Catechetical programs today are not like that.  Today, we see a lot less memorization and much more conceptual, story-based and scriptural-based teaching methods that help get the message across.  I have to admit that the programs of today seem a lot less dry, make it easier to keep the attention of the students and do a good job of connecting the teachings of the Church to today’s society.

So then, which one is better?  I would say neither, or maybe it’s both.  Okay, I think it’s a blend of the two.

I received a comment in class last night when we broke out into an unscheduled Q&A session that “this is what makes religious ed fun.”  My response was that Religious Education by unstructured Q&A does nothing more than give one points of Catholic trivia.  Unless it is part of a structured program, you can’t understand how it fits into the big picture.  That being said, are the current catechetical programs really answering the questions of our students?  Are we trying to beat around a teaching instead of hitting it head on, like the Baltimore Catechism did?

We have all seen it.  People don’t know their faith today.  Scarier yet, the kids in our religious education programs don’t know their faith all that well either and presumably it’s supposed to be fresh in their minds.  Why might that be?  I would submit because as we teach something, we move on and don’t continue to review it over and over again.  Let’s take the Ten Commandments.  We teach the Ten Commandments to our second graders as we prepare them for First Reconciliation.  That is integral to their curriculum.  We review the Ten Commandments in 6th grade as part of our review of the Old Testament.  By 6th grade, students have forgotten the Ten Commandments.  Sure, it may have had cursory mention in other years, but a mention is just not enough.  That’s a pretty basic thing to know, but we don’t support it from year to year so it gets dropped from memory.  I won’t even go into basic Catholic prayers!  It’s our fault for not holding our youth accountable for this knowledge; our fault and the fault of parents.

I think we, as religious educators need to balance the need to understand our faith with the need to know our faith.  Just going through a program that teaches through Q&A does not help you understand how to truly live your faith because it is not flexible enough to cover that ever developing scenarios we are faced with; but it is a great way to learn “the facts”.  On the flip side, teaching you the meaning of a particular tenant of faith in detail once without returning to it again in any great detail doesn’t really help make it stick.  Should we not have some basic items that every student should be required to show knowledge of every year?  Test on the Ten Commandments every year.  Test on Acts of Mercy every year.  Test on the Act of Contrition every year.  Test on the True Presence every year.  I can go on.

It is important to progress through topics of faith and help students understand what it should mean to them today, but not so exclusively that we never give it an opportunity to set in through repetition and memorization.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith!

When I arrived at Church for Religious Education, my CRE asked if I would be willing to merge my class with another because we had a catechist out.  I figured “why not” and agreed to teach both classes.  Historically, having students that normally part of my class has been hit or miss, but I was going to make the best of it nonetheless.  The first question I get is, “Do you give homework” and I start doing a victory dance in my head.  I tell the student to ask my students that question and the standard response of “only if we don’t cooperate” puts them all in the palm of my hand.  The expectation is set and I see things looking up.  I probably shouldn’t be too joyful about using homework as a threat, but it makes things so much easier when we all understand each other.

We start class with a prayer, Come Holy Spirit, which was not only topical, but I’m convinced that prayer was answered last night.  Then my students ask if we can do the Three J’s.  For those that are not familiar with the Three J’s, it’s something that I picked up from In Between Sundays, a podcast that I frequently listen to.  It consists of sharing your Junk, Joy and Jesus Moment for the past week.  I had my students participate and made it optional for my guests.  I think my guest students were more into it then my own students!  It was a huge success last night and ended up being a great ice breaker.

Our formal topics last night were focused around the activities of the Apostles after the Resurrection.  We discussed Jesus’ first appearance in the Upper Room.  We discussed Doubting Thomas.  We discussed Pentecost and the effect the Holy Spirit had on the Apostles.  I spent time focusing on the before and after of the Apostles’ behavior, including the effects of some of the gifts they received on Pentecost.  Additionally, we discussed how we (and they) knew the Holy Spirit had arrived, namely wind and fire.

After spending some time on Pentecost, we moved on to the missionary activities of the early Church leaders.  We reviewed how they traveled and thier ministries in obedience to the command of Jesus to make disciples of all nations.  We also connected this to Pentecost by discussing how those gifts they received from the Holy Spirit helped them be successful.  We spoke about the Conversion of St. Paul, and how appropriate since yesterday was the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.  We also discussed why we call St. Paul an Apostle even thought he was not a follower of Jesus during his earthly ministry.  To help drive that story home, I finished the segment by showing them an artist’s representation of that conversion moment on the road to Damascus.

