1) Sometimes the catechist can feel discouraged by how distracted the kids seem to be during this time of year.  Keep up the great work and remember God still wants to use you to share the Gospel with your students.  You may be the only one they are hearing the “Good News” from in their lives.

2) Find the opportunities to share your words of wisdom and for your students to see that you love Christ and desire for them to also grow in their relationship with Him.

3) Continue to pray for your students and let them know that you will be keeping them in prayer.  Consider writing each student a note of encouragement that you give out on the last day of class.

What are you planning to help encourage and inspire your students as the year concludes?

“How is the heart ever going to know what is good if we don’t use our mind to inform the heart? Don’t let anyone say to you, ‘don’t worry about all that study, all you need is to get your heart united to Christ’. Yes, we need our hearts plunged in Christ… be led by Christ but let your mind be led by Christ through the Church so that your heart can follow what is actually good, and not just what is an awful lot of opinions of what must be good… The Catechism is there to help us.”

I often speak of formation in Christ (not merely information) needing to be at the heart of catechesis.  However, I could not agree more with the importance of assuring that in our catechesis in the Third Millennium needs to incorporate both the heart and the mind when passing on the deposit of faith.

Too often today people struggle to have their hearts follow what is actually good. At the risk of sounding judgemental, it appears that individuals allow the messages and ideas given by society to shape their understanding of life, liberty and even in the pursuit of Jesus.  Teaching the truths of the faith, especially the deposit of faith articulated in the Catechism, will help others see how these truths that are Godly and that are point to the good (which is from God).  Too often our society desires to revise what is good or form ones idea of God based on a more modern application of what is seen as good (because they believe that “they see it more clearly” then what the Bible says or what the Church would say).

The Catechism is such a gift to help us see the beauty and the unity of the faith articulated and drawing the reader toward the ture and ultimate good – God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

What do you think about Dr. Farey’s quote? I’d enjoy your insights and thoughts.

1) Share with them that they will be missed if they to not attend.

2) Communicate what God does every week at Mass (sharing His Word and His Body and Blood).

3) Discuss how faithfulness to the Commandments and the Precepts of the Church draw us closer to God.

4) Share the impact of the Mass in your life.

5) Pray for parents and kids to have the grace to respond to God’s love by coming to praise and honor Him each Sunday.

Here are few questions that I wish I had more clear answers to:

1. Why is it that parents put other things consistently before faith formation?

2. Why is it a challenge to get kids to make up the work they missed when not attending class?

3. What can be done about helping parents see that when all is said and done about raising their child (ok, it’s never all said and done) will there be faith? And did you as a parent help your child come to know and love Christ to the best of your ability (and that is going beyond merely bringing you child to religious education classes).

Parents and kids alike are over-scheduled, but they find the time to fit two or three sports in at a time, what is it about faith formation that does compel them to make it a priority?

Any insights?  Please take a few moments to comment.

1) Just as the people were spreading their cloaks on the road of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, we need to spread our hearts on the ground for Jesus’ will and ways to be done.  In my life it is easy to be prideful, want to be a little territorial, desire justice because of “my” rights, but that is not the way of Christ.

2) In Sundays Gospel Reading (the 2nd one) Jesus asks the chief priests and temple guards:“Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? Day after day I was with you in the temple area, and you did not seize me; but this is your hour, the time for the power of darkness.”  Things haven’t changed much have they?  Many of the things going on today apply.  Society’s “hour” has come, “the time for the power of darkness” – all in the name of justice, equality, freedom and love.

3) Until this week after reading the Gospel for Monday of Holy Week – The healing of Lazarus, I had never remembered that the Jewish leaders also wanted to kill Lazarus because of his testimony of the miracle performed by Jesus and how it was drawing Jews to follow Christ.  Here is the text from Jn. 12:

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.

Lazarus gave testimony to the power of God in Christ Jesus and the chief priest were so outraged that they wanted to kill both Jesus and Lazarus.  The power of darkness can be great.  We as followers of Christ need to pray to respond with the power of the light – Christ, the light of the world.

Blessings to you, your family this holy week!

Today, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Pope Francis was inaugurated as the 265 Pope to continue the same mission that Christ gave St. Peter.  Pope Francis has made a huge impression on the world in just a week.  Although, I think all of his gestures and witness are not opposite of Pope Benedict who is a wonderful humble and holy man.  The media is making it look like this Pope is so different than Pope Benedict.  Yes, all are different/unique, but each Pope brings with him rays of the spirit of Christ and seeks to shine it to the world.

Why all the buzz about Pope Francis?  It has been wonderful to see the secular media so interested in what is going on with the Church over the last month.  Pope Francis I’s humility, frequent mention of the poor, his message of carrying one’s cross as a disciple of the Lord and much more all have contributed to the great attention and affection toward the Pope from all around the world.

