I have heard more stories about bad religious formation in Catholic Churches during the 70's, 80's and 90's than I can count. Before I was received into the Church, a Catholic tried to warn me about this situation; he did not have to do so. The overwhelming testimony from unrelated individuals made it perfectly clear: catechesis in those decades was a disaster. Numerous Catholics today are ignorant of large portions of their faith, and many of them that do know what the Church teaches openly express that they do not believe it. Every one of us knows that we need to learn our faith better, no matter how much we know currently, but this problem is much bigger than that.
Thankfully we can see that a good number of Catholics are seeking to remedy this problem. Some are working to develop better catechetical programs in their local parishes, and a good deal of parents are doing the same in their own homes. There are basically two ways that we can grow in our knowledge of the teachings of the Church and they are not morally equivalent. First, learning can be done the way Catholics have largely done it for 2000 years: in submission to the doctrines of the Church and under the guidance of the clergy that God has placed over them. Second, it can be done as protestants have done it for all 500 years of their splintering existence: in self-determined authority, distrusting any and all of the authorities over them.
Now, to be perfectly clear, I have never heard any Catholic come to me and say that he chose to "learn like a protestant", but I have met a number of Catholics who are doing so without realizing what they are doing. I truly believe that if most of them knew what they were doing that they would stop and seek to do things properly. This more protestant methodology has infected many more areas than you may think. It is largely what is taught in public schools and is the reason why there is so much rebellion seen there. If the most common place where Americans are educated takes on this self-focused manner of learning, it is bound to further taint the rest of society.
Here we arrive at the big issue: how you learn will determine how you grow. I know many people who went to public school and never really learned how to read a book. Yes, they know how to read, but they do not know how to dig deeper into a book than the mere surface subject matter. Thus, when they are adults they continue to struggle with how to learn because they were never really taught how to think and examine a subject properly. How you learn, determines how you grow.
In other words, the manner of education determines more than just "what" you learn, it also determines "how" you will think, and that determines much of your future growth. Many "cradle" Catholics were sent to public school for their education, and they learned a very anti-catholic method of learning. These same Catholics now are influencing much of the Church and perpetuating this error without realizing it even is an error. Furthermore, many of those who convert to Catholicism were not only sent to the public schools, but had this selfish methodology ingrained into them in their years as protestants (double whammy!).
Rarely are converts to the Church taught that they need to change their method of education. I try my best to get this point across in every RCIA catechesis class that I teach, but I know that it is not the norm. What I try to teach them is what is stated in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. St. Paul says there that there is a "wisdom" that is different than the world's wisdom. This wisdom can only be understood by those who have the help of the Holy Spirit of God. The very manner of thinking that the Church endorses will look "foolish" by those who have only the world's wisdom, and are ignorant of God's wisdom.
It should be obvious to the most casual observer that this is a crucial aspect of spiritual formation, and yet most people take their manner of thinking for granted. I know that I did for years. This is most especially the case for those who are spiritually immature. They believe that learning is nothing more than stuffing some facts into their heads, so they keep themselves on the throne of their personal knowledge, and everything they learn is done in this way. Because they are seeking to learn about our Lord, they presume that it is all good and holy; all the while unaware that they are opening themselves up for contention and quarrels whenever anyone disagrees with them (not Catholic practice at all).
This is a serious concern, and it is hard to overcome because few realize they are "learning wrong". Usually when you confront someone who is thinking as an independent non-catholic, they process what you have said as an independent non-catholic (the dilemma is obvious). Their very rejection of the truth is because they have brought their errant thinking with them when they converted and became Catholic. Let us each look deeply to see if we have fallen to this same error. In my next post, I will expand on this problem.
