Fighting “The Real World”?

Posted By on May 28, 2009

As a Catechist, one of the biggest currents that you swim against is the students feeling that what you’re teaching isn’t really practical in today’s day and age.  Leave it to the real world to get in the way.  It got in Jesus’s way, in the Apostles’ way and in many Saints’ way, so why should I be any different when doing their work?

I wanted to come up with a way to connect what some viewed as that “religion thing” with “real life”.  After some serious contemplation, I remembered a song that I heard on the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” TV series once.  Yes, I’m a fan of the show and think that Joss Whedon is very clever in his fictional universe, but I digress.

I remembered that on one of the episodes they used a song that was sung by Sarah McLachlan.  The song was “Prayer of Saint Francis”.  I recognized the words instantly when I heard them and was surprised to learn that the artist was a mainstream artist.  An idea began to form.

Music is a great way to worship God, and many mainstream artists have recorded songs with a religious theme or lesson.  Being able to connect what is taught in class to something in the “real world” was a great way to offer some current day relevance to it, and showing that these mainstream artists have a religious or spiritual side to them offers credibility to the material in the students’ minds.

I began to search for songs that fit the bill and found a few.  I know there are more out there and I continue to search, but here are some that I have found thus far:

Prayer of Saint Francis by Sarah McLachlan
Jesus Christ by U2
Jesus, Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood
Have a talk with God by Stevie Wonder
Kyrie by Mr. Mister

Some are older and less known to the kids today, but I hand out the lyrics as I play the song in class.  This allows the students to follow along and gives us an opportunity to discuss the message, connecting it to Catechesis.

Do you know of other songs that I should consider?  Do you use other methods that give practicality to your lessons?  How do you fight “the real world” sentiment?

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About the author

My name is Carlos Torres, and for better or for worse, I am a Catechist. As a Catechist, I help supplement the religious education that parents give at home with focused and detailed lessons around Scripture and Tradition as taught by the Church. Now, I have no background in teaching, much less in dealing with a group of tweens and teens who don’t want to be with me, in a classroom, on a weeknight, learning about faith; yet week after week, I and many other Catechists do just that by letting the Holy Spirit guide us in planting those seeds and helping fulfill the Church’s mission to “go and make disciples”.

Comments

  • Deanna

    There is a great song by Sheryl Crow called “I Shall Believe.” It’s a slower song and is great for a meditative prayer time. I love the use of music in classrooms and have found that the kids can even connect to bands that are labeled as Christian.
    We try and connect service into our curriculum as much as possible. This lets the students learn how to live out the gospels. There is a great organization called Kids Against Hunger that our Parish works closely with. The kids get to package food which is sent to families in other countries.
    I would love to hear about more organizations like this that our parish can get involved with. We are always looking for new ways to serve our world.

  • Deanna

    There is a great song by Sheryl Crow called “I Shall Believe.” It’s a slower song and is great for a meditative prayer time. I love the use of music in classrooms and have found that the kids can even connect to bands that are labeled as Christian.
    We try and connect service into our curriculum as much as possible. This lets the students learn how to live out the gospels. There is a great organization called Kids Against Hunger that our Parish works closely with. The kids get to package food which is sent to families in other countries.
    I would love to hear about more organizations like this that our parish can get involved with. We are always looking for new ways to serve our world.

  • http://www.catechistcorner.com Carlos

    Thank you for the song suggestion. The lyrics look like they will work beautifully for me. I’ve already downloaded it.

    While our confirmation classes get more directly involved in community work through volunteering, our other grades each have a couple of projects throughout the year that primarily involve donations. We support various local food banks and pantries as well as local family support organizations. I think if parishes get involved locally, it helps the students see the fruits of their charity more readily; but that is only one philosophy. Our Archdiocese has a link to the Catholic Volunteer Directory. I haven’t really looked at it much, but maybe you can get a few ideas from there.

  • http://www.catechistcorner.com Carlos

    Thank you for the song suggestion. The lyrics look like they will work beautifully for me. I’ve already downloaded it.

    While our confirmation classes get more directly involved in community work through volunteering, our other grades each have a couple of projects throughout the year that primarily involve donations. We support various local food banks and pantries as well as local family support organizations. I think if parishes get involved locally, it helps the students see the fruits of their charity more readily; but that is only one philosophy. Our Archdiocese has a link to the Catholic Volunteer Directory. I haven’t really looked at it much, but maybe you can get a few ideas from there.

  • http://platytera.blogspot.com/ Christian

    I’m familiar with Mr. Mister’s Kyrie….how do you connect its lyrics to Catechism? What do the kids contribute?

  • http://platytera.blogspot.com/ Christian

    I’m familiar with Mr. Mister’s Kyrie….how do you connect its lyrics to Catechism? What do the kids contribute?

  • http://www.catechistcorner.com Carlos

    I interpret Kyrie as being about a calling – a life’s vocation, whatever that calling may be. The artist is singing about a wind that reaches into his soul and sets his feet upon a road. We talk about the symbolism of the wind. The kids should recognize the reference to the Holy Spirit there and the road refers to the path that he has been set upon by the Spirit.

    Additionally, the song talks about how your calling is not always what you expect it to be. I ask about things that they do now that they never thought they’d be doing and talk about my own path to being a Catechist. Lastly, we focus on the theme that God is always with us, even in the worst of times, and if there are times that we are not perfect in our life’s calling, God is merciful and forgiving. He is there for us and we need to trust in Him, especially in the bad times.

    I used this particular song when we were learning about Pentecost last year and was able to make the connection to the Apostles. It worked beautifully.

  • http://www.catechistcorner.com Carlos

    I interpret Kyrie as being about a calling – a life’s vocation, whatever that calling may be. The artist is singing about a wind that reaches into his soul and sets his feet upon a road. We talk about the symbolism of the wind. The kids should recognize the reference to the Holy Spirit there and the road refers to the path that he has been set upon by the Spirit.

    Additionally, the song talks about how your calling is not always what you expect it to be. I ask about things that they do now that they never thought they’d be doing and talk about my own path to being a Catechist. Lastly, we focus on the theme that God is always with us, even in the worst of times, and if there are times that we are not perfect in our life’s calling, God is merciful and forgiving. He is there for us and we need to trust in Him, especially in the bad times.

    I used this particular song when we were learning about Pentecost last year and was able to make the connection to the Apostles. It worked beautifully.

  • http://platytera.blogspot.com/ Christian

    “It worked beautifully.”

    I bet it did! That’s well done, thanks for showing how you made it work.

  • http://platytera.blogspot.com/ Christian

    “It worked beautifully.”

    I bet it did! That’s well done, thanks for showing how you made it work.

«     »

About the author

My name is Carlos Torres, and for better or for worse, I am a Catechist. As a Catechist, I help supplement the religious education that parents give at home with focused and detailed lessons around Scripture and Tradition as taught by the Church. Now, I have no background in teaching, much less in dealing with a group of tweens and teens who don’t want to be with me, in a classroom, on a weeknight, learning about faith; yet week after week, I and many other Catechists do just that by letting the Holy Spirit guide us in planting those seeds and helping fulfill the Church’s mission to “go and make disciples”.