What is His Secret?

His secret is Christ and it has clearly “gotten out”.  What a gift the Church is experiencing at this moment.  It’s the New Evangelization before our eyes.  Thanks be to God for all the blessings that we are encountering in this Year of Faith!!!

Catechetical Moments

Pope Francis is witnessing more by his actions than even by his inspiring words regarding Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church.  What can we take away from this and convey to others (inside and outside our classrooms)?  I want to share 3 things:

1. We should encourage a greater simplicity in our own lives.  Pope Francis I is not choosing the modern convenience that he has the privilege to experience but he is modeling simplicity.  We should reflect on this in our own lives as well as encourage our students to reflect on being more simple and less focused on material things or personal recognition.

2. I think the message Pope Francis gave to the Cardinals the day after his election speaks also to each of us who are disciples of the Lord Jesus.  He said:

“When we walk without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we proclaim Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly.”

He added, “We may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, all of this, but we are not disciples of the Lord.”

This message is worth our consideration as well.  We who are members of Christ Body through Baptism and have been made new creatures in Christ must not walk the way of the world (although we live in the world) but we must be first disciples of the Lord which implies that we all have crosses to carry and sacrifices we can make to more fully be, as St. Paul said, “conformed to his death” (Phil.3:10).  It’s important to share this message that following Jesus involves enduring challenges and making sacrifices.

3. Pope Francis said: “Oh, how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor.”  I’m not exactly sure what he was thinking when we said he “would like a poor Church”, but suspect among other thoughts it’s a Church that approaches the Lord in a spirit of poverty not with pride or arrogance of “rights” deserving this or that.  This goes for bishops, priests, Deacons, and the laity.  All are to come with a spirit of poverty.  Also, the constant mention of the poor in our world that we need to serve and to help.  This means giving greater focus in our classrooms to how we can fulfill our mission to take care of the poor, to assist them, to be a source of support for them.  Operation Rice Bowl, Serving at a homeless shelter, giving up some of our clothes (those that are not worn but in good condition) to help those less fortunate have a nice shirt, coat or pair of shoes for themselves.  These are examples of things we could promote in our classrooms.

Pope Francis has certainly made a great impression on us all and he is a living witness of Christ.  Let us continue to pray for Him and for the Church!

I want to share the following comments that Basalian Fr. Rosica made the day after Pope Francis’ election.

And I close my eyes, and we shouldn’t make comparisons right away, but I couldn’t help but feel the presence of John XXIII, the smile of John Paul I, that courage and firmness of John Paul II and the solid-rootedness in Jesus Christ of Benedict XVI.

So what I found last night, and I thought about a long time when I finally got home at three o’clock this morning, is that the story continues: we have a pope and we have a shepherd and he’s going to build it on a solid foundation.

1. Christocentric catechesis: “Christocentricity in catechesis also means the intention to transmit not one’s own teaching or that of some other master, but the teaching of Jesus Christ … the Truth that he is” (n.6).

2. Catechesis must be systematic: Pope John Paul drew attention to the “… absolute need for a systematic catechesis … not improvised but programmed to reach a precise goal; it must deal with essentials” (n.21 ).

3. The integrity of content: The Pope asserts the “… right (of the person being catechised) to receive the ‘word of faith’ not in a mutilated, falsified form but whole and entire … there is no valid pretext for refusing him any part whatever of that knowledge” (n.30).

4. Orthodoxy versus orthopraxis: “It is useless to play off orthopraxis (right actions) against orthodoxy (right beliefs): Christianity is inseparably both.” The Pope attacks the “either or” argument, that the doctrinal formation of children will in some way be done at the expense of teaching them to lead good lives: “firm and well-thought-out convictions lead to courageous and upright action” (n.22).

5. Life experience: “It is also quite useless to campaign for the abandonment of serious and orderly study of the message of Christ in the name of a message concentrating on life experience. No one can arrive at the whole truth on the basis solely of some simple private experience” (n.22).

6. Methodology – memorisation: Whilst acknowledging that memorisation can lead to, “reducing all knowledge to formulas that are repeated without being properly understood”, the Holy Father regrets the, “definitive suppression of memorisation in catechesis.” He asks, “Should we not attempt to put this faculty back into use in an intelligent and even an original way in catechesis … We must be realists. The blossoms, if we may call them that, of faith and piety do not grow in the desert places of a memory-less catechesis” (n.55).

What is your feedback on these 6 themes?  Do you find each of these to continue to be vital for catechesis in the Third Millennium?

“They do not move arbitrarily, they do not claim any discretional jurisdiction over rites. They are not masters but custodians of the treasure that was instituted by the Lord and entrusted to us. The entire Church is present in each liturgical act, and adhering to its form is a condition for the authenticity of the celebration.”

