Page 249 - 聖母軍團員手冊（英文版，2014年5月-2022年1月更新版）

Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 244

244 SUGGESTIONS AS TO WORKS CHAPTER 37
(c) Teaching Christian Doctrine to children. This
supremely valuable work should be supplemented by the
visitation of the homes of the children whose attendance is
not satisfactory, or generally for the purpose of manifesting
personal interest in the children, and of getting in touch with
the other members of the families. Incidentally, the Legion
can serve the purpose of a local branch of the Confraternity
of Christian Doctrine. See appendix 8.
The following instance shows the efficacy of the application
of the Legion system to the Sunday Catechism classes in a
populous parish. Despite earnest efforts of the Priests,
including appeals from the pulpit, the average attendance of
children had fallen to fifty. At this stage a praesidium was
formed which added to the work of teach ing, the visitation of
the homes of the children. A year’s work was sufficient to
bring the average attendance at the classes to 600. And this
surprising figure does not take count of the spiritual benefits
conferred on innumerable careless relatives of the children.
In all works, the legionary watchword should be “How
would Mary view and treat these, her children?’’ In this work,
even more than in others, that thought should be vivid.
There is a natural tendency towards impatience with the
children. But a worse fault would lie in the imparting to the
instruction of a mere businesslike and secular tone, in such a
way that these classes would only be regarded by the children
as additional hours of school. If this comes to pass, nine-
tenths of the harvest will be left unreaped. So once again
consider: “How would the Mother of Jesus instruct those
children, in each one of whom she sees her own Beloved?”
In teaching the young, memorisation and audio-visual aids
play an important role. Special care is needed in selecting
catechetical material which fully conforms to the Church’s
teaching.
A partial indulgence is granted to the person who teaches
Christian doctrine also to the person who receives such
instruction (EI 20.)

(d) The non-Catholic or State school. The life of the child
who is not attending a Catholic school is one continual crisis,
and it may be hard to prevent it developing in later years into
one of the problems. Such measures of remedy as have been