We discussed what martyrdom was and why the Church believes that martyrs have a special place in heaven.  We spoke about the martyrdom of St. Peter and why he was crucified upside down.  Once again, I showed them an artist’s representation of his martyrdom to help drive that story home.

I ended the class by handing out the lyrics to “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister and played the song.  After listening to it, we discussed the lyrics and what the artist was trying to say through his song.  The references to the Holy Spirit and being sent on a mission are so strong in that song that I love tying it to this lesson.

I left class last night feeling like I myself was on fire!  Not only that, but my students, and I mean all of my students last night seemed fired up as well.  I can’t beleive how much I was able to cover in one hour; and to be honest, I felt like I actually got through to them as opposed to being rushed and lost.  I’m sure it was with a little help from above.  I truly hope that the Holy Spirit can come and kindle in us the fire of His love every week!!

Until next time, keep sharing the faith!

So what’s been going on you might ask?  Besides all the things at work that would bore you, I’ve been busy working on Religious Education stuff.  My classes have been going well.  In my 6th Grade class, we’ve discussed wisdom, focusing on individuals like King Solomon.  I was able to use one of my favorite Old Testament stories (1 Kings 3:16-28) to show wisdom in action.  It was great to see their reactions as I read parts of the story and stopped for impressions.  We’ve also discussed some of the prophets that foretold of the coming of the Messiah, like Isaiah & Zechariah.  I think the differences of how the Messiah was described were a bit tough for them to grasp.  With those topics, we wrapped up the formal curriculum around the Old Testament.

This week, we moved into the New Testament, exploring parts of the Gospels in a little more detail.  We got to focus on one of my favorite New Testament stories, “The Boy Jesus in the Temple” (Luke 2:41-52).  Oddly enough, the prior week I got asked the question if Jesus knew he was God from the time he was born.  I referred to this passage to help express my opinion.  As we reviewed this story, I chose to focus on Luke 2:51.  We discussed the significance of the fact the Jesus was “obedient” to his parents.  I always find it such a powerful example that Jesus, who is God, was obedient to His human parents.

On top of my 6th Grade lessons, I had the opportunity to present at RCIA this past week.  My topic was “The Sacraments of Healing”.  As much as I felt comfortable with my knowledge around the Sacrament of Reconciliation, I still felt that this needed to be spot on, so I did a lot of work with the Catechism and some other resources to help make sure I got it right.  Additionally, I had never done much work around the Anointing of the Sick, so this gave me an opportunity to increase my own knowledge as well.  I felt very good about my presentation and our catechumen asked some insightful questions which was a signal to me that my presentation was giving him reason to think.

On top of that, I’m also working with my CRE and fellow catechists in developing a plan for our 6th Grade Retreat that will be happening in early February.  My CRE provided me the framework and I helped build out a more detailed discussion plan.  The theme of the retreat will be the Ten Commandments.  Lastly, I’ve been methodically working on my pastor to allow me to create a Facebook page for our parish.  After months of my pastor not having time to focus on it, we met today and he agreed that we needed to do it.  And just like in the business world, the person who has the idea gets the project.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m very excited about doing this.  It will be a great opportunity to stay connected to parishioners beyond the Sunday Liturgy, but for it to be successful, it needs constant focus.  Please pray for me as I deal with whatever the game of life throws my way.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

I actually chuckled.  I forced patience on them because I told them there were five other commandments that we needed to review before we got to that one.  It’s very clear though, what was on their minds and that they already had an idea of what that commandment relates to.  To no surprise, they had questions, lots and lots of questions.

When we finally got to the Sixth Commandment, I explained it’s literal meaning as well as it’s broader meaning, just like I did with each commandment before it.  Then I let the questions begin:

- What does adultery mean?
- You have to be married?  Why?
- How about if it’s with your girlfriend?
- What if you live with your boyfriend?
- What if you love your boyfriend?
- What if it happens the day before you get married?
- Is being a homosexual a sin?
- What if someone has already done stuff?

I have to thank my students from last year for preparing me for this discussion.  Last year, I flew by this topic and avoided answering questions in any detail.  Not this year.  I felt like I missed a teaching opportunity the last time this happened and I did not want a repeat of that this year.  Oddly enough, I did not prepare for the discussion.  In fact, I completely forgot what had happened last year; but when the first question arose, I felt at perfect ease discussing it.

The Holy Spirit must have been guiding me last night because I had a “sex” discussion with these kids without skipping a beat.  I did everything possible to control the giggle-fest that ensued once the discussion began and I was successful in doing so.  Also, while talking about it, I wrote the word “Sex” on the board to dispel any sense of hesitation or shyness on my part.  My inclination was that by have a serious and open discussion about what the Church teaches regarding this topic, I had more of a chance of making an impact.