The “reformers” he is speaking of are all the bishops, priests and liturgists who will be implementing the new translation of the Roman Missal.  I think the Pope’s message also applies to the work of catechesis when passing on the Deposit of Faith.  We cannot teach personal opinions or only the truths that “we think” are more relevant.  There is a temptation to side-step the more challenging teachings of the Gospel and the Church. The Lord has entrusted to His Church the full Deposit of Faith and we, in the ministry of catechesis, must never see ourselves as the “masters but custodians of the treasure(s) that was instituted by the Lord and entrusted to us.”

3 Ways we can do this in our Religious Education Programs:

1) Make sure and talk to your DRE about what are the fundamental truths of the Faith, e.g., Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Paschal Mystery, the Sacraments, the doctrine of sin, etc.

2) Be faithful to the teachings of Christ and His Church in your own life. As we allow comfort or lukewarmness to infect our own Faith lives, it becomes contagious and spreads to the programs we lead and the teachings we pass on.  The teachings of the Church are life-giving and inspire one to go deeper and grow in a relationship with God.

3.    Be sure to find small teachable moments to pass on to the parents as well.  It is becoming increasingly more challenging to encourage parents to attend any presentations about the faith.  Look to newsletters, emails, and small assignments in which students and parents can work together, so that parents can deepen their understanding of the blessings and joy of knowing the teachings of the Church and desire more fervently to live them in their lives.

Come Holy Spirit!

1-6 grade – electing a pope

Lesson about Pope Benedict XVI and Electing A New Pope (Middle School)

I also have an outline for more of a youth ministry setting.  Please let me know if you would like a copy of that.

Let us pray for our Pope Emeritus as he begins his life of prayer and for the Cardinals as they choose a new successor of St. Peter.

This book is short and packed with great ideas.  It will encourage DRE and catechists to lead their students closer to Christ through not only informing them but helping them be drawn into an encounter with the living God and long for more.

Joe spends most of the book giving examples and illustrating the method used in the Loyola Press textbook series “Finding God”.  I’m a big advocate of a clear and simple method to help catechists pass on the teachings of Christ and His Church as well as leading students to respond through practical application.   This book gives clear ideas from how to reinforce the “big idea” of the lesson to what to do when praying with your students so they will be led into a deeper encounter with God.

A few quotes from the book that I highlighted:

“Teaching the Catholic faith is so much more than passing along information.  As they [your students] enter more deeply into the catechetical experience, they realize that they are encountering a mystery.”

“We catechists are not teachers of a subject.  We are facilitators of an encounter – an encounter with a living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

When speaking of greeting your students when they arrive and having them sign themselves with Holy Water he says: “…it will also put them in touch with a welcoming human face, one of the most powerful expressions of God’s presence.”

He talks about various ways to use the textbook and then he make the point: “The bottom line, though, is that a more active and less passive reading experience will reinforce an important idea in the minds of your participants: God deserves – and inspires- our energy and enthusiasm.

This is a great resource that I happily recommend to all DRE’s and catechists.

Lent is the perfect catechetical season.  A catechist as well as a parent can find a plethora of ideas about how to practice and live out Lent.  I would like to share ideas in 3 categories (be aware that some ideas will overlap): Family Ideas, Classroom Ideas and Personal Ideas.  I hope the following links will help assist you as a parent or a catechist in assisting your students to grow closer to Christ this Lent.

Family Ideas:

Prayer

~ Pray the Rosary and/or Divine Mercy Chaplet regularly as a family – on the way to/from school, or right after dinner.

~ Read the Bible/pray with your kids before bedtime during Lent.

~ Pray the Station of the Cross at 7pm each Friday at Ascension or at home: http://catholicicing.com/2011/03/printable-stations-of-cross-for/

Fasting

Almsgiving

~Sign up for Holy Hero’s daily Lenten email: http://www.holyheroes.com/Holy-Heroes-Lenten-Adventure-s/37.htm

~ Lenten Calendar: http://catholicicing.com/2011/02/printable-lenten-calendar-for-kids/

~ Give money as a family to the poor: Operation Rice Bowl.

~ Spend more time with family.

~ Be positive (maybe charge .25 cents for every negative comment at home and then give the money to a charity).

