When I was in parish ministry, our faith community was gradually becoming more ethnically diverse. When a nearby parish was closed and merged into our parish, a small but vibrant community of Black Catholics added to the richness of our diversity. While making plans to welcome our new parish members, I realized that not one of the images of saints in our church and parish center were people of color! For All Saints Day that […]
“My child, a saint?” That might very well be your first reaction to the title of this post! The reason we might pause when thinking of our children as potential saints is because we have the erroneous impression of the saints as perfect people, when the saints themselves would be the first to tell you how imperfect they were. First, don’t forget that we have two kinds of saints: those who have been canonized or honored […]
My favorite session of the year is our celebration of All Saints Day on the class preceding November 1. It combines storytelling (one of my favorite ways to catechize) and direct instruction with a dose of games that make for excitement on the part of the children. With this session I’m hoping to leave some knowledge about saints and also a positive association with the fun games. I also use this opportunity to get parents […]
Help even the youngest children get to know our friends, the saints. Download saints coloring sheets featuring St. Peter, St. Kateri Tekakwitha, St. Francis of Assisi, and others. These blackline masters feature words and art from God Made the World, the Age 4 book in the God Made Everything early childhood faith formation program. Learn more about God Made Everything here. Ideas for using these coloring sheets: Use the pages as an introduction to a […]
One of my favorite activities with my third graders is a simple retreat designed to help them recognize and appreciate the saints, not only those in heaven, but those in our homes and those we are called to be. It is great for family catechesis as well. We include children from both the school and the parish religious education program and require at least one parent to attend. The retreat usually takes place on the Saturday […]
The Feast of All Saints, falling on November 1 of each year, is celebrated on the doorstep of Election Day in the United States. This annual coincidence provides us with an opportunity to make a connection between the lives of the saints and our civic duties. Pope Francis explained that “an authentic faith…always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it….If indeed ‘the just […]
When I was a young boy, I collected baseball and football cards. I traded for my favorites and found ways to pass on those I didn’t care for to other individuals. As an impressionable child, I saw these athletes as my heroes. They were famous, rich, and able to bring their teams to victory even when defeat seemed imminent. I cannot imagine the hours I must have spent over the span of my life memorizing […]
My classroom is filled with statues, icons, and pictures of saints. These holy men and women who lived heroic lives of virtue and great charity constantly inspire me. I hope they inspire my students too. I am always looking for ways to help my students learn about the saints. Our school celebrates All Saints Day with a kindergarten parade. They dress up as their favorite saint or as a saint who shares their name. (The […]
None of us is purely original. The fact is, we human beings learn by imitation. As infants, we begin making sounds that imitate the sounds made by those around us. Before long, we are shaping words with those sounds, achieving the ability to communicate with others. Our imitation doesn’t stop there, however. Scientists have shown that imitation cannot be dismissed as some sort of lower form of learning but is a quite sophisticated intellectual activity. […]
“I see dead people!” Remember that famous line from the 1999 movie The Sixth Sense, in which a boy, played by Haley Joel Osment, reveals to the character played by Bruce Willis that he sees dead people? For many years now, I’ve been facetiously telling people that, if you see or talk to dead people, you’re not crazy, you’re Catholic! An important part of our belief system—our Catholic vision of reality or our cosmology—is our belief in […]
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