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Does Your Faith Formation Space “Speak Catholic”?
When children walk into religious education sessions in your parish, what do they see: another classroom like they have been sitting in all day in school? Or is it an inviting space that makes it easy to form community, where matters of the heart and spirit can be shared? Does your faith formation space “speak Catholic” through sign, symbol, and a welcoming atmosphere?
When Joe Paprocki suggests in Beyond the Catechist's Toolbox that religious education sessions should be “more like Mass than class,” he is on to something important. Faith formation is most effective when we use “the language of mystery”—verbal, physical, and symbolic—that parallels the experience of liturgy. If children see faith formation as just another academic subject, we have lost something. If we make the space prayerful and appropriate for what we are trying to accomplish, we create natural connections to the Eucharistic liturgy—the source and summit of Catholic life.
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Finding Faith in Art
A catechist explains why and how arts and crafts should be used in the classroom. A 20-something describes his ministry of playing the organ at multiple parishes every weekend. A faith formation leader reflects on how she prays a form of the Examen through photography. These are a few of the fascinating stories Loyola Press will be bringing you in the new series, Arts and Faith.
Where Have You Been, Lord?: Praying the Examen with Your Families
by Eric Gurash
I always found our opening prayers for Confirmation and First Eucharist meetings to be challenging. Normally these involved something written down, something we would all read together, or maybe a pertinent piece of Scripture, or maybe both. It often felt dry and mechanical.
What I wanted to do was engage our families, invite them to get to know the Jesus I knew—a Jesus who was active, interesting, and intensely interested in their lives. The question was “How?”
Mother Mary, Bring Us Peace
As we begin the month of May, my heart is full of thoughts of Mary and so much more.
There are writings about Jesus’ mother, Mary, that share when Jesus was tired or needed a break from his ministry, he would go to his mother. Can you imagine Jesus laying his head upon his mother’s lap to rest from the crowds and the dusty roads? I can.
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