My Article in Catechist Magazine
March 12th, 2008 by Joe
Here is a link to my article in Catechist magazine!
The Liturgical Catechist: 10 Ways to Make Your Lessons More Liturgical
Archive for March, 2008
Odds ‘n Ends
March 11th, 2008 by Joe
I had a list of topics that I’ve wanted to blog about and couldn’t decide which one to pick so I thought I’d address them all! Here goes:
- They came back! Kudos, once again to my DRE, Arlene, for making it clear that Confirmation is not the end. All of my students (save for one absentee) returned last night for their first class after Confirmation!
- Their biggest comment about Confirmation? “The bishop put SO much oil on my forehead!” I told them that this was a symbol of the abundance of the Spirit and of the outpouring of the Spirit’s gifts.
- My blog has been nominated for a Catholic Blog Award! My category is Best Individual Catholic Blog. Thanks to whomever it was that nominated me.
- Here’s some feedback about report cards in religious education from a DRE:
Dear Joe,
You asked for the results or feedback concerning the use of report cards in our program this year. In general it went well. I think the catechists liked the opportunity to use report cards for feedback. I didn’t receive negative comments from any of them.
We gave about 150 report cards. I heard of only six negative comments by parents. Only two were directed to me. They boiled down to saying there should be no report cards for religious education. One thought it puts too much pressure on children. The other wasn’t happy with one of her child’s marks.
What I hope to find out from catechists is whether or not a significant number of children begin to strive to do well and improve their weak areas. In other words, was this effort motivational.
- Lots of stories on the news about the Vatican announcing “new sins.” I find it amusing how many newscasters introduced this story with a smirk on their face as though to imply “that wacky old Church…still hung up on the idea of sin while we know better.”
- Another thought about the “new sins.” There’s a saying about heresies that goes like this: “there are no new heresies…just old ones in new packaging.” The same can be true of the “new sins” identified by the Church. They really are not new but the same old “seven deadly sins” in new packaging.
- Best quote related to the “new sins” story: “Father Antonio Pelayo, a Spanish priest and Vatican expert noted that it is time for both sinners and confessors to get over their obsession with sex and think about other ways humans hurt each other in the world in which they live.” Well said, Fr. Pelayo.
- If I have time today, I’ll watch Oprah’s second session on spirituality and offer some thoughts tomorrow or the next day.
Post-Confirmation
March 10th, 2008 by Joe
Tonight, we enter into the post-confirmation era which begins with the big question: will they be back?
Last year, all of the confirmandi returned for religious education classes after the sacrament was celebrated. Our DRE does a good job of communicating to parents that confirmation is NOT the end of the the religious education program. Let’s hope the message got through again this year.
Even so, tonight’s class will be somewhat smaller than usual because a number of 8th graders are participating in the Living Stations of the Cross which takes place next week and tonight is their rehearsal.
Because of the small number of students I’ll have tonight, I’ve decided to show a segment of Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth that depicts the way of the cross, Jesus’ death, and the Resurrection (about 45 minutes). This version is powerful but not as graphic as Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ which I feel is unsuitable for some young people.
While viewing the video, I will be calling the students one at a time to meet with me in the hallway just outside the door to show them their confirmation assessment and to point out to them what they need to get a better grasp of (in most cases, it is the Ten Commandments and the Seven Sacraments).
More On Oprah’s “Spirituality” Classes
March 7th, 2008 by Joe
Oprah Winfrey is hosting a 10-week course (online, free of charge) titled A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, based on the book of the same name by Eckhart Tolle. Over 700,000 people enrolled for the class with over 500,000 attempting to participate live on Monday, March 3 for the first session. Some had trouble viewing because of the overload.
Tolle describes himself as a contemporary spiritual teacher who is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition. A New Earth is Tolle’s follow-up to the 2,000,000 copy bestselling inspirational book, The Power of Now which encouraged readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived “in the now.” In A New Earth, Tolle attempts to show how transcending our ego-based state of consciousness is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to ending conflict and suffering throughout the world. Oprah says this online course/Webcast is the most exciting thing she has ever done.
I viewed the first session (it is available on Oprah’s website) and have the following thoughts to share:
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I give Oprah credit for attempting to do such a positive thing, especially when TV and other media offer us so much negativity, violence, and drivel.
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Clearly there is a hunger for spirituality as evidenced by the incredible numbers of people participating in this course. The key for us as Catholics and especially as catechists is to help others recognize that Catholicism is a spiritual path. Too often, the Catholic faith is perceived as simply a set of dogmas and doctrines. And yet, Catholicism has such a rich and deep treasury of spirituality. Apparently people are not finding spirituality in the Catholic Church and so they are searching elsewhere.
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Tolle appears to be a meek and humble individual who sincerely desires to help people.
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At the heart of Tolle’s message is the invitation to find a stillness within. He invokes Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”
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Most of what Tolle teaches can be found within the Catholic Tradition and with much greater depth than he offers. The Cloud of Unknowing does a much better job of teaching the type contemplation that Tolle is proposing.