We focused on things like the importance of sex only happening within a marriage, why it is otherwise considered a mortal sin, what the natural purpose of the act is (i.e. love, commitment and procreation), why being with a boyfriend / girlfriend is not enough, etc.  We even discussed why being a homosexual, or more accurately having those tendencies, is not a sin in and of itself.  I focused on the fact that a person is not a sin, only acts are sins.  I did this to help distinguish between the dignity we all deserve as human beings and the sinfulness of acts that we may commit, irrelevant of any sexual tendencies.

All in all, the discussion went very well.  I made it a point to not let it digress and gave them the opportunity to ask some questions that were clearly on their minds.  My only regret was not having a little more time.  I know I left some questions unanswered and since next week is a unit review, I may leave a little extra time to answer any remaining questions.  I’d rather they ask me and come away with an accurate understanding of what we are called to believe then to have the questions remain without answers or with poor answers from others.  Of course, recognizing the controversial nature of the topic, I gave my CRE a heads up just in case any parents called in about it.  While my comments were perfectly in line with the teachings of the Church, that does not mean that some parent out there may not like what was discussed.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith!

We focused on superheroes last night in class with the 6th graders.  We spoke about their favorite superheroes as well as some of their real-life heroes.  We discussed some of their qualities, like courage and love of their fellow man.  We spoke about the challenges that they each face and how difficult it truly is being a hero.

Then we transitioned to one of the great Old Testament heroes.  To quote the movie, it was “Moses, Moses, Moses.”  We reviewed Moses’ early days and how he came to leave Egypt, but we focused mostly on his calling.  We spoke about what it means to be called.  Each and every one of us is called to impact the world, albeit in different ways; but being called can be a scary thing.  Most times, you are being called to do something that you haven’t done before or that you think you just cannot do.  I know I’d be a bit scared if I saw a burning bush that was telling me to take off my shoes, because last I checked, bushes don’t speak.  We know that’s how Moses must have felt, among feeling other emotions.

What if Moses had said “No thanks, God, I’m not your guy so go with your backup plan”?  News flash – God doesn’t make backup plans.  We each have a purpose for being here, most likely more than one; but we all have a choice to fulfill that purpose or not.  If I had not accepted my call as a Catechist, then maybe some kids would not learn their faith as fully.  Sure there are other Catechists, but there is only one Catechist that does things “exactly” the way I do it (we are all unique, after all) and maybe my style impacts some students in a special way; or maybe this ministry is preparing me to help someone in the future who is struggling with their faith that would not otherwise be helped, or maybe I help set an example that will touch someone’s heart.  None of us truly know what our purpose is, but saying no to our calling will definitely have an impact that none of us will ever truly understand, sort of in the same way that saying yes will have an impact.  If Moses had said no, then who knows what might have happened to the Israelites.

Luckily, Moses said yes.  Afraid and unsure, but trusting in God, he went back to Egypt to demand that the Hebrews be freed per the command of God.  We discussed how God supported Moses’ words and reviewed the first 9 plagues.  Then we discussed the biggie – The Angel of Death, and why Passover and the Passover Seder have been and continue to be so important for the Jewish faith.

That was the perfect segue over to the Eucharist.  We all know the Last Supper occurred at the Passover Seder that year.  Just as the Jews celebrate and remember through a meal the saving power of God by His freeing them from Egypt, we too remember the saving power of God through Jesus through a meal.  Of course, there are differences between the two celebrations as well, but it was interesting to see some of the links.

So, whether it’s one of the Super Friends, Mighty Mouse, Moses, Jesus, or even your grandmother; heroes love, sacrifice, trust in good, help others and show people the way.

Next time, the class will discuss the rest of the Exodus and the Ten Commandments.  Until then, keep sharing the faith.

We basically spent the first half hour doing an Examination of Conscience, me trying to ease some students’ fears at the realization of what was going to be happening and then going upstairs to the Church for the actual sacrament.  When we returned to the classroom, somehow it all fell apart.

