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March 5, 2008
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Welcome to Faith Formation Update, a free monthly
e-newsletter for catechetical leaders with a focus on parish catechesis beyond textbooks
and classrooms. I’m Jeanne Hunt. In each issue I offer a brief starter and
my “Every Family” column. My co-worker and fellow
religious educator Joan
McKamey offers media resources and ideas in her “Seen
and Heard” column. Our co-worker Chuck
Blankenship suggests other faith formation resources for adults from St. Anthony Messenger
Press in his column, “Sowing Sampler.” Finally,
we encourage YOU to share views and program ideas about this month's topic on our online
bulletin board, “Faith Formation Forum.” With
the advent of an early Easter season, catechists will have plenty class time to teach the
Church’s high feast with creativity and joy. This issue encourages a hearty “Alleluia” in
your catechetical ministry.
—Jeanne Hunt
p.s. You're receiving this either because you signed
up, or because you're a loyal customer of St. Anthony Messenger Press. We will never send
you unwanted e-mail. There is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page.
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Too often in a Catholic parish, the school and the
church seem like separate entities. The pastor, the school principal and the DRE all work
independently of each other, when, in reality, the mission of every Catholic parish is
to integrate our entire ministry into one effort: to proclaim the kingdom. It is important
to take a moment to examine how successful our parish is at that integration. The classroom
is most effective when this integration occurs. There is a great danger in offering our
young people a faith that is found only in words and never experienced in sacred rituals.
Our task is to connect the classroom to the sanctuary.
Everyday parish life can be something quite different. I was in a Midwestern
parish recently preaching a parish mission. I spent much time with the pastor and parish
staff. However, the school principal never entered into the spirit of that parish retreat.
I did not even have an opportunity to meet the principal. This very successful school was
a separate entity. While I saw quite a few of the faculty members at the evening sessions,
the spiritual energy of the mission was not integrated into the classroom. I believe that
separation was unintended. It is simply that we see our religious-education programs as
catechetical and not necessarily as vehicles of evangelization.
As catechists, it is good to blend these two models into one. The parish
church is a living witness of Christ’s mandate to “go and make disciples.” It
doesn’t take a change in curriculum, a new lesson plan or a shift in educational
focus. It takes a choice to expose our students to the teaching moments in the parish rituals
and liturgy. The liturgical seasons as they play out in parish liturgy can be the most
amazing grace. These evangelizing moments are waiting for us. The catechist only needs
to make the connection, and the students will experience far more than any textbook explanation
can offer.
As Holy Week approaches, let us take the opportunity to make the liturgical
connection. The beauty and pageantry of these holy days are teaching moments. It would
be a real grace to make the classroom trip to any or all of the Triduum liturgies in the
parish. A great resource for your understanding of these liturgies is in the March
issue of St. Anthony Messenger. An article entitled “The
Journey to Easter,” by Karen Mentleewski, gives a wonderful explanation of the
parish experience of the Easter Vigil. This article would be a good place to begin teaching
the liturgies of Easter. After reading the article, you might attend your own parish Easter
Vigil with your students and connect with the newly baptized in your faith community. The
Easter fire, the ancient exultant, the splash of water, the pouring of oil, the white garments
and the singing of the Alleluia, once again, have a power that stays within us for a lifetime.
The rituals of the Catholic Church are ancient and filled with signs
and symbols of the sacred. These rituals of the Triduum are especially meaningful. Whatever
you can do to introduce your students to the rites of the Church will underscore their
understanding of the faith. The classroom cannot stand on its own. It is meant to support
the spiritual life of the parish. One of the primary missions of a parish catechetical
program is to walk the students out of the classroom and into the church. Holy Week is
an excellent time to begin that walk.
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Having served as a team member of our
parish RCIA process for many years, I have grown in my anticipation and appreciation of
the high point of our Church year: the three days of the Triduum—Holy Thursday, Good
Friday and Easter. Each of these events is dependent on the others for its full meaning
and relevance. The message of these three days is fully celebrated at the first Mass of
Easter on the evening of Holy Saturday. And what a celebration that is!
This celebration reaches its high point for me when the new members
of our Church celebrate their oneness with us by receiving Holy Communion for the first
time. All three days of the Triduum contribute to our understanding of Eucharist and what
it means to be the Body of Christ. The Easter Vigil Mass brings them all together and makes
them all make sense.
Franciscan Father Tom Richstatter says that balancing the Holy Thursday,
Good Friday and Easter Sunday dimensions of the Eucharist is the key to a richer understanding
of the Eucharist. Click here (RealMedia | Windows
Media) to hear what he has to say about this in the teaching segment of Eucharist:
Celebrating Christ Present.
Those of us who have been celebrating the Eucharist for all or most
of our lives may think we know all we need to about it. Many adults think that they don’t
need formation on the Eucharist and may come to a First Eucharist parent meeting more concerned
about pictures, white dresses, veils, ties and space for the family to sit. But it’s
our job to help them grow in understanding of the celebration behind all the trappings.
This program is just the resource to help with this effort. |
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Every year as we approach the Easter Triduum, I notice
how simple and stark are our commemoration of the deepest mysteries of our salvation. What
could be more simple and straightforward than a shared meal, a lonely death, a quiet tomb—simple
things leading up to something as earth-shaking as a glorious resurrection from death itself?
Two new books from St. Anthony Messenger Press and Servant Books reflect,
for me, this intense simplicity: Holy
Simplicity: The Little Way of Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day & Thérèse of
Lisieux by Joel Schorn, and Song
of the Sparrow: New Poems and Meditations by Franciscan Father Murray Bodo.
Holy
Simplicity is an exploration of the intense focus that each of these three
holy women (Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Dorothy Day and Thérèse of Lisieux)
gave to pursuing the holiness of everyday life. Seeing God in every moment and seeking
God in the challenges of everyday life, they were able, as Dorothy Day pointed out,
to “unleash forces that help to overcome evil in the world.”
In Song
of the Sparrow, Murray Bodo shares his own simple, childlike, creative spirit,
drawing on the riches of his Franciscan heritage, to help us find God in all of creation
and grow in our own spiritual life. His musings and poems are the perfect catalyst
for plumbing the depths of the simplicity of new life in the early spring—just
in time for quiet, prayerful reflection during the Easter Triduum. |
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Share your ideas on adult faith formation at our online bulletin board. Our editors will screen and post your thoughts, and you can learn from others' ideas. Submit your ideas by clicking here. |
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