Confirmation Woes

So it's the end of the year and I have several students who have 3 or more service opp's to finish. (They needed to do 4, 2 at each of the places I provided). We have two, one of each left. What to do?

I think a few of the students' parents are trying to make a political statement and that burns my bunions. Interestingly, none of said parents have ever called me or approached me on the subject, so to me, they are gutless.

What's really irritating is that they will probably all be confirmed anyway, which says to the next class-hey, you don't really need to do what the program is asking of you.

There are days when I'd love to go back to inner city work where the issues facing families were of real consequence, not "My child doesn't have to do it if I don't want them to" or "My child shouldn't have to do that if they don't want to". And the kicker "I have money-I'm a friend of Fr's".

My two goals in adding service to the Confirmation program the way that I did was:

Community: They work together to support one another doing service. For some it's easy and they can help the others. For some it's really hard and they can be supported and encouraged by those around them .

Serving God's People: Yeah, shelving books at the library or working at the kennel is dear, but I want them in contact with people. I want them to see Christ in others and be Christ as well. I want them to know that IT'S NOT ABOUT THEM. That sometimes our brothers and sisters around us are in need as we need to just step up to the plate and DO SOMETHING. And that often means asking for the grace of God to do just that.

But, no. "My kid as cheerleading during every event" "I don't like it so on principle I'm not letting my kid go". Unbelievable.