I was absolutely delighted to have an enjoyable 10-minute conversation with one of my 8th graders before class last night!

This doesn’t happen often for me. For one, the kids usually don’t arrive early or stay after class. Second, I don’t usually seek out conversations…it’s just not my style. Third, I’m very careful about not presenting myself as their “buddy” – I’m not seeking their friendship, just their apprenticeship.

So, needless to say, I was surprised when one of my students arrived early last night as we (all 5 catechists met together last night in one room to show a segment of Jesus of Nazareth) were getting things set up. I was dutifully connecting my laptop to the LCD projector when I heard a “Hi, Mr. Paprocki!” It turns out this this young person has decided to serve as a catechist’s aide for the first session of RE that takes place before our session. Needless to say, she was already in the building and came over to the room in which we were gathering.

She has chosen to serve as an aide for her Confirmation service and she is working with the kids who have special needs. As I continued to attach my wires, she pulled up a chair and I asked her to tell me about her experience. She was just so thrilled to tell me all about the kids she was working with and what she’s learning from them! Her catechist even invited her to come in with some ideas to reach the kids so I helped her brainstorm some ideas for presenting the Our Father to them next week.

She also was telling me about the things she likes about our class that she wants to do with “her kids” such as passing the candle around to invite students to pray a petition.

We continued with a pleasant, relaxed conversation as I continued to set up my AV equipment and, what I enjoyed most about it, was the way she kept talking about her kids that she was now serving. Might she be a budding catechist?!

I have to admit to being very guarded in such situations, especially when the student is a young lady. We all need to be fully aware of our role in providing a safe environment for kids, mindful of engaging them in such a manner that clearly communicates boundaries.

What a privilege to be able to interact with our young people in this manner! It’s humbling (and refreshing!) to know that some of them find us worthy of speaking to!

What do all of the following have in common?

• “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!

Here’s a fun and engaging activity you can enjoy either by yourself or, if you have Internet capability in your classroom, with your students. It’s called the Voices of the Saints Quiz: Which One Are You?

It’s a fun way to learn about the saints as described by Bert Ghezzi in his book, Voices of the Saints: A 365-Day Journey with Our Spiritual Companions.

I turned out to be Saint Anthony of Padua, who, the site tells me, “generated spiritual renewal,” had great “speaking abilities,” and “was physically unimpressive.” How’d they know?

I enjoyed a proud moment the other day when I was handed a copy of my book, Living the Mass, translated into Chinese! The translation was done by Cecilia Tao, a friend of Fr. George Lane, S.J., President of Loyola Press. I co-authored Living the Mass with Fr. Dom Grassi in 2005. Cecilia tells me that the book is able to be sold in China in churches but not in bookstores. Here’s a pic of the “event.”

Receiving my Chinese copy of Living the Mass - left to right: Francis Jin (Cecilia's husband), Sharon Roth (Loyola Press), Joe P., Cecilia Tao, Fr. George Lane, S.J. (President, Loyola Press)