There’s the rub. In some churches, Sunday school is more of a holding tank than an process of Christian formation. Just keep the little nippers entertained, teach them how to spout Christian jargon, and maybe put on a performance for the adults a few times a year. Some other mainline congregations were more concerned with making faith "relevant and meaningful" to their youth, which usually involved stripping it of all meaning and relevance into a creed of simply being "nice" – the same process that was slowly stripping meaning and relevance from the faith of the adults as well. And lots of congregations were full of well meaning people who didn’t have a clue of what they were up against, or simply didn’t know how to present the truth claims of Christianity in the face of a hostile world. We will be reaping this harvest for generations.

Justine, teaching CCD, is kicking things up a notch for one lucky class. I was somewhat woefully unprepared at the end of my CCD program for the very reason, I think, that TWA is discussing here. Basically, my parents didn't have great formation, and I'm not terribly convinced their parents had great formation. A little here, a little there, the loss of a Christian society, and it's hell in a handbasket. Handbasket not included.

I'm still trying to clean up my life to some minimum level of standards. Though it may be somewhat Pelagian to imagine that there's some level to clean up to. Thoughts?