~ Family Chart:  http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1018 

~ Lenten Sacrifice Beans: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=295

Classroom Ideas

~ Prayer Service: http://www.rtjscreativecatechist.com/articles/activities/seasonal/2012/02-28/lenten-prayer-service

~Puppet Show Scripts: http://catholicmom.com/kids/puppet-ministry/

~ Ideas from Our Sunday Visitor: https://www.osvparish.com/ResourceLibrary/FaithatHome/TeachingCatholicKids.aspx

~ Some Lenten Lesson Plans: http://www.catholicmom.com/2007_lesson_plans/Lent.pdf

~ Stations of the Cross Bingo: http://www.catholicmom.com/2007_lesson_plans/stations_bingo.pdf

~ Lent Lapbooks: http://catholicblogger1.blogspot.com/2010/02/lent-lapbooks.html

~ Printable Lenten Calendar: http://catholicicing.com/2011/02/printable-lenten-calendar-for-kids/

~ NOW Cross: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=1019

Personal Ideas:

~ 7 Great Book Recommendations: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2013/02/06/deeper-in-prayer-during-lent

~ Take time to pray at lunchtime instead of going out with friends or surfing the internet.
~ Read a Psalm each day during Lent.
~ At 3:00pm each day pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet or take a moment to pause in prayer remember the hour that Christ died.
~ Pray the Seven Penitential Psalms – maybe one each day of the week throughout Lent (Psalm 6, 31, 50, 101, 129 and 142).

~ Go out of your way to do one kind deed each day.

~ Do things for people each week without them knowing.

~ Be positive and reflect joy during Lent.

“Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.”

It has been almost 600 years (1415) since a Pope has resigned from the Papacy.  I would like to share a few thoughts about todays announcement:

1) Pope Benedict’s humility is evident in this announcements and he realizes the great significance of his decision.

2) I find his letter filled with courage being in on the heals of Blessed John Paul II who with great suffering and courage himself persevered.  But I wonder if he saw things we didn’t see about the effects of a pope who could not perform the tasks that were necessary of the Office of Peter.  I admire Him for his courage and what I’d call “leadership” to do what he thought best for Christ’s Church.

3) The conclusion was most touching as he spoke of entrusting “the Holy Church to the care of the Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary…”

4) Let us together seek the guidance, strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit as the college of Cardinals discern who is to lead Christ’s Church on earth next.  Since Lent is just a couple of days away, let us seek to make small sacrifices for the sake of the Cardinals who will prayerfully choose with God’s help the next vicar of Christ.

We are in an exciting time in the life of the Church.  The ministry of Catechesis over the last 40 years has born much fruit.  Something however that I find a little troubling is that sometimes the 4 dimensions of the Christian life are not seen as an integrated whole or an organic unity in regards to the faith, but more as “individual” components or dimensions.

What are the 4 Dimensions?

St. Luke speaks about them in the Acts of the Apostles 2:42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to the communal life, to the breaking of the break and prayers.”  These 4 dimensions have constantly been rooted in the teaching and practice of the Christian Life.  The General Directory for Catechesis paragraph 122 speaks of them this way: 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is structured around four fundamental dimensions of the Christian life: the profession of faith; the celebration of the liturgy; the morality of the Gospel; and prayer. These four dimensions spring from a single source, the Christian mystery. This is:

– the object of the faith (Part One);

– celebrated and communicated in liturgical actions (Part Two);

– present to enlighten and sustain the children of God in their actions (Part Three);

– the basis of our prayer, whose supreme expression is the Our Father, and the object of our supplication, praise and intercession (Part Four); (425)

Integrating the 4 Dimensions into your Catechetical Setting

The presentation of the faith is meant to be seen as a unified whole.  Catechesis to adults and children can accomplish this with some thought to being intentional in integrating these 4 dimensions in your catechetical settings.  Take for example the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Specifically, it is from the 2nd dimension (the Celebration of the Christian Mysteries), but all four dimensions should be integrated into this lesson.  Here is an brief example of how the 4 dimensions should be included in ones catechesis on the subject:

~ Open in prayer using appropriate Scripture’s regarding God’s forgiveness and mercy.  Also, praying the Our Father or taking a moment to reflect and praying the Confeitor could be a good way to begin.  (This incorporates the 4th dimension)

~ Proclaiming God’s call to repentance and His Gift of mercy.  Then explaining what Christ and His Church have continually taught about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  (The 1st & 2nd dimensions are covered)

~ Helping the hearers to respond to what has been proclaimed and explained through discussion, reflection, examination of conscience and/or an activity.  (The  3rd and possibly the 4th dimension)

~ Concluding by encouraging and challenging the hearers to live out what they have heard and encountered.  Also, offering up through prayer and thanksgiving that which they have experienced. (each of the 4 dimensions are referred to)

Our Faith is a Symphony

The example above shows how when we catechize we can help others see that our faith as unified and whole not merely a lot of parts that somehow fit together or related to God.  A Symphony has 4 parts but it is a unified whole.  The 4 fundamental dimensions of the Christian Life are to be seen as a “Symphony of Faith” (Fidei Depositum).  Blessed John Paul II goes on to say in the previous mentioned Apostolic Exhortation that the Catechism of the Catholic Church provides for the Church a great exposition of the faith “showing carefully the content and wondrous harmony of the Catholic faith.”

