Category: Catechesis

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Don’t Miss the Most Important Catholic Media Event of 2011

Fr. Robert Barron
Fr. Robert Barron

Mark your calendar for September 2011, for what promises to be one of the most beautiful and inspiring events in Catholic media next year: The Catholicism project. Fr. Robert Barron has been traveling the globe “to explore, through a global journey, the living culture of the Catholic Church.” It’s quite possibly the most ambitious catechetical project ever attempted, and looks to be an outstanding series.

If you haven’t yet seen the trailers for The Catholicism Project, please enjoy the following preview:

Needless to say, I’m extremely excited about the potential this series has to reignite the faith of Catholics everywhere. Just look at this lineup of episodes:

  • Amazed and Afraid: The Revelation of God Become Man
  • Happy Are We – The Teachings of Jesus
  • That Which Nothing Greater Can Be Thought – The Ineffable Mystery of God
  • Our Tainted Nature’s Solitary Boast – Mary, the Mother of God
  • To the Ends of the Earth – Peter, Paul, and the Missionary Adventure
  • A Body Both Suffering and Glorious – The Mystical Union of Christ and the Church
  • Word Made Flesh, True Bread of Heaven – The Mystery of the Church’s Sacrament and Worship
  • A Vast Company of Witnesses – The Communion of Saints
  • The Fire of His Love – Prayer and the Life of the Spirit
  • World Without End – The Last Things

According to the Catholicism website, there will be “a 300 page companion book, a thought-provoking study guide, and more.” I certainly hope someone thinks to make some study materials for Catholic schools.

If September seems too far away, you can catch Fr. Barron each Sunday morning on WGN.

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Jack the Depressed Pumpkin – A Halloween Video

Where did the tradition of carving pumpkins come from? That is the question that haunts Jack, a pumpkin in need of psychiatric help. In the following video by Fr. Roderick Vonhögen of SQPN, Jack learns the legend behind this practice and comes to terms with his own insecurities.

Here’s another account of the legend, courtesy of Wikipedia:

An old Irish folk tale tells of Stingy Jack, a lazy yet shrewd farmer who uses a cross to trap the Devil. One story says that Jack tricked the Devil into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that the Devil couldn’t get down. Another myth says that Jack put a key in the Devil’s pocket while he was suspended upside-down.

Another version of the myth says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen, when he met the Devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting the Devil with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told the Devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (the Devil could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin/Devil disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who Friendly Pumpkinhad stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack’s wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped. In both myths, Jack only lets the Devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. After a while the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, his life had been too sinful for Jack to go to heaven; however, the Devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well. Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the Devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which was his favourite food), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He became known as “Jack of the Lantern”, or Jack-o’-Lantern.

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The Chicken Runs at Midnight – Catholics and Baseball

Champions of Faith DVD“The Chicken runs at midnight.” Stranger words were never spoken. But if you know the story of Major League Baseball coach Rich Donnelly, then you also know that more beautiful words have never been spoken. I first heard about Rich’s story through an amazing DVD called Champions of Faith. If baseball is your second religion after Catholicism, then you have to watch Champions of Faith. Some of the game’s biggest stars give witness to their Catholic faith: Mike Piazza, Mike Sweeney, David Eckstein, Sean Casey, Jim Leyland, Juan Pierre, Mike Scioscia…the list goes on.

The DVD is beautiful in every respect–gorgeous camera shots, poignant stories, inspiring music. With the baseball post-season just beginning, Champions of Faith might be a way to get your students more in touch with their own faith lives. The Champions of Faith website has resources for father/son retreats, youth ministry nights, and mini lessons for children. Take a look at the extended trailer:

For me, the most memorable part of the DVD is Rich Donnelly’s story about the origin of the phrase “The Chicken runs at midnight.” Here’s a low-quality video of Rich telling his story in a Lifetime channel special. You might want to get some tissue before you watch:

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Catholic Videos with Study Guides on RedemptoristTV

The Redemptorists of the Edmonton-Toronto Province have put together a superb resource for Catholic educators with their website RedemptoristTV. Not only does the site feature two excellent video series–one on the Eucharist, the other on Catholic family life–but each video comes with a study guide and an optional take-home assignment. Each video is around 5-8 minutes long and could easily be used in a classroom situation.

As an example, take a look at Program 3 in the Eucharist Reflections Feature, followed by the Redemptorist study guide:

1. Show the internet / DVD Program Three: The Sunday Eucharist

2. Ask students to form small groups to describe the following impressions from the program:

  • Why is Sunday Eucharist so important to Catholics all over the world?
  • What have we learned about the Catholic Church through understanding more about Eucharist?
  • What did you know after viewing the DVD that you didn’t know before?
  • How do you see Eucharist operating in the lives of a religious community like the Redemptorists?

3. Option for Take-Home Assignment

1. Via the Internet find more facts about:

    • The 2007 Eucharistic Congress
    • One papal document on Eucharist
    • What the Catholic Catechism says about Eucharist
    • The Redemptorist community

2. Write one page of personal reflection on how Eucharist can help you live your everyday life or how you see it operating in the lives of a religious community like the Redemptorists

3. In groups, make presentations to the class about any or all of the above.

Be sure to take a look at the entire series at the RedemptoristTV website, along with the rest of their videos on their YouTube channel.

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Blogs by Catholic Teachers, Principals and Catechists

Students blogging

Blogging TeacherThe good news is that there are Catholic teachers, administrators and catechists who are willing to share their wisdom, knowledge and experience with anyone willing to follow their blogs. The bad news is that there are so few of these bloggers out there. Currently, there are over 7,000 elementary and secondary Catholic schools in the U.S, staffed by over 154,000 teachers and principals, but I could find less than forty blogs by Catholic educators. Even BarbinNebraska’s Twitter list of Catholic educators, arguably the biggest list of Catholic teachers using social media, only has forty-four teachers as of this writing.

To be sure, Catholic teachers are overburdened and rightly need to make teaching their number one priority; but it’s a shame that more don’t take the time to share their ideas and resources with the rest of the world. Blogging can take as much or as little time as you want, and can be as professional or informal as your personality and goals dictate. If you teach in Catholic schools, please consider starting a blog of your own.

Here’s the list of all the blogs by Catholic educators that I’ve been able to find. I’d love to be able to add to this list, so please let me know of any blogging teachers, administrators and catechists that I may have missed.

Teachers:

Principals/Administrators:

Catechists:

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An Inspirational Introduction to the Value of Community

Derek Redmond

We like to think that we can manage on our own. We pride ourselves in being free, independent, and in control of our own destiny. It doesn’t always work out like that. Our car gets broken into, the baseball game gets called because of rain, or we get home from the store only to find the bread we bought is moldy. How do we help our students deal with the trials of life, both great and small?

One way is to remind them that in Christ they are never alone. In the current climate of “I’m spiritual but not religious,” it is important to help students understand the value of a community united in Christ.  A religion is not a way of controlling or limiting people’s freedom; rather, a religion is a group of people who come together because they believe in the same thing and who support each other on their faith journeys. For Catholics, that community is the Body of Christ.

Despite our culture’s mantra of “I can do it myself,” we all need help from time to time. This is poignantly demonstrated in the following video, which would make a powerful introduction to the concept of what Church really is.

Thanks to Deacon Greg Kandra for sharing the video.