What other music resources would you recommend for use in a Confirmation program?

The Choir Director as Catechist

Contemporary

• Psalms for the Church Year Vol 1
• Psalms for the Church Year Vol 2

African-American

• Catholic Classics Vol VII – African American Sacred Songs

Traditional

• Catholic Classics Vol 1
• Catholic Classics Vol 2
• More Than 50 Most Loved Hymns

Instrumental

• Be Not Afraid – David Phillips

I have a number of CDs by individual artists (David Haas, Grayson Warren Brown, etc.) however I am focusing here on collections of hymns. Any recommendations to add?

• “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”
• “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”
• “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.”

Repetition, of course. We human beings tend to repeat ourselves whenever we feel strongly about something, are excited about something, or want to convince ourselves about something. And just in case you’re thinking that this is old-fashioned, take a look at the opening lyrics of a top ten song by the Black-Eyed Peas, I’ve Got a Feeling. (don’t show the music video or give lyrics of the entire song to you’re class…innappropriate).

Repetition has NOT gone out of style!

I plan to use this as an introduction to praying a decade of the Rosary with all of the 8th graders tonight before we view a segment of the video Jesus of Nazareth. Since October is the month of the Holy Rosary, we thought it would be appropriate to pray a decade of the Rosary tonight…we’ll pray the 5th Sorrowful Mystery, Jesus dies on the Cross, since that is the segment of the video we will be viewing – the crucifixion of Jesus.

One of the things that young people often complain about is that the Rosary is just repeating the Hail Mary over and over again. Precisely. We repeat ourselves whenever we feel strongly about something, are excited about something, or want to convince ourselves about something.

But I think I already said that!

• For young people, contemporary music is a huge part of their life. It speaks to them in a way that no other medium can.
• I often use contemporary songs to get the attention of my group and to hook their interest.
• Truth be told, I really don’t listen to the same music that kids listen to, but I’m aware of the names of the artists that they listen to: Linkin Park, Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, Shakira, etc.
• I start by knowing what the BIG idea of the lesson is and then and only then do I begin searching for a song to use. Let’s say that that the BIG idea of the lesson is: as a result of this session, the participants will be able to express their TRUST in God.
• I often begin my search for a song by simply Googling. In this case, I Google: songs about trust; or trust songs, or trust lyrics, or variations thereof. I look for songs that speak about trust or the opposite: lack of trust.
• As you search through songs and their lyrics, you need to wear “hip boots” because you will encounter a great deal of objectionable material. Look through the lyrics carefully…you need to be sure that you’re not bringing in anything that has objectionable words or suggestive ideas.
• When I find a song, I go to ITunes and download it…usually 99 cents.
• When I bring it to class, I either dock my IPod or I transfer the song to a CD and play it on a CD player.
• The song is simply a “hook” to get their attention and to engage them. Rarely do I spend more than 10 minutes listening to and focusing on the song. From there, we transition to EXPLORE the content of the lesson: the teachings of the Gospel and the Church, which make up the bulk of the lesson. Throughout the lesson, however, we are able to refer back to the song to make the connection and reinforce the BIG idea.
• A good resource that can help to cut down the amount of time you spend searching is a Website run by Anna Scally called Cornerstone Media Inc. They produce both print and audio materials to “help parents, teachers, youth ministers, pastors, and others to…use the music that young people listen to everyday as a tool to spark dialogue about values and relationships.”
• I don’t hesitate to bring in church hymns to play later on in the session as a “response” to the contemporary song. For example, with the theme of trust, I used a song by Linkin Park called “From the Inside” that speaks of the difficulty of trusting others. At the end of the session, I led a reflection that ended with us listening to “On Eagles’ Wings” which, of course, is about absolute trust in God.

Many people asked if there are lists of contemporary songs that can be used for religious education purposes. I’m not aware of any such catalogue but Cornerstone Media is about as close as you can get. If anyone knows of other resources, please chime in!

Some months ago, I posted about a Confirmation Intensive session that we did at my parish in which we used contemporary music to introduce the Seven Deadly Sins, the Seven Virtues, and the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. That post includes a chart of all the songs we used as well as links to the lyrics of those songs. Click here to access that post.

I look forward to hearing from you about your take on using contemporary music in religious education!