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In general, Tolle does not talk about God but about “consciousness.” Oprah calls this consciousness, God. The invitation to be still is to get in touch with the greater consciousness (feel free to call it divinity) that dwells within us.
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It would seem that the underlying message in what Tolle and Oprah are teaching is that we should come to identify ourselves with the divine. This is not too different from the “you are God” message of The Secret that Oprah was proclaiming last year.
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I find Tolle’s message to be very vapid (flavorless) – the goal is to be more in touch with “life” and with “a greater consciousness” – these concepts are very amorphous and impersonal. Spirituality is concerned with reaching beyond ourselves – transcending. The question is, what or who are you reaching out to? Catholic Tradition teaches us that we are reaching out to a personal God and entering into a relationship, not just tapping into some amorphous consciousness or force.
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Within the Catholic Tradition, the concept of contemplation is how we learn to “be still” and know that God is God. In recent times, the practice of Centering Prayer invites us to interior silence.
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Tolle insists that the goal to discovering our life’s purpose is to get in touch with life’s purpose and to ask life what our purpose is within that greater context. I’m not sure how you “ask life” anything because I’m not sure how he defines life. What exactly is this “life” that we are talking to? A person? A force? A thing?
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The first “caller” or “skyper” (referring to the technology used to make video calls) identified herself as a Catholic and wanted to know how to reconcile Tolle’s spirituality with her Catholicism. Tolle attempts to assure people that nothing he teaches is in conflict with their religious tradition. This is well-intentioned but it is naïve and falls into the “basically we all believe the same thing” mentality.
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Oprah and Tolle have an aversion to the word dogma. They stress that Tolle has no dogma to teach…just “pure spirituality.” The word dogma technically means an opinion or belief (or set of opinions or beliefs) that one thinks is true and authoritative. They, and many folks today, see dogma as restrictive of individual freedom and therefore as stifling and bad. Tolle does not realize that the moment he asserts that there is a “Consciousness” that we can all tap into, he is presenting dogma: his belief that he thinks is true and, for those who want to follow his way, authoritative. Catholics believe that dogma is part of the gift of God’s revelation, entrusted to the Church, and handed down from generation to generation to guide us to live in close relationship with God and with one another.
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Oprah says that she walked away from her traditional Baptist upbringing when her preacher proclaimed that our God is a “jealous God.” (see Exodus 20:5) She felt that this trait could not be applied to God. It’s true that we sometimes run into passages in the Bible that are difficult to interpret but that is why we, as Catholics, are so grateful for our Tradition…there is wisdom to be found to help us! This passage speaks of God’s passionate desire to be in relationship with us. Jealousy here is not indicative of envy but of deep desire and zeal.
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Oprah says that Jesus came to show us “the higher consciousness.” Jesus of course, never used that term. Rather, he tells us that he came to show us the Father…someone with whom he is in relationship . Oprah also says that Jesus came to show us the principles that we need to attain this higher consciousness. Jesus did not come to give principles but to give himself
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Tolle is right in saying that religion is a doorway to spirituality and that sometimes that door is closed, preventing us from a deeper spirituality. This can and does happen unfortunately.
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Oprah quotes from a book by Elizabeth Lesser called The Seeker’s Guide in which Lesser describes the difference between what she calls the old spirituality and the new spirituality. Lesser says that in the old spirituality, everything was hierarchical, God was defined, and there was only one path. According to her, in the new spirituality, you are your own best authority, we listen for our own definitions of who God is, and there are many paths. In others words, “no one can tell me what to believe or what to do. I just find it out within myself as I go along because God is in me and if I pay attention, I’ll figure it all out.”
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Tolle does not speak of sin but of dysfunction and how, through our own negativity and dysfunction, we all contribute to a collective consciousness that is dysfunctional. He rightly asserts that we need to examine ourselves to see how we are contributing to this dysfunction. It would seem, however, that in the end, we “fix” ourselves and thus can “fix” the collective consciousness. I don’t perceive any notion of being saved or redeemed by a higher power.
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Tolle speaks of the “voice in my head” but does not refer to it as conscience (at least not in this program). He says this voice is simply conditioned thinking and that, when we experience an awakening, we can move beyond it. He doesn’t stress conscience formation but rather “awakening” to that place within ourselves that is untouched and where the eternal abides.
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Tolle compares this awakening to the consciousness expanding that people attain through drugs but says the difference is that, with drugs, we always fall back to where we were whereas, through his method, there is no falling back.
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I couldn’t help but think of St. Thérèse of Lisiuex and her “little way” when Tolle talked about accessing the power of the present moment, especially in simple things. St. Thérèse
, the Little Flower, does a much better job of addressing this concept. -
Tolle said flat out that God is another word for consciousness. I’m not sure how he comes to this conclusion since, as far as I know, God has not revealed himself to us as consciousness.
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Tolle insists that “how spiritual you are has nothing to do with what you believe.” I find that very puzzling. Again, to be spiritual is to seek transcendence…to reach beyond oneself for that which is greater than our self. We need to know (to believe, to trust in) what or whom we are reaching out toward.
