Here are some great thoughts from a contributor named Maura about how they get parents of older kids to attend a few RE events at their parish: Our solution to getting parents of older students to attend has been to build their participation into an opening and closing session for the Jr. High schedule. Parents are asked to attend the first and last class of the year with their child during which we do a […]
Last night, our religious education Open House attracted a number of parents of children in the lower grades, however, for the upper grades, the parents were nowhere to be found. I asked the young people at the start of class if any of their parents would be attending and they all said no, one of them saying, “My mom says it’s the same thing every year, so why bother?” That’s disappointing. I would have loved […]
One of the most frustrating things that I experience as a catechist is young people who are fully capable of reading but are reluctant to read. I’m not talking about reading aloud…I understand that some people don’t like to read aloud in front of others. I’m just talking about following along in the book as someone else reads aloud. I especially notice this in the boys. As we read, some of them will just stare […]
I’m going to be tied up over the next few days so I thought I would use today to share what I’ll be teaching this coming Monday. We have the third of our Confirmation Intensives. For this one, we are going to focus on the number SEVEN. Actually 7 x 3. What do I mean by that? We will have the young people participate in 3 sessions that evening, focusing on the following: the 7 […]
I’m always suspicious of people who tell me that when they were in Vegas, they won X amount of money playing a certain game or machine. They never tell you how much they lost along the way! In the same way, I’m about to tell you about a moment I had last night at religious education that was like hitting the jackpot. I’ll follow that, however, with a little disclaimer that shows it wasn’t all […]
For this evening’s Confirmation Intensive, my segment is to do a meditation on the Corporal Works of Mercy. Remember, our Confirmation Intensives are two hours long and aside from an opening and closing segment in their “homeroom,” the young people move about to fout different 20-minute mini sessions. My segment takes place in the chapel. This evening we are focusing on what Catholics BELIEVE and DO. Two of the mini sessions will be on the […]
The New Year often brings with it a bevy of Top Ten lists that look back over the previous year (e.g. ten best/worst movies, etc.). With that in mind, I thought I would put together a list of the Top Ten posts from my blog in 2007, based on the number of comments they received. Enjoy! 10. Feed the Catechists! 9. The Law of Love – It’s No Secret 8. First Guided Reflection 7. How […]
I know that it is better to give than to receive, but receiving is nice too! I was touched to receive Christmas gifts from several of my students (I’m sure it was their parents who put them up to it!). What a nice gesture to express appreciation for the partnership we catechists enter into with parents. I was also delighted to receive a beautiful leather bound New American Bible from my DRE, Arlene. It will […]
Last night’s Confirmation Intensive, a 2-hour session with the 8th graders, was a resounding success! The kids were not surprisingly curious and anxious about what they were going to do for “2 WHOLE HOURS!!!” We had them on the move for the whole 2 hours and they were delightfully engaged in their mini-sessions (20 minutes with each of the 4 eighth grade catechists. For my sessions, we met in my room in the school and […]
This evening is the first of 4 Confirmation “Intensives” planned for our 8th graders. Normally, our sessions are 75 minutes long. The intensives will be 2 hours, giving us a chance to do a variety of things and go into more depth with our young people. For tonight’s session, we will begin by having a prayer service in which we present the young people with their copies of Confirmed in the Spirit, their confirmation text […]
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