What Lenten Hymns Teach

• Ask the young people to identify some of their favorite songs that they keep on their Ipod or other MP3 players.
• Explain that some songs and CDs are labeled with warnings that the content is “explicit.” Tell the young people that, for better or worse, songs teach us, and that songs with explicit lyrics can teach us that certain unacceptable behaviors (such as violence against women) are OK.
• Tell the young people that, by the same token, songs can teach us positive messages. If possible, name a few contemporary songs with positive messages (for example: “If Everyone Cared” by Nickelback; “Beautiful Day” by U2; “Soak Up the Sun” by Cheryl Crow)
• Point out that at Mass, we sing songs (hymns) that teach us about our faith and that, during the season of Lent, we sing some traditional Lenten hymns.
• Arrange to have some hymnals from the church on hand and invite the young people to locate some of the following examples of Lenten hymns.
  • Stabat Mater (At the Cross Her Station Keeping)
  • O Sacred Head Surrounded
  • Be With Me Lord
  • The Glory of These Forty Days
  • Hosea
  • All Glory, Laud, and Honor
  • Jesus, Remember Me
  • Attende Domine – Hear, O Lord
  • Forty Days and Forty Nights
  • (I’m sure there are many other wonderful Lenten hymns that I’ve not mentioned, but liturgical music is not my area of expertise. Don’t limit yourself to my list! And by all means, send me your own suggestions!)
• Arrange the young people in groups of 3 or 4 and assign a song or songs to each group and tell them to summarize what the song teaches us about the season of Lent (i.e. if you didn’t know anything about Lent and all you had was this song, what would you learn about Lent from it?)
• If possible, arrange to play recordings of some of these hymns or arrange to have a choir member, cantor, or liturgical musician join you to play/sing these songs for the young people.
• After each song is played, have the young people report what the song teaches.

Each catechist had a CD player and a CD with the appropriate songs for their session.

• I covered the 7 deadly sins (since I was most familiar with the activity, I gave myself the biggest number of songs to go through) while the others divided up the topics as follows: Chris (the Theological Virtues); John (the Cardinal Virtues); Mary Kay (the Gifts of the Holy Spirit that help us to KNOW God’s will); Jim (the Gifts that help us to DO God’s will).
• The kids were pretty animated by the format. I even received a few comments complimenting the choice of songs!
• They seemed to be able to match the songs with the corresponding deadly sin, virtue, or Gift of the Spirit quite easily and were quick to call out the answer when they figured it out.
• The kids were very comfortable swaying to the music, rocking their heads, tapping the table, moving their hands and arms – all unsolicited – just a natural response to music they enjoy. In only a couple of cases did a few kids get a bit silly and overreact…that’s to be expected…the acitivity invites reaction.
• I observed a good deal of “connectedness” during the sessions…kids making eye contact with me as I offered a few comments about the song and the corresponding deadly sin. Kids who are musically inclined were very animated and were eager to show their friends how “astute” they were when it came to the music scene.
• At the end of each mini-session, I tried to see if, as a group, they could name the deadly sins, and they typically did quite well.
• At the end of the evening, I asked each of my students to summarize something they learned. This turned out to be a bit disappointing because they seemed very tired and worn out (almost slap happy) at this point and I can’t blame them…that’s a long day for them…it was coming up on 9 pm!
• Chatting with the other catechists afterward, we agreed that it went very well and that it engaged the kids in a creative manner and acheived the desired effect. We also agreed that one more Confirmation intensive will be quite enough – 4 of them are just right, otherwise the kids will become over-tired and will resent the time being put in, even if it’s a fun experience.

I know that the kids will never be able to hear these 21 songs again without remembering that they relate to either a deadly sin, a virtue, or a Gift of the Holy Spirit! I call it the “lesson that keeps on teaching!”

Now, before I share this, I want to make a disclaimer that I may have made before but bears repeating. The activity I’m about to describe to you took many hours – several days, actually - to plan. I want to make it clear that the average catechist is NOT expected to spend this much time planning sessions. Please remember that, for all intents and purposes, I am a full-time professional catechist (if there is such a thing) and I have the luxury of sitting at my desk all day brainstorming and then planning these types of experiences. That’s why I am eager to share them with you because most catechists are lucky to be able to spend an hour or so preparing for lessons due to something called “life!”

Having said that, here’s what I’d like to offer. The focus of this session will be on “the SEVENS”: the deadly sins (the “poison”); the virtues (the “antidote”); and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (the “ingredients” for the “antidote”). By the way, this session draws from chapter 5 of Confirmed in the Spirit. I have found contemporary songs that speak to EACH of these items (yes, 21 songs) and the gist of the evening will be the catechists playing segments of these songs and inviting the young people to match them to the appropriate deadly sin, virtue, or Gift of the Holy Spirit that are being focused on in that mini-session. This will occur over 5 separate mini-sessions, each 10 minutes long. I’ll spare the remaining details and offer you the good stuff. Here’s my list of songs that I think speak to the 7 deadly sins, the 7 virtues, and the 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments, suggestions.

Note: you’ll see that I have these arranged in such a way so that the virtue is offered as an “antidote” to the deadly sin, and the Gift of the Spirit can be seen as an ingredient in that “antidote.”