Of all the misapprehensions under which the Church labours when it comes to catechesis, the most egregious is the notion that children somehow get more out of a sacramental preparation programme if their parents are present. Wrong.

On the way to my son’s first session in his parish Confirmation programme, he told me: “I don’t want you to talk, I don’t want you to sing, I don’t want you to say what you think and I don’t want you to make eye contact. Apart from that you can do what you like.”

Which turned out to be fine because the nature of the session was such as to inhibit any desire on my part to get involved. It revolved mostly around the screening of the first episode of the Alpha Youth Series. It features a couple of fresh-faced Americans called Ben and Jason who want to share with us what they feel about God. Except the download of the episode didn’t work, and we spent most of the session looking at Ben and Jason on a screen with a circle going round and round in front of them. Which interrupted their icebreaker question: “If you could do anything you liked for 24 hours, money no object, what would it be?” We were given five minutes to think about it.