Ask Sister Mary Martha

Posted By on May 27, 2010

I follow a number of Catholic blogs in the blogosphere. They range from priests to religious to laity and cover a number of topics from catechesis to living an everyday Catholic life. One of my absolute favorite Catholic bloggers is Sr. Mary Martha from “Ask Sister Mary Martha” where her tagline is “Life is tough. Nuns are tougher.” Sister is hilarious to say the least. Her online personality reminds me of the role of the nun in a performance of “Late Night Catechism” I saw a few years ago, and I mean that in a good way. Have I mentioned how hilarious she is yet?

Anyway, Sister usually answers reader-submitted questions on her blog. Last week, she answered a question from a catechist around the use of the left hand for making the sign of the cross. This post really got me thinking about the various traditions and devotions that exist in the Catholic Church. Our faith has so much to strengthen us as we progress through our faith journeys. I went to Catholic school from Kindergarten through high school and was constantly exposed to ways of expressing our faith, not only through prayer but through action as well. I can clearly remember learning the Hail Holy Queen in 3rd grade, learning how to pray the Rosary, walking the Stations of the Cross every Lent, attending First Friday Mass throughout the school year, learning how to follow along using a missalette (talk about confusing!) and having Benediction periodically. (Boy, I hated the smell of incense back then!!)

All of my students go to public school and therefore they get none of that exposure. For example, I was shocked to find out that none of my students had ever done the Stations of the Cross before!?! Many of these traditions are opportunities to better understand the meaning of our faith and to strengthen us spiritually. Additionally, they are beautiful, especially when you understand their history and meaning. I would love to be able to expose my students to these practices as tools to further their understanding of Catholic faith.

I have two challenges here. The first is time. How does one go about giving their students exposure to some of these traditions and devotions when one is limited to 1 hour a week with a full lesson’s worth of material to cover? The second challenge is the fact that while they are not exposed to this at school, most are not exposed to this at home either. Even if I could find the time to do at least a cursory review of some of these practices in class, there is very little expectation that it will stick without exposure to it outside of class.

I guess I have a whole summer to figure this out. Have any of you found successful ways of exposing your students to the beautiful devotions of the Church and its faithful (and making them stick)?

Until next time, keep sharing the faith!

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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

  • http://asksistermarymartha.blogspot.com sistermarymartha

    Thanks for the plug!

    I have an answer for the Stations of the Cross. Print out pictures of the Stations and tape to to the wall all around the room. You’ll get through them in a hour. Make sure you all walk them, that’s very important.

    • http://www.catechistcorner.com Carlos

      I’ll do that. Thanks for the tip!

  • http://asksistermarymartha.blogspot.com sistermarymartha

    Thanks for the plug!

    I have an answer for the Stations of the Cross. Print out pictures of the Stations and tape to to the wall all around the room. You’ll get through them in a hour. Make sure you all walk them, that’s very important.

    • http://www.catechistcorner.com Carlos

      I’ll do that. Thanks for the tip!

  • http://catechesisinthethirdmillennium.wordpress.com/ William O'Leary

    I initiate a number of things in my program. We do the Stations of the Cross every year. We try to reserve the church every time our religious education classes meet so classes can go into the church to either pray, look at the statues and pray for that saints intercession, say a prayer before the crucifix, etc. Also, I encourage taking time in the opening prayer and/or closing prayer to practice devotions. For example, praying a decade of the Rosary to begin or end class or remembering a Feast Day that is going on that week which refers to a specific devotion (maybe it's a Marian Feast or a saint that had a devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus or praying before the Blessed Sacrament). These are a just a couple of things I encourage to the catechists in our program. God Bless!

  • http://www.catechistcorner.com Carlos

    Thank you William. I'll have to check with my CRE to see if I can incorporate some of those ideas into the class lesson from time to time.

  • http://platytera.blogspot.com/ Chrisleb1

    “How does one go about giving their students exposure to some of these traditions and devotions when one is limited to 1 hour a week…?”

    I don't do anything outside of the classroom. I know in other Catechetical years they have Stations, Adoration, etc.

  • Christine

    I would like a dispensation to go to my daughter’s wedding in an Episcopal church. She joined that church. I would also like to receive communion there.

  • http://www.catechistcorner.com Carlos

    Christine, I would suggest you speak to your priest about this. There should be no problem with you attending the wedding at an Episcopal church, but it would not be appropriate for your to receive communion there. By it’s very meaning, communion implies a union with the beliefs of the Episcopal faith, which differs in many important ways from our own Catholic faith.

    As I said, it is best for you to speak to your priest about this.

    God bless.

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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”.