At the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership (NCCL) in Houston this week, I was blown away by the presentation by John Allen, NCR’s Senior Vatican Correspondent and CNN’s Senior Vatican Analyst, who spoke about what he calls the Mega-Trends in Catholicism: The Forces Turning the Catholic Church UpsideDown.
What I like about Mr. Allen’s presentation (aside from being very engaging) is that he sees his job as informing…he informs all of us of what is happening inside Rome and in the Church around the world. He’s not pushing an agenda but rather, is telling us to recognize the signs of the times.
Take a look for yourself at the mega-trends that he identifies:
http://ncrcafe.org/node/782
Also, be sure to check out his weekly online column, All Things Catholic. Very informative. He tells it like it is and is very reliable and objective…he is widely trusted and respected by Catholics at both ends of the spectrum (liberal and conservative).
For this evening’s class, I plan to focus on the Ten Commandments. One of the things that the Confirmation assessment revealed is that many of the young people in my group do not know the Commandments well at all. Here’s my plan:
- Two Sides to Every Coin - I’ll begin by flipping a coin several times, asking different young people to call out “heads” or “tails.” I’ll use this to illustrate that, just as every coin has 2 sides, there are 2 sides to every relationship: what we are given (what we expect) and what we must give (what is expected of us). Tonight we’re going to look at the 2 sides of our relationship with God.
- Terms of Agreement - I’ll refer to Websites such as MySpace and FaceBook to illustrate how, whenever we sign up or register for a Web site, we are asked to accept the Terms of Agreement, which we rarely look at. Knowing that most young people have a MySpace or FaceBook account, I’ve printed out the Terms of Agreement from the sites. In exchange for getting this wonderful free space on the Web to share our story with others, we are required to follow many rules…for MySpace, 10 pages in all! In our relationship with God, we are asked to follow 10 rules (not 10 pages worth of rules!). I will then distribute a worksheet (Terms of Agreement worksheet) that invites them to imagine that they have their own personal Web site and that people can register to become their friend, only after agreeing to the Terms of Agreement that he or she has set forth. The worksheet invites them to identify 5 things that they expect of a friend. I’ll use this to show how any relationship carries expectations.
- Covenant - I’ll emphasize the word covenant as describing the agreement between God and his people…a solemn and sacred relationship.
- The Ten Commandments - God gives of himself totally in this relationship…he gave his very own Son, Jesus. We, in turn, are asked to love God above all else and our neighbor as ourself. I’ll arrange the young people in pairs and allow them to assist each other in completing a worksheet on the wording of the Ten Commandments. The worksheet )Ten Commandments Worksheet pdf) contains clues for each commandment (i.e. it’s more of a fill-in-the-blank or complete-the-sentence worksheet: “Remember to keep…(holy the Sabbath Day)”
- I will then go over each of the Commandments with them, seeking to explain as much as possible what each Commandment means for our daily living.
- I will then distribute another Ten Commandments worksheet, which is a duplicate of the first one except there are no clues on this one. The challenge now is to recall the commandments from memory based on the learning in the session. They will do this individually, not in pairs.
- We will conclude with a reflective prayer on the Ten Commandments.
Then, it’s off to the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership (NCCL) in Houston. I’ll meet you back here Friday!
Some people have been asking me about resources for the Pope’s upcoming U.S. visit (April 15-18). Kids may have questions and this could be a good teaching moment. The U.S. bishops have an official Web site for the papal visit at http://www.uspapalvisit.org/
In particular, there is a link there for teaching resources.
Here’s an exchange I recently had with a catechist working in RCIA for children:
Dear Joe,
I am a catechist teaching RCIA for children. This is my first time teaching RCIA. If you could recommend some approaches to answering questions to children grades 3rd through 5th RCIA, I would really appreciate your help. Here are some of their questions:
Why do we decorate the church with a barren looking tree during Lent? Who made God and why aren’t we from a different planet? What is the difference between a Catholic and a Christian?
Thank you, Joe!
What wonderful questions! I just wrote a post this morning about a question one of my 8th graders asked (”Would it have been better if Jesus didn’t die?”)
This is such a great opportunity for you to be able to work with these young people during such a meaningful time in their lives. You are also very thoughtful to be so concerned with approaching their questions in the most effective manner. How we respond to questions can have a lasting impact on a young person.
My first thought is to affirm the questions and the questioners. Let them know that they have asked a good question.
Next, show that you are interested in what they may be thinking. Invite the others in the group to grapple with the question. You can say something like, “That’s a good question that -N- just asked. What do you think? How would you respond to that question?” Let them know that it is good to grapple with issues of our faith and that asking questions is what disciples do…it’s how we learn.
