Stories from the Field Archives - Page 12 of 61

Third Graders and the Ten Commandments

As we move through the school year, my students become more comfortable sharing and asking questions during religion class. I welcome this opportunity to answer questions, and I’m grateful that they can do this in a safe environment that is free of judgment. I want them always to feel that God loves them. When I can’t answer a question, I admit that and promise to get back to them with an answer. If the question […]

Improvising in a Different Space

Denise Gorss

After a few weeks in a different classroom space, I was happy to return to my regular classroom. We had spent several weeks in the parish center across the street from the school while some maintenance issues—most notably, a broken furnace—were addressed. During this time, I had to improvise on a few things. I didn’t have access to Bibles for each young person. I carried over a couple of Bibles, one to display in our […]

An Example of Excellence in Special Needs Faith Formation

Joe Paprocki

Here’s a good news story! While many parishes are making strides in offering quality faith formation for young people with special needs, one parish stands out as an example of excellence. St. Rose of Lima Parish in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was recently honored as the recipient of the Opening Doors Award, presented by the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) in partnership with Loyola Press. With the award comes a check for $1000 and a plaque. St. Rose of […]

"The program's hallmark is respecting the students' dignity." - quote from story on green background

Shepherd’s Flock: One Parish’s Experience with Adaptive Catechesis

Kathleen Butler

Certainly, everyone in catechetical ministry understands that all students—including those with special needs—are called to witness the Gospel. Every parish has children whose needs may not be adequately met in the typical classroom approach to faith formation, and my parish is no different. For more than a decade, our Shepherd’s Flock program has been ministering to students with learning challenges. Some are on the autism spectrum; others have Down syndrome or other genetic disorders. The […]

Beatitudes and the Catechist: Blessed Are the Merciful

Bob Burnham

This is the fifth article in a series exploring the Beatitudes as they relate to being a catechist. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) Happy are the catechists who support, comfort, and guide young people, for they will witness God’s unfailing love. “God’s love for us is so great,” Pope Francis reminds us in The Church of Mercy. “It is an unfailing love, one that always takes us by the […]

Preparing Students for Reconciliation

Cindy Coleman

Once or twice a year all the children in our parish religious education program celebrate the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation during class time. For most of them, this is the only time they will receive this sacrament during the year. With that in mind, I spend some time preparing these children to celebrate Reconciliation. I start preparing a few weeks before they will celebrate the sacrament. I don’t go into too much depth at […]

Junior High

Evaluating the Marian Learning Stations

Denise Gorss

When I wrote about the Marian learning stations, I might not have been realistic about what we could accomplish in the time allotted. Because I wanted to keep working groups small—three or four people per station—I went with more stations than I should have. As a result, we ran out of time before everyone could get through all the stations, especially since each activity took a different amount of time to complete. The idea, you […]

Beatitudes and the Catechist: Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

Bob Burnham

This is the fourth article in a series exploring the Beatitudes as they relate to being a catechist. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Happy are the catechists who help young people find God in all things, for they will find God in them. “I’m sorry Carrie was absent last night,” began the e-mail from the parent of one of the young people in my […]

Junior High

Marian Art, Advent, and Learning Stations

Denise Gorss

With both the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (a holy day of obligation) and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December, and the readings in the second half of Advent telling Mary’s story in the days before Jesus’ birth, this is the perfect time to teach the children in our classes about Mary. I realized in my planning my Advent arc of activities this year that the Finding God art prints […]

The Adoration of the Magi by Jan Gossaert [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Boy in the Back of a Nativity Painting

Kathleen Butler

Long-time catechists may find themselves going back to the tried-and-true activities that they’ve used before with predictable outcomes. But sometimes breaking out of that cycle can be a good thing. For a number of years, I would print out artwork that depicted the Nativity. I had 15–20 images from various artists. The first-grade children and I would sit in a circle on the floor, and I would show the images to the class and then […]