It is therefore essential to catechize with the goal of bringing about an awareness of the faith being an organic unity which expresses the faith as a whole rather than mere parts.  One of the authors of Catechetical Foundations stated this well when saying:

The Organic Unity of the Faith is a principle that ensures that whatever aspect of the Faith is being presented by a catechist, that it is taught in relationship to the entire Deposit of Faith. In other words each article of faith is always seen within the organic whole in which it exists. No truth of the faith is an island. Lastly, the entire organic unity of the faith is Christocentric. Regardless of what is being taught (the Old Covenant, the Fall, Redemption, The Mass and Sacraments, the Church, etc.) everything finds its source and meaning in the Person of Christ.

Keep these 4 Dimensions in mind always as you catechize.  Doing so will ensure that the faith is seen in all it’s beauty and wonder as coming to know, love and serve God who has revealed Himself to us and seeks to unit Himself more fully “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13); and “so that He may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28).

Consider the following:

1. Resolve to daily pray for the students in your class and/or in your program.

2. Find ways to improve what you began at the beginning of the year (that could be fostering fellowship among the catechists, helping your students encounter different ways to pray, it could be collaborating more with fellow catechists, or maybe it’s making sure you take that time to prepare well for each class.

3. Resolve to cultivate your class/group of students/adults.  The more others know that you care and want to do your best to meet their needs the more they will feel a part of a faith filled parish community.

4. Take a few moments and recommit to what you began in August/September.  Being a catechist is more than a volunteer position, it is an apostolate where one is called to authentically pass on the Catholic Faith.  What a gift and a responsibility that God has called you to.  Make the second half of the year and the beginning of a new calendar year a blessed one!

What are your plans for the new year?

Christmas With Jesus

Life tends to be pretty busy this time of year.  Preparing and celebrating with family and friends and wanting everything to be just right.  Sometimes we let all the pre-Christmas celebrations and all the “have to do’s” prevent us from actually doing what Advent seeks to help us do (make more room for Christ in our lives).

Here is the Powerpoint Preparing for Christmas Like Never Before from my presentation.  I hope you enjoy it (it’s very simple).

Let us together walk more slowly, be more patient and take a little more time to spiritually prepare for Christmas.  Come Lord Jesus!

Let us pray for parents this year that the Holy Spirit will lead, guide and strengthen them to be salt and light to their children and to those around them.

7 Ways to Help Your Kids Get To Heaven

1) Ask a friend or family member if he or she has ever considered joining the Catholic Church;

2) Be prepared to answer questions about the faith (which will probably require some study of your own), but be confident that you almost certainly know more than your non-Catholic friend;

3) Engage friends by suggesting good Catholic books and readings (a “Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan” is appended to his book), while sharing the beauty of the liturgy;

4) Know that conversion often takes time and is ultimately God’s work, and

5) Follow up.

In this Year of Faith where so many in our culture have allowed the secular influences to dim their faith, let us seek to reach out and help witness to them the treasure and the blessing of a faith in Christ.

The Church of St. Paul has created a program called “Family Formation” that seeks to equip and empower parents to be the primary educators of their children’s faith.  This is our second year using the program.

Here is a brief overview:  Parents and children gather once a month at the parish for about an hour and a half.  Students attend their grade level class and parents stay and attend a parent gathering learning about the same topic their children are learning about in class as well as receiving tips and insights regarding the 3 home lessons that are given for families to do at home over the next 3 weeks.  This program truly puts faith formation back into the hands of the parents.  It also fosters scripture reading, growing in prayer and making faith a normal part of everyday family life.  Check it out at http://familyformation.net.

I truly believe that parents are at the heart of the next generation of faith formation.  Without them our efforts at the parish will bear minimal fruit.  Today, more than ever, busy schedules don’t allow for a lot of quality family time to begin with and usually faith is not a priority in the topic of conversation because of everything else going on in the lives of families today.  This program helps parents “make” time to sit down with their children and grow in faith together.

How do you include families in your Religious Education Program?  I’d love to hear about what you and/or your parish does.

“The family is fundamental because it is the first place where people learn the meaning of life”                            ~Pope Benedict XVI

Over the years as I’ve worked with catechists to hand on the faith to their students I’ve noticed that there are two common ideas:1) Getting certain ideas communicated to ones students and 2) How to do that in a way that gets them engaged.

Sometimes I think trying to do activities to engage them is what catechists tend to be concerned about the most.  This has a lot to do with the times we are living in where students today need to be engaged in different ways then in generations past.  In addition catechists want to be sure to not bore their students (which is admirable).

