Brass Tacks ( rant#3: the return.)

Recently in the Catholic Herald we  have a prolifer of 40 years campaining experience complaining that the movement is losing ground. One of his many issues is the fact that he can not see any young blood taking up the challenge and becoming leaders of the movement.
   Some time back the rag that is the Irish Times ran a poll and 65% of 21-35 year olds thought that abortion should be legislated for in Ireland. This is the generation that went through our schools with the "Children of God" series as their basis for catechesis.
   My point is that the prolife movement is perhaps the most visible expression of Catholicism in modern society, it intrudes into the mainstream media (always portrayed negatively). So why are 65% in opposition to the Church and its teachings?
   Catechism, or lack thereof. If school children  in Catholic schools were properly catechised then we would not have 2 in every 3 young Irish people happy with murder. They would have been properly instructed as to the intrinsically evil nature of this act and how it can not be justified by appealing to some emotive story. Morality, its dimensions, its divine origins would have been explained to them. So if any of the Irish bishops complain about a society that does not promote life then they should look no further than themselves for the cause. They (the bishops) promoted the catechetical revolution that began in the 1970's, "Children of God" and "Alive-O" were approved by the bishops (but not sent to Rome for approval), they hired catechtical "experts" who wrote these manuals for religious instruction, the results are there to be seen. The attendance at Mass, fallen;  the number of cohabiting young Catholics, risen;  the list goes on and on.
   I am one of the lost generation who was catechised in the modern method, I can not tell you even one, not one solitary memory of religion class in primary school, secondary school I have one memory, a passage of scripture read out loud in the class and then discussed, but with no outcome, just dialogued about!!
    But then that is what the so called religious educators want, dialogue. Talked about, nice words, warm feelings , no substance. I remember attending one conference where one of the leading lights of religious education in Ireland addressed the gathering. This eminent cleric stated that his vision of "catholic" education was to have the children exposed to all the worlds' religions for years and then they would be truly "catholic" when they came out on the other side!!!!
  This guy is still employed by the bishops, him and his ilk, write the books, work on the commitees, speak at the conferences and most importantly have positions in the teacher training colleges where generations of teachers who will teach in Catholic schools are indoctrinated into this new age/secular/humanist hodge podge that passes for religious instruction these days.