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Finally, Oprah invited people to return for the next session to participate in this process of getting closer to who you really are and honoring your life’s calling and purpose. Those are nice sounding words but the only problem is that it is all so me-centered. It’s all about me. And this discovery all takes place in a vacuum…God is (or may be) involved but only in the sense that it is the God that I discover within myself. I heard nothing about recognizing one’s responsibility to fellow human beings. You may be called to that, but only if the God within you reveals it to you. No one or nothing outside of yourself can tell you what to do because then, we’re in to dogma and that, apparently is bad.
It’s Boring!
March 6th, 2008 by Joe
How often do we hear kids say, either about Mass or about religious education class, “It’s boring”? Too often, I’m sure.
Kids (and most of us in general) are engaged when there is drama involved. That’s why sports is so big…we don’t know how the game is going to turn out and so we are engaged. Movies and video games are big because we don’t know how they will end.
One of the challenges we face as catechists is to present the drama of the Christian story. This can be particularly challenging because, on the surface, we know how the story ends. During Holy Week, we enter into the dramatic events of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. And yet, we know “how the story ends.” Where’s the drama?
The drama is, in fact, discovered in how the death and resurrection of Christ intersects with our own lives.WE DO NOT KNOW HOW OUR OWN PERSONAL STORY “ENDS.” We do not know how the Paschal Mystery will “play out” in our own lives.
The only way that the Christian story, and Mass, and religious education can be perceived as boring is if we in general find life to be boring. Granted, we do experience redundancy in our lives, but there is nothing boring about the human experience. Our challenge is to tap into the drama of the human experience and show our young people how the death and resurrection of Jesus is found in that experience and how the paschal mystery of Jesus can transform our experience.
One way we can bring our young people to this realization is to be sure that we are always addressing the profound issues of life going on around us. We need to invite our young people to pray for and keep in mind those people who are sick, suffering, oppressed, enduring hardships, experiencing the loss of a loved one, or a relationship, or of a job, and so on. We need to invite the young people to share prayers for people in their own lives who are experiencing these things, as well as the great joys of life…births, accomplishments, victories, vacations, engagements and marriages, and so on.
Life is not boring. It is full of turns and twists that can make our heads spin. We need to invite our young people to plunge headlong into the mystery of life and help them to see how God is found in the midst of it. We do our young people no favors by suggesting that following Jesus is fun or that it will take away all of our problems. The biggest favor we can offer our young people is to recognize the profound complexities of life within the context of the death and Resurrection of Jesus.
My thanks to Fr. J. Glenn Murray, S.J. for touching on this topic in his workshop at the L.A. Congress this past weekend. It obviously made me think!
Let’s See What Oprah’s Up To
March 5th, 2008 by Joe
I hear that Oprah Winfrey is boasting that nearly 3/4 of a million people are signed up for a free online course that she is offering on “spirituality.”
It’s titled A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (based on a book of the same name by Eckhart Tolle). It invites participants to “connect with others who are seeking to become more aware of themselves-and the world around them.”
750,000 participants is nothing to sneeze at and I am not making light of what Oprah is offering. I think she genuinely and sincerely wants to help people. I put quotations marks around the word “spirituality” because I’m not exactly sure how she defines that and my guess is that it is not necessarily how we would define spirituality in the Catholic Tradition.
I suggest that we pay attention to Oprah’s online course, look into it, and see exactly how the Catholic Tradition can and does offer us opportunities to “awaken to our life’s purpose.”
If any folks, especially catechists, are participating in Oprah’s course, I invite you to share your thoughts, insights, comments, reflections, and questions here. I am not about to hold Oprah’s efforts up to ridicule. My goal is to explore what it is in her message and method that is attracting so many people and to see how we as Catholics, and especially as catechists, can develop more effective strategies for inviting people to consider the spiritual path given to us by Jesus and his Church.
The Liturgical Catechist
March 4th, 2008 by Joe
The March, 2008, issue of Catechist magazine includes an article written by yours truly! The article is titled The Liturgical Catechist: 10 Ways You Can Make Your Lessons More Liturgical. I hope you get a chance to read it and send me your comments.
Speaking of comments, I’m still trying to resolve a backup in the Comments moderation queue so if you recently sent a comment and it’s not showing, hang in there!
I’m Back!
March 3rd, 2008 by Joe
Of course, you probably didn’t know that I was gone!
I was at the L.A. Religious Education Congress from Friday through Sunday. It was a wonderful experience. One of the things that I like about the L.A. Congress is that it is a very “large tent.” By that I mean that it fully reflects the unity and diversity of the Church at a time when some are seeking to make the tent smaller by emphasizing uniformity.
Anyway, I’ll resume posting on topics of interest to catechists tomorrow. In the meantime, while I was away, over 1000 comments have piled up for moderation (99% are spam) and are clogging up the system. So if you sent a comment recently and it has not been posted, bear with me…I need some cyber-drano!
