I am preparing 5 learning stations on Jesus to use in my next session. The 5 learning stations are the following: The world of Jesus The people of Jesus The words of Jesus The actions of Jesus The death and resurrection of Jesus I’ve drawn these 5 categories from the book Jesus: A Gospel Portrait by Fr. Donald Senior (Paulist Press, 1992). I plan to make these available as PDFs for anyone interested. First, I […]
Last night, I gave a presentation to a small group of Confirmation students and their parents at a suburban Chicago parish. The kids sat as a group and the parents were scattered around them in the church. My presentation was on Living the Mass. I thought the kids were very well behaved and I complimented them on their behavior, especially after a very long day. Afterward, when talking to the DRE, I repeated that I […]
Last night, we had an extraordinary evening viewing a segment of Jesus of Nazareth. All of the 8th graders (5 classes) met in one of the parish “halls” – about 65 kids, 4 or 5 aides, and 5 catechists. Here are the details: the DRE had arranged the seating to form 5 “pods” so that each class was slightly separated from the others. This proved very helpful in keeping the kids focused and preventing them […]
At this past week’s session, I focused on the question of “Who Is Jesus?” – a theme we will carry throughout the unit we are on. I played a recording of the song “Superstar” from the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar in which the very confused Judas asks the question: “Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, who are you what have you sacrificed? Jesus Christ, Superstar, do you think you’re what they say you are?” I talked about how […]
For the first 4 weeks of the program, I was working without an aide. Each time the DRE thought she had someone lined up, they would back out at the last minute. (Further evidence that recruiting catechists and aides is one of the hardest parts of the DREs job!). Finally, last night, I walked into class and there was my new aide. I broke into the biggest smile. Let me tell you why. 2 years […]
I have a Powerpoint meditation on Images of Jesus that I put together a few years back and plan to use this upcoming week with my class. The presentation contains 82 images of Jesus that I’ve found from various sources. In all, the presentation is set to run about eight minutes long and I have it timed to two songs that I play on CD: “Jesus, the Lord” (St. Louis Jesuit) and “Hold on to […]
One of my students has asked me the following question twice now in 4 weeks: “If we don’t want to be confirmed, we don’t have to right? It’s supposed to be our choice, right?” I’ve told her both times that she is correct but that this is a decision she needs to talk over with her parents. Obivously, there’s something going on there. I hope to find an opportunity to chat with her to see […]
Overall, week 4 (last night’s session) went pretty well. It was one of those nights when I felt a bit scattered myself but I don’t think I got in the way too much! Here’s what we did: We briefly reviewed last week’s session and they recalled that the focus was on the Holy Spirit. We had a “breathing contest” – to see who could hold their breath the longest! I then told them about how […]
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 […]
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 […]
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