What things should we consider when planning a lesson?  Does too much focus on engagement diminish in any way the message/content that needs to be handed on and proclaimed?  It’s worthwhile to be aware of pitfalls or shortcomings that could arise due to the need to involve students more than ever today.  Here are a few things about lesson planning and what to consider when teaching a lesson so that you, as a catechist, can successfully hand/pass on our rich Catholic Faith.

1) Whatever method(s) you use to convey the lesson of the day, make sure that it is serving the content.  It is key to find ways to “break open” and/or “bring to life” the message that you are teaching, but not at the expense of the content.  For some this is obvious but for others it might be something that unintentionally tends to happen.  All the activities you choose should help draw your students into the message/content.  I’ve seen where the message gets conveyed in a short amount of time and the activities that follow do not relate very well to the actual content that was just spoken of.

2) Don’t be afraid of the content being boring and feel you have to “get through” the content and then move onto getting them engaged and enjoying class.  Our Catholic Faith is not only rich but it is beautiful.  Allow the beauty of the truths of the Faith to speak for themselves (The Catechism does a great job of this).  You can assist with your enthusiasm and love for the Faith.  God wants to draw your students to Himself even more than you do so believe that His truth can do just that.  The Holy Spirit is the interior teacher and will stir up in them the gift of faith which they have been given.  This does require trust and a confidence that God seeks a response from them.

3) Pray for the soil of your students hearts to be ready and open to receive what has been proclaimed and discussed (before class and after class).

What do you find to be important to successfully handing on the faith?

Here are some questions and reflections about the New Evangelization and parish ministry.

     1) In what ways are parishes in maintenance mode vs. mission mode?

     2) What needs to be considered today in ministry that get’s us out of merely being in maintenance mode towards mission mode?

     3) What does a parish in “mission mode” love like?

     4) In what ways do Q&S Catholics affect your ministry?

     5) What principles can we empower, inspire and implement to help ourselves, those in ministry and the faithful in general make Catholicism intriguing.  It is so rich and inspiring but what do we need to consider in ministry to bring that out?

6) Do you find that this video and it’s content contribute to the discussion on the new evangelization?

1) The Opening of the Second Vatican Council was 50 years ago today.

2) The Catechism of the Catholic Church was published 20 years ago today.

3) The Year of Faith Begins Today!

Pope Benedict announced this year of faith last October 2011 asking the Church to prepare for a year of faith that would “give renewed energy to the Church’s mission to lead men and women out of the desert in which they so often find themselves, and towards the place of life, towards friendship with Christ who gives us life in all its fullness”.  He also spoke of it as an opportunity “to strengthen our faith in Christ and joyfully to announce Him to the men and women of our time”.

What are the implications of this in our ministry?                                                                           

1) Prayer

Prayer is at the top of the list – we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to renew our faith and the faith of His pilgrim Church.  Due to the secularism of our society we need to draw closer and more fully into the life of Christ.  Maybe that sounds too simplistic but it reminds me of a quote I’m fond of by the late Fr. Thomas Dubay who once wrote:

If we wonder why, despite the millions of us who follow Christ, the world has not long ago been converted, we need not look far for one solution.  We are not perceived as men on fire.  We look too much like everyone else.  We appear to be compromisers, people who say that they believe in everlasting life but actually live as though this life is the only one we have.

Fr. Dubay knew better than most the importance of prayer as he dedicated most of his life to helping others grow in their prayer lives and relationship with God.

A few things to consider regarding prayer:

Adults and Ministry leaders

Take more time during your busy lives to pray or at least get back to being faithful to your daily prayer schedule.

Students

Help your students to grow in prayer by giving them insights on how to pray – take them to the adoration chapel, to the church, spend time at the beginning and end of class praying.  Help them have different prayer experiences – times of silence, times of petition and intercession, times of praise and blessing.  Help them pray with Scripture, help them find life in praying the mysteries of the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

2) Renewal

We have to set out this year seeking to lead our students into a deeper relationship with Christ.  We want to avoid emphasizing too much on learning about Jesus at the cost of them getting to know Jesus.  Both are possible and important but sometimes we sacrifice one for the other.

What we need is to go from a “maintenance” mentality to a “mission” mentality.  This requires getting out of our comfort zone and exploring ways to ignite the flame of faith in the lives of our students.  It might mean getting back to the basics – do people know the story?– That God created us in His image and likeness, that sin separated us from God, that God had a plan to bring us back to union with him that was finally fulfilled in Christ who suffered and died for our sins and destroyed death through the Resurrection and Ascension and promised manifold graces to draw His Church to sanctity.

What we need is to go from faith as usual to how can I as a Catholic Christian witness and proclaim my faith so as to lead others closer to Jesus.  One statistic I heard is that only about 17% of Catholics go to Mass every Sunday.  If this is true then we should seek to be on a mission to encourage and help others be drawn back in and want to experience the joy and peace that can only be found in Christ who we experience each time we receive the Eucharist.  Our students will see this if our faith is alive – our faith will by God’s grace “compel” them to want more themselves.

