans. Depending on how "permanent" my position is, they may not order books for the next year. The 8th grade teacher has his own lesson plans and doesn't use the book (thus, they don't order books for the 8th grade class).

[Fides_et_Ratio]

The book doesn't outright teach heresy... that's what's so frustrating. It's just so completely ambiguous about everything that in reality it teaches nothing.

I looked up the Eucharist and there actually is one sentence that says Jesus is "present under the consecrated hosts and wine"... but there are 3 paragraphs preceeding this comment that speak of Jesus' presence in the priest and in the people gathered at Mass. And while very true that Jesus is present in the person of the priest offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice and in the gathering of His Church... that is not what is meant by the "Real Presence". The true definition is given one sentence, while the rest (though true in other ways) are given some pretty extensive paragraphs.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Sep 1 2005, 09:44 PM']Ah, but these are 7th graders. They [i]can[/i] be good thinkers. It's a blessing to them that YOU are their teacher, rather than some less-educated (but well-meaning) person who would just go by the book. You can really educate them by playing, "let's find the errors in this book"... At some point in their lives, they will read heretical stuff. But you have the golden opportunity to educate them with Truth while helping them spot heresy.
[right][snapback]708157[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

I think that's a good idea, actually...

When did you learn to teach?!





:

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' date='Sep 1 2005, 09:49 PM']The book doesn't outright teach heresy... that's what's so frustrating. It's just so completely ambiguous about everything that in reality it teaches nothing.

I looked up the Eucharist and there actually is one sentence that says Jesus is "present under the consecrated hosts and wine"... but there are 3 paragraphs preceeding this comment that speak of Jesus' presence in the priest and in the people gathered at Mass. And while very true that Jesus is present in the person of the priest offering the Eucharistic Sacrifice and in the gathering of His Church... that is not what is meant by the "Real Presence". The true definition is given one sentence, while the rest (though true in other ways) are given some pretty extensive paragraphs.
[right][snapback]708166[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

If it doesn't say "under the appearance of" but just "under the consecrated hosts and wine," then it sounds like they're teaching consubstantiation. Perhaps it's grammatical hairsplitting, but things need to be more explicitly stated for the faithful than that.

[Extra ecclesiam nulla salus]

you should talk to whoever came up with the curriculum.

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

That is the book that they use in my parish for all the grade school kids! No wonder I didn't learn anything!

[RC_]

[quote name='Extra ecclesiam nulla salus' date='Sep 1 2005, 08:29 PM']i wouldn't use such a book
[right][snapback]708138[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

I would, and I wouldn't teach around the errors either. I would teach that the book contains bad theology, and point out and explain the errors.

[p-hawk]

The one year I taught seventh-grade religious ed I had a similar problem with my book. I ended up planning lessons around the topic, using the Catechism and Bible as our texts in class. Sometimes we'd whip the book out if the basic definitions were fine, and we'd use the basic outlines at the beginning of the chapter, but I avoided using the body of the text which had the emphasis problems that you described.

[p-hawk]

[quote name='RC_' date='Sep 2 2005, 05:57 AM']I would, and I wouldn't teach around the errors either.  I would teach that the book contains bad theology, and point out and explain the errors.
[right][snapback]708539[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

The only problem I might foresee with this tactic is that some kids might say "hey, that's what the book teaches. Do you know more than the book?" When I was teaching ccd I was also in seminary, so I didn't have that problem. But some might. It depends on the group of kids.