Class #12 January 25, 2017

Our students (five) were lively and engaged last night, even on an evening when their teacher was not at the top of his game.

We continued our march through the faith assessment as groundwork  for serious Confirmation prep starting next year in seventh grade. If you would like to see the information we are using as our guide this year, you can find it on the parish Website here.

Our subject last night was the Sacraments. I would have thought that it would be a fairly easy topic, seeing as we spent all of last year (5^th grade) covering them. We distributed a quiz that asked the students to define grace, and then to list the seven Sacraments by category (Initiation, Healing and Service of Communion) and provide a short definition. We then discussed the results, which were mixed. We had a fairly wide ranging discussion with questions like…

“Can a person receive all seven sacraments?” (Yes)

“Can a person receive Annointing of the Sick more than once?” (Yes)

And so on.

We then played a short (about three minutes) video about grace and the various types of grace. After we watched it once, we told the class, that we would play it again, and this time, they should really try to pull at least a couple of concepts or ideas out of it. After our second viewing, we discussed the ideas the students pulled from the piece. It went well. Since the idea of playing the video twice came to me on a whim, I’m glad it worked out.

The overall message of the class was that the Sacraments are a means God uses to convey grace. As our final exercise, we divided the class into a group of two (boys) and three (girls) (self-selected, by the way) and asked them to draw a picture of one of the white boards that depicts he conveyance of grace through one of the Sacraments. They could pick whichever Sacrament they want. Both groups did well, and the girls even did a short skit to complement theirs.

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Class #11, January 18, 2017

I had no entry last week, because I was out of town for work. Mrs. Van Brimmer took over the class and taught the Rosary. I understand it went very well.

We had our usual group of six students last night, as we continue to work our way through the “Faith Assessment” questions and answers. These are basic elements of the Catholic faith that our students should be familiar with before Confirmation. You can see the entire program here.

http://saintpetertheapostle.com/church/faith-formation/know-faith/

Last night, we were on the “Miscellaneous Questions” section. We had the students take the quiz to start, to see what they already know, and to make them think about the questions. Then we discussed them.

1. What does catholic mean?
2. Transubstantiation is:
3. Can a non-catholic receive communion at a Catholic mass? Why or why not?
4. What is the distinction between the Virgin Birth of Jesus by Mary and the Immaculate Conception?
5. What is fasting and abstinence? In which liturgical season are these generally practiced?
6. Where do you find the letters INRI? What do they stand for?
7. Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord and Wisdom are the seven __________?

If you don’t know the answers, feel free to click the link above and learn.

Given the importance of transubstantiation to our Catholic faith, we supported that concept by watching a video by Bishop Robert Barron on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJjW3LXuHzo

We finished up with a little throwback in Church history. In the past, we had discussed that prior to the Second Vatican Council, the Mass was said in Latin. Although I had explained that everyone had a translation available, the class never seemed to grasp the idea. A few weeks ago, when helping my siblings clean out some boxes at my father’s home in Pittsburgh, I came across my original St Joseph’s Sunday Missal, with all the Sunday masses in two columns, English on the left and Latin on the right. I passed it around the class. The students were very interested.

This continues to be a small, but great group of students.  They are engaged and behaved. We can talk about things, have open discussions and even joke around without the entire lesson running off the rails. They are fun and interesting to work with. Mrs. Rudolphi and I look forward to each week.

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Class #9, January 4, 2017 Cardinal Virtues

We were back last night for our first real class since early November. Wow! Our subject last night was the Cardinal Virtues. The activity started slow, but it picked up and the students got involved.

We wrote the virtues on the white board and then went through them individually, probing the class’s  knowledge and explaining them. We explained that unlike the Theological Virtues we discussed several classes ago, the Cardinal Virtues are not directly linked to God. They refer to the way we act towards our neighbors. They were first discussed by Plato in The Republic (although I couldn’t remember that title last night.)  In simple terms…

Prudence – Making good decisions, especially between right and wrong.

Justice – Respecting the rights of others and giving everyone his or her rightful due. We pointed out though, that Christian teachings of love may dictate that you should give someone more than they are entitled, but not less.

Fortitude – The strength to do the right thing, even under difficult circumstances.

Temperance – Moderation and the ability to control physical desires.

We had six students, so we divided them into two groups and asked them to devise a role-play skit to demonstrate either Prudence or Justice. When that was complete, we repeated it with Fortitude and Temperance. The students got into this exercise very well and we had some excellent skits that demonstrated they seemed to get the concepts we had discussed.

We walked across the hall to the library and played a short video that was produced by a couple of teens in which they also acted out skits to demonstrate the virtues. It was a little goofy, but I think it helped reinforce what we had done a few minutes earlier.

Back in the class, we distributed paper and pens. We asked the students to think of someone in their family who was a good example of one of the virtues. We asked them to write a letter or a card to that relative, thanking them for their example and telling them what they mean to them. We went around the room and asked each student what relative they addressed and why. Some wanted to read their letter, but others did not, which was OK. We suggested they either give or mail their letter to the addressee.

Both Mrs. Rudolphi and I will be unavailable next week due to work conflicts. Mrs. Ann Van Brimmer (Abby’s mom) we teach the class. The subject will be the Rosary. We will have string and bead rosaries available, however if your child has a set off rosary beads, have them bring it to class.

 

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