Entrust this Year to Mary                                                 

Last week the Pope made a visit to Our Lady of Loreto seeking her intercession for the Year of Faith.  Let us likewise entrust this year to Mary who shows us the way of Faith par excellence!  Mary, increase our faith, intercede for us and assist us in having all of God’s ways be “done to us according to His word”!

Here what we did: Our School of Religion/Religious Ed. office have teamed up with the youth ministers to create an out of the classroom experience.  It is more of a group gathering model.  We knew if we could help teens grow in their faith in a way that was not the traditional classroom model we would have a better chance of engaging them in their faith and fostering in them a desire to stay involved long after the 8th grade year.

Our Format on a given Sunday goes more or less like this:

~ Gather in the Gym where many adult mentors are around greeting them, talking with them and playing basketball, frisbee, & hacky sack.

~ We begin usually with an icebreaker/activity.

~ We move into the Youth Room and either show a video, have some kind of skit/role-play and intro to the topic of the night.

~ Usually one of our youth ministers shares something about the topic and gives some thoughts about it.

~ Then we break everyone up into small groups to explore further the topic of the night.

~ Finally, we gather in the Youth Room to de-brief and encourage them to live their faith.  We often have something that we give them to remind them of the night – a bookmark, a sticker that they put on their shoe (I will follow Christ), etc…

The feedback we received last year and so far this year is very positive.  Almost all the students prefer this format to the classroom model.  This year we asked all the parents and students to attend on the first night where we gave everyone a glimpse of what we do and what our vision was.  That too was well received and really helped give parents an insight to it all.

What are you doing in your program that is helping your Confirmation candidates want to stay involved even after Confirmation?

Here is what I did with the kids and parents:

1) I opened with prayer reading the parable of the Vine and the Branches (John 15:1-6)

2) I then had parents and kids read it from the Bible at their table and answer 5 questions (and then having kids come up and share their answers):

• Who is the Vine and who are the branches (verse 1)?
• What does Jesus ask us to do (verse 4)?
• What happens if we do what Jesus asks us to do (verse 4-5)?
• What does Jesus say happens when we sin and cut ourselves off from the vine (verse 6)?
• How does this relate to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and our relationship with Jesus?

3) Next I asked for a Dad volunteer and about 5 kids.  They helped me reenact the parable:  Dad was the Vine and the kids were the branches.  When I shared that when we do things that are not what God would have us do (when we sin) we break off from the vine (a few kids broke off) but then when we are cleansed (through going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation – kids went over to a poster I had that said Sacrament of Reconciliation) we are connect back onto the vine (kids reconnected to the Vine).  And finally when we do God’s will and are connected to him we “bear much fruit”.  Everyone was given an apple to illustrate this.  

4) Then I asked all the 2nd graders to go to a table where I had two things: 1) a branch from a tree and 2) a holy card illustrating an icon of the Jesus the vine.

5) I shared with the kids and parents to take the branch home and watch it for a week and reflect how when the branch is not connected to the vine it withers and dies.  We are called to stay connected to Jesus and he wants us to.  This time of preparation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a good time to help us remember the need to be connected to Jesus the vine.

6) I closed with a brief prayer.

I think it went over very well.  I was pleased with how it turned out and the good vibe I received about these two 25 minute experiences.

What things have you done with 2nd graders and parents at the beginning of the year parent meeting?  I’d really enjoy hearing about what others do to engage both parents and kids.

Let us return to the people who lack experience of God’s goodness. They need places where they can give voice to their inner longing. Here we are called to seek new paths of evangelization. Small communities could be one such path, where friendships are lived and deepened in regular communal adoration before God. There we find people who speak of these small faith experiences at their workplace and within their circle of family and friends, and in so doing bear witness to a new closeness between Church and society. They come to see more and more clearly that everyone stands in need of this nourishment of love, this concrete friendship with others and with the Lord. Of continuing importance is the link with the vital life-source that is the Eucharist, since cut off from Christ we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5).

Dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord always point out to us how together we can be lights in the world and can show our fellow men the path to the source at which they can quench their profound thirst for life.

What ideas are parishes in your area implementing regarding the New Evangelization?                         

Her In-Service was broken up into two main parts.  The first 45 minutes was an exciting presentation about numerous aspects of being a faith-filled and empowered catechist.  During the second part of the in-service she was not only very practical but very engaging.  She had 60 catechists on their feet learning about ways to involve their students and engage their minds and hearts.

Lisa’s enthusiasm, excitement about the faith and her experience of engaging students as a catechist herself throughout the years captivated and motivated so many of my catechists.  A number of them came to me afterwards or over the next few days sharing that they really “got a lot” out of the in-service and they hoped to see her again in the future.

