Minister fields questions from third graders

TOM PINNEY/DAILY FORUM
Questions for Father Martin Father Martin De Meulenaere, minister at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church, answers questions from third grade students at St. Gregory’s. The questions ranged from asking about why De Meulenaere became a minister to asking about what life would be like had Adam and Eve not eaten from the forbidden tree.

Kids say the darnedest things … or in the case of the third grade class at St. Gregory’s School, kids ask the darnedest questions.

That’s why third grade teacher Jamie Casteel invited St. Gregory Catholic Church Priest Father Martin De Meulenaere to come to her class and participate in a question and answer session with the students.

Casteel said the visit from Father De Meulenaere was important to make sure she wasn’t giving incomplete or wrong answers, and she knew the minister would have the right answers.

Some of the questions from the third graders were just about what you’d expect them to be: how De Meulenaere became a minister, why they burn incense in the church, what do Jesus and God look like, etc.

However, some questions were a bit deeper: what would happen if Adam and Eve hadn’t introduced sin into the world, why did God plant the forbidden tree if it was forbidden, and what would life be like if God didn’t send Jesus to the cross, to name a few.

De Meulenaere said he was not expecting anything specific from the session.

“You never know what to expect when you field questions from children,” De Meulenaere said. “There could be land mines here and there, and there could be any number of types of questions from them.”

De Meulenaere didn’t shy away from any of the questions, however, because he believed it was their right to know the answers.

“If they have questions, they deserve some sort of response,” De Meulenaere said. “We’re all trying to figure out what this life is about, and if we just brush off questions from kids, we’re doing them a disservice.

“We’re all trying to figure out the answers and understand the world better. If kids have questions too, which they should, they deserve to know the answer.”

Having questions like those is all part of the human experience, De Meulenaere said.

“We all get to a point where we question whether our faith is that of our parents or our own,” De Meulenaere said. “So we ask questions about it, and we keep asking ourselves those questions.

“Sometimes people become critical and leave the faith, only to come back when tragedy strikes and we ask ourselves the same questions with a new perspective. Other times, people leave the faith and never really return.”

Because of that, De Meulenaere answered the questions that were asked of him during the session because he felt it necessary to do so.

“Who knows what will happen in a year’s time, or five?” De Meulenaere asked. “They experience growth and maturity at different times, just like everyone else.

“So the fact that they’re willing to talk to me and ask the questions they did meant that I needed to answer.”