I had a wonderful weekend in New York, visting with catechists at the NY Catechetical Convocation in White Plains on Saturday. The room had a capacity for 135 but folks kept streaming in, standing along the walls or sitting on the floor to join in on our conversation around the theme of “So What? Why Do We Have to Know This?” I picked that title to capture critical question that young people are asking us (whether directly or indirectly) – what does the Gospel have to do with my life? We had a wonderful workshop together albeit a bit too short (an hour – isn’t that always our problem as catechists – never enough time!)

Thanks to all who participated. My apologies for running short on handouts. I brought just enough to handle the room’s capacity…I never imagined we would have such an overflow. For your convenience, I’m making it available here in pdf format.

new-york-catechetical-convocation

As always, if you’d like to keep the conversation going, post a comment or send me an email!

Thanks, New York, for your hospitality. What a wonderful place to celebrate my birthday weekend!

I’ve begun a new feature this year to try to engage the young people through the medium of music. Each week, I bring in a contemporary song to play that is related to the theme of what I am teaching. In some cases, I choose a song that articulates the problem that the Gospel lesson is addressing. For example, for the class that I taught on “Trusting in God’s Goodness,” I played a song by Linkin Park titled From the Inside, a song that expresses an unwillingness to trust. In other cases, I choose a song that illustrates the Gospel message for that lesson, such as this past week, when I played Mariah Carey’s Anytime You Need a Friend to illustrate the notion of what it means to be an Advocate (since we were learning about the Holy Spirit).

How do I find these songs? I Google alot! I often begin just by Googling: popular songs, lyrics, and then a keyword or two related to my theme such as trust or friendship. When I discover a few songs, I go to ITunes and give a quick listen. When I find a song that I want to use, I download it to my IPod and I play it in class through a small docking device I bring with me.

Another good source is Ann Scally’s Web site www.cornerstonemedia.org which provides a subscription to Top Music Countdown/Top 25 Review which evaluates 25 of the top songs on the charts and gives ways to incorporate the songs into your lessons.

In general, I do NOT listen to the music that kids are listening to these days. I’m a classic rock kinda dude. However, I know that music speaks to kids and it’s a great way to “enter through their door” (as St. Ignatius taught) before I lead them out through “my door.” I often “counteract” or juxtapose the contemporary song from the start of class with a traditional church hymn at the end of class which I invite them to listen to and reflect on.

My hope is that I will eventually invite the young people to suggest songs that they think will speak to upcoming themes. Then, I will explore the lyrics (checking for appropriateness) and download the song and invite them to give a little intro to it.

As you probably already know, when I teach class, I like to bring in lots of variety for the kids to make the session very engaging. What’s funny is that, I sometimes end up getting them stirred up! Indeed, sometimes, I am my own worst enemy! When I show a video clip, play a contemporary song, or do a game or activity, their level of energy increases as does the need for me to keep them in line. For our last session, they were on their best behavior during one segment of the session: while we read from the text book, which is, of course, not exactly the most creative and engaging part of class. That does not mean that this was the most effective moment of that session. Quiet students does not necessarily equal attentive or engaged students…for all I know, some of them may just have “zoned out” while we were reading. Anyway, my point is that sometimes, a little voice in me says, “just read from the text for the whole period…look how quiet they are!” However, I would much rather expend the energy to vary their learning experiences even if it means cranking up their energy level at times. I’d rather have them enthusiastic and engaged than lulled.

Overall, Week 3 (last night’s class) went very well. Along the way, however, I encountered a few things that I’m not satisfied with and hope to change. Here’s the run-down:

• we began with a brief prayer and I thought I would introduce the idea of the young people sharing petitions – very simply, thanking God for blessings and praying for the needs of others and/or our own needs. I gave a few examples and told them that we would pass a candle around the group. When they received the candle, they could share a petition aloud or hold the candle silently for 5 seconds or so before passing it along. We began with prayers of thanksgiving and not one student prayed aloud (and there was occasional giggling). I told them that they were being shy and encouraged them to share aloud. Next, we offered prayers for the needs of others and/our ourselves and the result was the same! I commented that they may not be used to sharing prayers out loud with others and said we would continue to do this each week and that I hoped they would begin to feel more comfortable in doing so. I’m sure it’s just going to take 1 or 2 brave souls to break the ice!
• We had a nice review of the first 2 weeks and they did well at recalling the BIG IDEAS…one of them even recalling the word INCARNATION from last week to describe the event of Jesus becoming flesh.
• We introduced the night’s topic: the Holy Spirit and talked about what it means to be an ADVOCATE. We talked about how lawyers, doctors, nurses, counselors, etc. were advocates and that Jesus used this word to describe the Holy Spirit. We then listened to a Mariah Carey song (”Anytime You Need a Friend”) to reinforce the idea of what it means to be an advocate and I told them that many of the lyrics of that song can be compared to what the Holy Spirit wants for us:

Anytime you need a friend
I will be here
You’ll never be alone again
So don’t you fear
Even if you’re miles away
I’m by your side

• We next talked about how we can recognize the Holy Spirit in our lives. I showed a brief clip from the movie Ghost that shows people going to a “spiritual advisor” (played by Whoopi Goldberg) who is a con artist. I explained that this is NOT how we Catholics seek to be in touch with the spiritual world. We don’t believe that there is a separation between the spiritual and physical world that requires some mediator (a psychic, etc.) to reach across for us. Rather, Jesus is our mediator and, through the Incarnation, we recognize that the spiritual and physical worlds come together in our hearts, where the Spirit resides.
• We then read from the text book about the Holy Spirit.
• I showed them a TV antenna (rabbit ears!) that I brought in and asked them to explain what it does. They explained that an antenna is receptive to the signal being sent, making it possible for a TV to display a picture (until Feb. 17, 2009, that is!). I talked about how God created us with “human antennae” which makes it possible for us to be receptive to the Holy Spirit – those “antennae” being our mind, will, emotions, imagination, and memories.
• They next went with their little mini-votive candles to their “sacred space” for a guided reflection in which I told them to pay attention to how the Spirit may be speaking to their minds, wills, emotions, imaginations, and memories. Before starting, I needed to relocate a couple of kids whose sacred spaces were just too close to someone else’s.
• With quiet background instrumental music and the lights dimmed, we spent about 15 minutes in reflective prayer, beginning with some breathing exercises and then just imagining Jesus being present with them and talking and listening to him.
• Throughout the prayer, most of the kids were good except for a couple of voices that continued to make comments aloud and or engaged in some giggling (I have a couple of incessant gigglers! Sweet kids but oh do they giggle!). In all, it was pretty quiet though.
• I gathered them together before we left and gave them feedback about their behavior during the prayer and what they need to do in order for this to be a more productive time. I especially talked about the chatter and giggling and how a few of them needed to overcome that.

So, in all, I felt very good about the session even though I spent a lot of energy dealing with typical adolescent behaviors that make this work so challenging. Knowing that these are typical behaviors, however, helps me to feel more patient with them while at the same time challenging them to show more mature behavior. I definitely feel like we’re making progress. I can’t believe that next week marks a full month that we’ve been in session already!