Please take a look at a comment from yesterday’s post (8/23/07) that surfaces a situation that is all too common: a volunteer catechist with no training (and, as a recent convert, not a lot of familiarity with Catholic Tradition) being asked to teach a group of 30 – that’s right, I said THIRTY – 6th graders!!!
Ugh!
This is just not fair to any catechist, let alone a new one. Even Jesus had 12 Apostles to help him! In Mark’s account (6:34) of the Feeding of the 5000 (now there’s a big class!), we find that Jesus put his disciples to work, organizing the crowd, distributing the food, and collecting the leftovers.
I encourage you to write a comment offering some supportive suggestions to Tina on yesterday’s post. My initial response to her is filled with a great deal of frustration toward the DRE so maybe some of you can be more positive!!!
I also was a first year Catechist last year and when I expressed my concern to my DRE about being able to relate to the children last year before starting to teach, my DRE blessed me with 12 exceptional students. I did have a few slight challenges during the year but in addition to the support of the DRE, I also had a wonderful resource Catechist and another great teacher at my grade level who I knew would be there for me if I had any questions. If after talking with her DRE Tina still can’t get the appropriate support, I would strongly suggest that she talk with her Pastor or the Ministry Coordinator at her parish to discuss her concerns and difficulties. I pray that someone will be responsive to her situation and provide their RE program with the support that is needed.
Thanks, Bernie, for sharing your story and for your sound advice.