Lucy Fuchs wrote an article for St. Anthony Messenger and came up with 7 characteristics of the saints that we can imitate.

Seven Characteristics of the Saints

All saints are filled with the love of God.

They have chosen God above all others and made a definite commitment to God.

In her book Saint Watching (Viking Press), Phyllis McGinley writes that saints are human beings with an added dimension. “They are obsessed by goodness and by God as Michelangelo was obsessed by line and form, as Shakespeare was bewitched by language, Beethoven by sound.”

All saints love other human beings.

It cannot be any other way. In the First Letter of John (4:20) we read: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

McGinley also says that, although saints may be different in many ways, they are always generous. You will never find a stingy saint.

All saints are risk-takers.

When God called, they answered. For some it was taking a chance on a new way of life in a new place. In the Old Testament, we have the example of Abraham, called at an old age to leave his country and to go to the place God had selected for him. Even today, it is difficult for older people to leave their level of comfort and to face the new and unknown.

Abraham’s story is a marvelous example of trust in God, but even more so of a decision to plunge into the unknown. Like Abraham, saints responded to the graces that were given to them. Some were called to be popes, bishops, abbots or abbesses. Others found their calling in a quiet, reserved life, far away from the center of activity.

St. Julian of Norwich lived in a small cell attached to a church. She was even walled in, but that did not keep people away; they came to her and asked for her spiritual advice.

St. Catherine of Siena lived at home, not in a convent, as a person dedicated to God. People flocked to her, but not because she wanted them to.

Others, whose names are not well-known, lived simple lives among their families and friends, serving God with all their hearts, but never making a splash in the world.

The saints are humble, willingly and lovingly attributing to God all that they have and all that they will ever be.

Humility has always had a poor press; many people think that humility means saying derogatory things about oneself. Far from it! The saints showed their humility by using whatever gifts they had to perfection, but never attributing these gifts to themselves.

St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas were brilliant men and they did not go around saying how stupid they were. They did acknowledge, however, that all they knew was as nothing compared to the infinite wisdom of God.

Saints are people of prayer.

Some, especially members of religious orders, had entire days of prayer. Others found their time with God in other ways.

Dorothy Day—not canonized but recognized by many as a truly holy person—started her day with prayer but said that she met God daily in the crowds of the poor who came to her hospitality house. None of the saints saw prayer as a waste of time or as an activity for only the weak or naive.

The saints are not perfect.

Each of the saints had human flaws and faults. They made mistakes. Even at the end of their lives, they still found themselves in need of contrition, pardon and reconciliation.

St. Jerome, it is said, had a fearful temper. When another scholar of his time, a former friend, Rufinus, questioned his conclusions, St. Jerome wrote pamphlet after pamphlet blasting him.

St. Aloysius apparently had bad timing in his spiritual quest; the other novices were just as happy when he was not there. He was the kind of saint who did not seem to know how to enjoy the things of this life.

Some saints misunderstood their own visions. When St. Francis was told to rebuild the Church, he thought it meant the local church building. It is interesting and amusing to note that Jesus did not clarify the request for him until after he had exerted a lot of sweat and energy repairing an old church.

St. Joan of Arc was coerced into signing a retraction of her visions, although she later retracted that retraction.

St. John Vianney, “the Curé of Ars,” did not believe the children of La Salette concerning their visions of the Virgin Mary.

During the time of the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy at the end of the 14th century and beginning of the 15th, when one pope resided in Avignon and another pope in Rome, saints found themselves on opposite sides of the rival popes, as confused as many of the common people were.

The saints are people of their times.

One wonders how anyone escapes being of his or her time. There were injustices around the saints that they did not speak out against. St. Paul did not condemn slavery but encouraged slaves to obey their masters. St. Thomas Aquinas considered women unequal to men. He believed their only task in life was to bear children.

If we look at the lives of all the saints, we can certainly find faults. Far from discouraging us, this can give us courage. Perfection is not what we are striving for, unless it is as perfect a love as possible.

What characteristics would you add?  How do you motivate your students or those you catechize to be holy and respond to their vocation to be a saint?

Communicating the faith in the Third Millennium does call for a re-proposing the Gospel Message in a way that will be received by the People of God today.  We know that people are less receptive to hour long lectures (just to name one example) than they once were.  Therefore, various tools and methods need to be incorporated (e.g., Video, dialogue, small group interaction, etc.).  At the same time Our Faith must be presented from the living sources of the faith – the liturgy, the Fathers of the Church, the saints, Council documents.  The Catechism does this is an unprecedented manner.   The reality of presenting the immeasurable riches of the Faith from these living sources is key to the New Evangelization.

What do you think?  It would be great to hear your thoughts on this.