Now, on to how to address the specific questions you listed:
- why do we decorate the church with a barren looking tree during Lent?
The Church has long compared the 40 days of Lent to the 40 year journey of Israel in the desert where their faith was tempted. In the same way, Jesus grappled with temptations in the desert for 40 days before beginning his ministry. For us, Lent is our journey through the desert - a barren area - where we face up to our temptations, away from the clutter of everyday life (this is why we give things up during Lent…to clear away the clutter).
- Who made God and why aren’t we from a different planet?
This is one of the wonderful and mysterious things about God - God has no beginning and no end. Nobody made God. God just is. That’s why when Moses asked God what his name was, God said, “I Am Who Am.” This means that God just is. This is a very hard concept for even adults to understand. God is the creator and we are creatures (created by God). The story in Genesis chapter one of how God created the world tells us that before the world came to be, God already existed and that he created all of creation out of love for us. We come from God, not from another planet, because we have an intimate relationship with our creator God.
- What is the difference between a Catholic and a Christian?
One of my 8th graders asked this on the first night of class this year! Of course, Catholics ARE Christians! The term Christian is a broad term that describes anyone who is a follower of Jesus and has been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For the first one thousand years of the Christian Church, there was only one kind of Christian…anyone who followed Jesus. In the 11th century, the Christian Church became divided between those who followed the leadership of the bishop of Rome (Roman Catholics) and those who followed the leadership of the Patriarch of Constantinople (The Orthodox Church). Then, in the 16th century, the Christian Church became even more divided because of the Protestant Reformation. This means that some Christians chose not to follow the leadership of the bishop of Rome (the pope). These Christians established many different denominations: Lutherans, Calvinists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and so on. They are Christians baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit but they do not follow the leadership of the pope. As Roman Catholics, we are Christians who follow the leadership of the pope and bishops, the successors of the apostles. (Much of this answer will be beyond the younger children but I wanted to provide you with as much as possible and you can adapt it for your various age groups).
Great stuff! Kids ask such wonderful questions!
This exchange was posted with permission and, as always, I posted the catechist’s e-mail anonymously.
On Monday evening, one of the young people asked, “Would it have been better if Jesus didn’t die? Like, if I went into a time machine, went back in time and prevented him from being killed, would that have been better?”
What a wonderful question! I responded by explaining that Jesus came to save us, not to be saved and that, by dying, he showed us the greatest love that anyone can have - selfless love even to the point of giving up one’s life. Likewise, Jesus’ death allowed God to show his power over death, through the Resurrection. There is no avoiding pain, suffering, and death. But now we know that God can overcome all - even death.
How interesting, though, to see the compassion that underlies this question. The young man who asked it is not unlike Peter who couldn’t stomach the thought of Jesus undergoing any form of suffering. Peter, like my student and like most of us, did not understand that the only way to save one’s life is to lose it. (Matthew 16:22-25)
And this question came from one of the students who has given me the hardest time all year! You never know.
Showing a segment of the DVD Jesus of Nazareth worked out beautifully last night.
As I mentioned yesterday, I showed the segment beginning with the Way of the Cross, leading up to the end of the film as the Risen Christ assures his apostles (and us) that he will be with us always. This is about 40 minutes.
I paused the video frequently, pointing out information and asking questions and inviting the young people to ask questions. They indeed had a number of very good questions about Jesus’ death and Resurrection. It made for a very good educational and formative experience. We talked about Nicodemus, Mary Magdelene, the act of crucifixion, the Pharisees, Mary the Mother of Jesus, Veronica who wiped the face of Jesus, the “good thief” (”Dismas”), Jesus crying out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” the apostle John, Peter’s denial, the Jewish burial customs, and the question of whether or not Jesus could have been “spared” this gruesome death. Kids can get into some heavy stuff, eh?
From there, we went right into a reflective prayer, focusing on the story of the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus. The young people were extremely well-behaved (it helps when 2 of the usual trouble-makers are not present) and prayerful.
Back to Jesus of Nazareth, this is a good way to use video in religious education. Be sure to preview the DVD ahead of time and find points at which to pause it and ask and invite questions. It transforms the young people’s mindset from one of being passively entertained to one of being actively engaged in learning. Jesus of Nazareth is a good resource for catechesis because it is quite faithful to Scripture for the most part and, where it isn’t, it allows you the opportunity to point out what Scripture actually does teach. Our young people are so visually-oriented, it is good to provide them with visuals of the Gospel.
