Some Reflections on Religious Education (By Jack McGuane)

Religious education needs to improve. It is shocking to me that the religious education at my school is better than that of my church. At my high school, Choate Rosemary Hall, you are required to take one term of a religion or philosophy class to fulfill your diploma requirements. Most students take World Religions, a class that takes you through five units of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism, with other, smaller religions sprinkled in. Now, for my religious education, I have learned about strictly Catholicism for more than ten years, once a week for eight months of the year. I truly learned more about Catholicism in my World Religions class’ Christianity unit than I did in all of my time in my church’s catechism course. St. George’s Church provided a solid foundation for my religious journey, but once my classmates and I came of age to talk about dense topics, that was all we focused on. While learning about drugs, alcohol, human trafficking, self-care, and safety online is a crucial part of religious education, I learned practically nothing about Catholicism during the last few years of catechism. So, despite the knowledge I gained from my World Religion class’ Christianity unit, I explored Catholicism a lot on my own.

The oldest memory I have of my self exploration is back when I was just starting to take catechism classes. Over the course of a few years, I read the Children’s Bible, a two hundred page picture book, at least five times from start to finish. From then on, I found my love for Catholicism and I understood the importance of my journey with my faith. While I don’t read the Bible or go to church nearly as much as I should, I do use social media as a means for learning more about Catholicism. My “for you page” is filled with Bible verses and Catholic messages that I try my best to read patiently. I occasionally listen to Christian music as well, like that of Caleb Gordon, and I participate in Lent, which is apparently unpopular among the Catholic youth. I wear a cross around my neck, have a cross and rosary on my wall, and have my favorite Bible verse (Isaiah 41:10) in my Instagram biography. While some people think I’m just looking for attention with my public displays of Catholicism, I think that I am showing love to the God that I worship, and I am not denying my religion in the face of publicity, which is a sin according to the Bible. Plus, I love it when people ask about my public Catholic appearance. After all, I explored religion personally to learn about it for myself, but I am completely willing to share what I know with others as well. I am proud to help provide them with answers while also spreading the Gospel. I am only able to do that because of my personal exploration of religion, which I challenge you all to begin.