Last evening’s session went very nicely as we looked at Jesus’ Law of Love (Love one another as I have loved you) and learned about how we are called to imitate Jesus’ love for others. Here’s a summary: We had a nice review of our last session which was 2 weeks ago. I held up a can of Play-Doh and asked, “Anyone remember what we learned?” and one girl said, “That we can shape our […]
I’ve had a few ideas for my next class kind of percolating for a while but haven’t had a chance to sit down and create an actual lesson plan until now. Here’s what I have planned for this Monday (Oct. 18), Session 5: Theme: Jesus’ Law of Love Big Idea: We imitate Jesus’ love Review last session Show can of Play-Doh and ask what we learned last session (God can shape us into holy people; God […]
If you know anything about football, you know that sometimes, after a play is designed in the huddle and the team lines up to snap the ball, the quarterback may see something he didn’t expect and doesn’t like. At that point, he calls an audible…he changes the play on the fly. This is something that can only be done if the team has prepared well and knows what the alternative plays are. In religious education, […]
My lesson tonight includes the concept of God as king and of how we pray for the coming of the Kingdom. In American society, we sometimes have trouble teaching about the concept of the Kingdom of God – afterall, we won our independence from the “tyranny” of the King of England. Our present day understanding of a king is someone who is rich, powerful, self-centered,tyrannical, and arrogant. (In fact, once, on the Feast of Christ the […]
As catechists, one of the most effective tools we have is asking questions. Jesus was, of course, a master at this skill. Often in the Gospels, we find Jesus utilizing questions to challenge his followers and stimulate their thinking: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29) “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” (Matthew 22:20) “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) “Which is easier, […]
I spent a very enjoyable and productive day today with about 45 DREs in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, NY, talking about caring for our catechists. We looked specifically at how we can offer them formation in the areas of being, knowing, and doing, as outlined in the General Directory for Catechesis. In the course of our day, the folks offered lots of thoughts and comments. Here is a summary of just a few thoughts […]
On Monday night, I was telling my class about the Triduum and one of the boys asked, “what are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday called?” in light of the fact that we have Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. I told him that those 3 days don’t really have a name other than being part of Holy Week. I forgot that Wednesday of Holy Week is known as Spy Wednesday! As a kid, […]
I had the pleasure of attending an evening of reflection at the McDonough Chapel of Saint Xavier University last night to listen to Dr. Barbara Reid, OP, Professor of New Testament Studies, Vice President, and Academic Dean at the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago. Barbara did a wonderful job of helping us to reflect on the meaning of the Cross of Jesus, very appropriate for the Lenten season. She talked about how most people will respond to […]
Our experience of playing a Jeopardy-like review was not bad at all last night. Of course, games can rile kids up so we were walking a fine line between having fun and laying down the law last night. However, overall, I’d have to say that fifty 8th graders in one room behaved pretty well! The nice thing was that they did a pretty good job of answering the questions. All of us were pleased that […]
I’d like to take this opportunity, before signing off for the holidays, to wish each and everyone of you a very blessed Christmas! May Jesus be born again in each of our hearts and, as catechists, may we help others to experience the birth of Christ in their lives. Here are a few words from our Holy Father that we can all take to heart: “Today, as in the time of Jesus, Christmas is not […]
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