was this priest rude--not starting a religious debate just thoughts

[QueenIsabella]

Only question I have is, what is the structure of the Church? My limited experience with the Catholic church is that the Priest is the big boss, and the membership, and those who volunteer to run various church programs report to the Priest and abide by .his decisions. In that frame work, the Priest's response might be a little terse but within his job description.
Other churches, the Pastor works for the congregation under control of a group of volunteers (known as the Session in some churches). The Session tells the Pastor how things will be run. They have power to hire and fire the Pastor. In that frameworks, if I am reading the OP's post, the Priest is declining to do what his church's religious education leader needs him to do. That would be out of line

Yeah, this isn't how it works in the Catholic church. The priest is in charge. He reports to the bishop.

In this case, I'm mostly concerned because the religion education leader, per the OP, doesn't know what "rites" are. These are also called sacraments, and are a BIG DEAL to Catholics. Baptism is done in infancy usually, but First Confession/First Communion have specific preparation. Confirmation is the big one--typically done ~ age 13. This is when young people commit to the church. here is definitely a preparation period--I specifically remember that the bishop came to visit our confirmation class, and our teachers made sure we were ready, should he quiz us. The religious education leader would be the one spearheading these teachings. But, in this case, he can't tell "rights" from "rites". That's not a good look. Even if it was auto-correct (happens!), he should have recognized the error and face-palmed--or at least, laughed along with the priest at the mistake.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Yeah, this isn't how it works in the Catholic church. The priest is in charge. He reports to the bishop.

In this case, I'm mostly concerned because the religion education leader, per the OP, doesn't know what "rites" are. These are also called sacraments, and are a BIG DEAL to Catholics. Baptism is done in infancy usually, but First Confession/First Communion have specific preparation. Confirmation is the big one--typically done ~ age 13. This is when young people commit to the church. here is definitely a preparation period--I specifically remember that the bishop came to visit our confirmation class, and our teachers made sure we were ready, should he quiz us. The religious education leader would be the one spearheading these teachings. But, in this case, he can't tell "rights" from "rites". That's not a good look. Even if it was auto-correct (happens!), he should have recognized the error and face-palmed--or at least, laughed along with the priest at the mistake.

Agreed. It's concerning that the RE teacher is calling the sacraments "rights".