Archive for December, 2006
I’m participating in a good discussion about liturgical catechesis at www.catechistconnection.net. Here’s my latest comments on liturgical catechesis in response to someone who defines liturgical catechesis the way I would define lectionary catechesis.
“I think most people use the term lectionary catechesis to refer to what you’re talking about (lessons that flow from the Sunday Scripture readings). From my experience, liturgical catechesis is any form of catechesis that prepares one to celebrate the liturgy more fully. Something as simple as preparing a prayer table for Advent with a purple cloth and an Advent wreath and inviting children to sing the refrain of O Come O Come Emmanuel is a form of liturgical catechesis. Or beginning class by asking the children to trace a cross over their forehead, lips, and heart as together you pray, “May the Word of God be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart” is a form of liturgical catechesis. In other words, any religious education program can incorporate liturgical catechesis into their existing format without having to change the entire curriculum. It is simply a matter of integrating our liturgical life into our catechesis so that we are preparing our young people to participate more fully in the Mass.”
What’s your understanding of liturgical catechesis?
Be sure to visit Catechist Connection, a forum for catechists by catechists. It is administered by Elizabeth, from Northeastern Illinois, who describes herself in the following way: “I work in a K-5 elementary school part-time as a Media Clerk. I also teach 4th Grade CCD on the side. And yes, for those who are wondering… I’m a cradle Catholic and PROUD to be Catholic!” (go to www.catechistconnection.net).
In catechesis, we are always inches away from profound issues. Recently, I was collecting some confirmation assignments when one of my students told me that she hadn’t finished hers because “it was a bad week.” She wanted to know if it would be OK with the DRE if she turned in her material the following week. I urged her to be sure to do so. Several more times, she mentioned that “it was a bad week.” Then, after a brief pause, she elaborated: “My father died last week.” In a flash, we had gone from a confirmation assignment to the loss of a parent. Thankfully, I was able to just pause there and spend some time talking with her as she told me about the experience. Then I invited the rest of the class to join in praying for her, her family, and her deceased father. I am grateful that she felt compelled to talk to me about her dad’s death. I can only hope that she felt responded to in a compassionate manner. For all I know, it may be the only thing she remembers about me when all is said and done.
Working with eighth graders, I find that there seems to be no happy medium when it comes to their energy level. I can have them simply read from the text, which gets boring and makes them lethargic, or I can engage them in activities (my preference), which gets them overly excited and creates discipline problems! Sometimes, I feel like my own worst enemy: I get the kids engaged, and then I’m doing all I can to contain their exuberance. Frankly, I prefer that over lethargy. I would much rather have myself worn out by the end of class than have the kids feeling that religious education is boring. To me, the words boring and gospel are wholly incompatible. It is unacceptable to have young people equate being bored with learning about the Creator of the universe!
Some weeks, I feel like being a catechist is the greatest gift on earth and that I have influenced the lives of young people in profoundly significant ways. Other weeks, I feel like I’m completely inadequate and that I’m wasting my breath. Suffice it to say, there are ups and downs to being a catechist. What’s your greatest joy in being a catechist? What is the greatest challenge you face as a catechist?
When catechists ask me what is the most important advice I can offer to increase their effectiveness, I answer in three words: Plan! Plan! Plan! We tend to think that 95 percent of the task of teaching takes place in the classroom. Not so. As a student teacher back in college, I was taught (and I continue to firmly believe) that planning and preparation make up about 70 percent of the task of teaching. The more carefully and thoroughly you plan and prepare, the more successful and effective you will be as a catechist. I know it’s not easy. Catechists have full-time jobs, are raising kids of their own, and have multiple commitments in the parish and community. However, I guarantee that if you devote a significant amount of time to planning and preparation, you will see significant results. How do you plan and prepare for your lessons? What works for you?
One more thing about the Advent Reconciliation Service from last week. As the service was winding down and most of the kids had gone to confess their sins to the priests, I saw one priest walk over to another priest to confess. I quietly directed a couple of kids to look over to see that priests go to confession too. One girl’s eyes nearly popped out and she whispered to me, “I thought priests are supposed to be perfect!” I wondered to myself, “Where do they get this from?” I told her that priests are human beings with faults like the rest of us and that they need forgiveness too. It’s no wonder that young people shy away from the thought of a vocation if they think it means being perfect. Yes, we need to teach them a respect for priests and religious, but we also need to help them see that all people, including priests and religious, struggle with the call to holiness…a call we ALL share. In a sense, to be holy is to be perfect but God alone is holy (perfect). When we refer to people as holy, we are saying that God’s presence is revealed in that person. We can all strive to reveal rather than conceal God’s presence in us.
I mentioned in an earlier post that some behavior issues, especially among the boys, had been an ongoing nuisance. Finally, during the class preparing them for reconciliation, I calmly read the riot act to them. I said, “We are talking about God! We are talking about Jesus! To laugh and make light of things during this class is to make light of our relationship with God.” I went on to explain that, like a coach, I’m here to help them learn some knowledge and skills to excel, not in a sport, but in the Catholic way of life, which I firmly believe is “the Way.” That thought proved to be a sobering and positive thought for them. Later, as we discussed examples of mortal and venial sin, I proposed that misbehaving in religious education class could be considered a venial sin (“a failure to observe necessary moderation,” CCC glossary). This was an eye-opener for them and seemed to open the way for much-improved behavior as the class progressed. A sprinkle of guilt, used sparingly and wisely, can serve as an excellent tool for growth.
P.S. As long as we’re on the subject of “children behaving badly,” I have a free gift for you: Ten Tips for Maintaining Discipline. Just click on the link in the column to the right titled “Free Catechist Tips.”
In preparing the eighth graders for the Advent Reconciliation Service, I got into a good discussion with them about sin. Kids are full of questions about what “qualifies” as a mortal sin and what can be characterized as a venial sin. I was encouraged by how comfortable they were in asking questions about some very difficult subjects, such as violence, homosexuality, and adultery. One of the boys asked, “Is sex bad?” They all looked astonished when I replied, “No, it’s a sacrament!” My explanation of the sacrament of matrimony was, I believe, the first time most of them had heard a discussion of sex begin with the positive.
One of my students just won’t quit. He talks out of turn, makes noises, laughs, and draws attention to himself every chance he gets. I’ll soon be taking him aside for a heart-to-heart, but I will be sure to focus on his behavior and not on him. In cases like this, I strive to say things like “You know, you’re really a great kid and very likable . . . that’s why it’s so disappointing that your behavior has been so poor. It’s really beneath you to act that way. You have so much more potential than you are showing, and I’m challenging you now to live up to that potential.” I believe that to discipline someone is to call them to something greater, not to bring them down. Tell me about a situation involving discipline that you have faced or are facing.
