My third-grade class likes to read aloud during our faith formation classes. Fortunately, I have no shortage of volunteers: they all want to take turns reading. While this is a good problem for a teacher to have, it’s not without its drawbacks. I struggle with how to be fair in calling on students to read aloud. Whenever I ask for a volunteer to read, they all squirm and jump around, calling out, “Me! Me! Pick […]
While you may not be able to bring Pope Francis to your faith formation session as a guest speaker, you can still bring him closer to the children you teach! By now, I’m sure you have heard of the amazing book, Dear Pope Francis. In this book (also available in Spanish), Pope Francis answers questions from children around the world. Some are fun. Some are serious. And some will quietly break your heart. But all […]
There are few people that we know better than the members of our own family and our closest friends. We know one another’s strengths and abilities, and we also know one another’s limitations and weaknesses. Like the Pharisees in the Gospel for the fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C, we may be tempted to focus on the faults and sins that familiarity with one another can sometimes reveal. As family members and friends, however, we also […]
Last year was my first solo direction of the liturgy for children receiving First Holy Communion. At my parish, this Mass is not part of our regular weekend liturgies. This gave me the ability to ensure that every child had a role. Although we celebrated two beautiful liturgies, I felt that they were lacking a critical element: the involvement of the entire parish. This year I have been trying to reinforce that our celebration of First […]
Parishes in our diocese were asked some years ago to take on the task of introducing our families to the Restored Order of the Sacraments. For those unfamiliar with the term, it is used in regards to a shift in the preparation and celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation from the order of Baptism followed by First Eucharist at about age seven or eight, followed a few years later by Confirmation (between the ages of 12 […]
I knew we had a lot of ground to cover when I asked for examples of miracles Jesus performed and one of the students said, “When he gave fish to two guys.” That didn’t sound too miraculous, so I asked the boy if he thought that sounded impressive, and he admitted it didn’t. One of his classmates helped by offering that he thought there were 2,000 people fed with fish—getting closer to the famous miracle […]
I can happily report that our venture into creating small faith-sharing groups during Lent at Christ the King Parish in Chicago has been successful; thanks be to God! Seven groups met for the first four weeks of Lent to reflect on the upcoming Sunday Gospel readings using materials that I provided through my blog. Each group averaged between 10 and 15 participants and met in homes or in the rectory on different days and times, […]
The Pharisees taught a very scrupulous observance of Jewish Law. In their interpretation and practice, observant Jews who shared table fellowship with sinners would be made unclean. Like Jesus, the Pharisees hoped to lead sinners back to God. The Pharisees, however, required that sinners first become ritually clean—observant of the Pharisees’ interpretation of Jewish Law—before sharing table fellowship. This appears to be one of the major differences between the Pharisees and Jesus. Jesus reaches out […]
This is the final article in a series about leading prayer. If you have read the previous installments of this series on leading prayer, you have prepared or practiced strategies for leading group prayer at a gathering or meeting: Setting the Stage: Creating the Space for Prayer (When we pray in a space other than church, it is essential to include symbols, sacramentals, images, and more.) Best Practices for Leading Group Prayer (Prayer is part […]
Each year, the Archdiocese of Omaha requires all third-grade Catholic-school teachers to teach the Apostles’ Creed. Teaching young children to memorize a prayer involves some traditional and non-traditional methods. I am always looking for new methods to help my students since every class is different. What worked with one class may not work with another. I dedicate two weeks to teaching my class the Creed before giving them a test. During the first week, I […]
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