We were supposed to review the story of Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Joseph.  To tie it into what we already learned, I reminded them of the story of Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel and the story of Noah and the Great Flood. That’s as far as we got.  The questions started like if this was the first time they had ever heard this story (we only covered it two weeks ago) and it digressed from there.  Questions like:

Why was it Adam & Eve’s fault?  The snake made them do it.
What does God look like?
Does God have hands?
God killed everyone on earth?
Why did he pick Noah?
God killed?  That’s mean! Didn’t he commit a sin?
What if there were other good people on earth?  How could God kill them all?
What if God does it again?
What if he doesn’t keep his promise?
What if …
What if …
What if …

I’m always torn with how far to let questions go.  I see myself heading into the spiral, but the questions show some amount of interest and curiosity on the students’ parts that I don’t want to discourage.  The problem with allowing it to continue is that I can’t cover the material I’m supposed to cover.  In tonight’s case, I was able to cover none of the material I needed to.  Additionally, 90% of tonight’s questions came from the same student and were becoming slightly argumentative.  I couldn’t really tell if they were sincere questions or an attempt to take control of the direction of the class.  In any case, I probably allowed this to go on too long before the light bulb in my head went off … “These are all good questions.  Why don’t you stay after class and we can discuss it further?”

The student of course could not stay tonight, so I immediately offered staying after next week’s class as an alternative.  But by that time, the damage was done.  There was 5 minutes left to class and I needed to close up the impromptu Q&A discussion with some very specific points to ensure that everyone left the class with an accurate understanding.

By the time I left class, I was completely exhausted, totally frustrated and had nothing accomplished from my lesson plan to show for it.  Did I do the right thing by allowing the questions to continue?  Should I have covered the material and just left Q&A for after class time for those that wanted the information?  I’m sure I would have gotten no takers and would have lost an opportunity there.  All I know is that next week I now have two weeks of material to cover in a one hour time span.  I also have an new appreciation for what school teachers face on field trip days.

What do you other catechists do in situations like the one I encountered tonight?  When do you cut off the Q&A and focus on your lessons and when do you let your lessons slip to help satisfy your students’ thirst for understanding?  I’d love your thoughts since I suspect this will happen again.  In the meantime, I need a stiff drink to recuperate.  Time for some hot chocolate!!

Thanks and until next time, keep sharing the faith.

As you may know, 6th grade Catechesis focuses on the Bible, mostly the Old Testament with ties to the New Testament to show how the old foretells and connects to the new. The first week’s lesson is about what the Bible is. The first reaction of my students, of course, is that it is a book. I like to point out that is is not a book, but a library of books and I explain why that is the case. I also like to ask how many students know if they have a Bible at home and where it is. I’m generally disappointed by the result of the informal poll. This year, two kids knew they had one but didn’t know where and one knew where his Children’s Bible was. To be honest, that was better then last year so I can take comfort that we are trending up.

We also review what the purpose of the Bible is as well as the different types of writing that can be found within the books of the Bible. I’m still amazed at how many different writing styles are utilized, but my students aren’t as excited about that as I am. Maybe it’s because it’s the first class and they are being cautious? Anyway, before class ended, I handed out a letter for my students to take home to their parents, the parent interview I spoke about last week and a small prayer sheet with some basic prayers they would need to learn if they didn’t know them already. Lastly, I showed the class one of my favorite videos about the Bible. It was a fun way to show the different things we would learn this year.

For week two, we started class reviewing the results of their interview. A couple of them forgot to bring it and one I think forgot to do it, but since I wasn’t collecting them, that was disappointing but incidental. We started with discussing if anything surprised them about their parents’ responses. Since shyness fell upon the class, I started going around and asking for responses to the specific questions. Most responses were straight forward, but I think it was a valuable exercise in getting the child and the parent talking about some faith topics. I think I will tweak how I do this next year, but the concept is a keeper and may even send another interview home later in the year … maybe around Lent?

This week’s topic was the Creation Stories. This is a good way to start because it is something that most of them are already familiar with. We discuss what happens in each story, how the stories differ, what the stories tell us about God and what our roles are as human beings in relation to the rest of creation. I love how this concept of stewardship ties into the one of the Church’s social teachings. Even at 6th grade, these teachings are relevant.

During class, we got into an off topic discussion on Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. I don’t remember how we got there, but there were a lot of questions around this topic, and I mean a lot:  ”Who goes to heaven?” “What is Purgatory?” “Once you go to Hell, can you ever get out?” “How long do you have to spend in Purgatory?” “Do animals go to Heaven?” “What do you mean squirrels don’t go to Heaven?” “If I die with my dog, my dog doesn’t go to Heaven?” I’m expecting some hate mail from the animal responses, but we’ll see how it goes. That being said, it was a lively discussion and it gave me a sign. There is interest on their part and there are questions that they are looking to have answered. That means that there is hope in enhancing their faith forward this year if I go about it the right way.

Before class ended, I handed out rosary beads to all of my students in honor of October being the month of the Rosary and a small pamphlet on how to pray the Rosary. I’m hoping this may spark a devotion or two at home. I found out as I was leaving class, that a few of my students asked our Pastor to bless their new Rosary so I have hope that there is interest and that the seeds that I plant may bear fruit after all.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.