May is filled with great Feast Days! What a great catechetical opportunity we have to celebrate Feast with our students or at least communicate to parents how they, as families, can celebrate them.
Here are a few key Feast in May:
St. Joseph the Worker – May 1st – St. Joseph is a model for all Christians. Here are a few good links about St. Joseph… Here is a St. Joseph the Worker Chore Chart for younger kids. Finally, the Litany of St. Joseph is very special, and we are all encouraged to pray this litany.
Month of Mary where Catholics throughout the world honor Mary during this month with various prayers and devotions (May Crowning, more frequent recitation of the Holy Rosary, a special prayer to Mary each day, etc.). How to Plan a May Crowning gives some ideas among other sites. Two significant Marian Feast days in May are Our Lady of Fatima, May 13th, and May 31st, The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Traditional Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord this year is on May 20th (this feast has been transferred to the Sunday before Pentecost in most dioceses). This is a great time to talk about Novenas because of the 9 days between the Ascension of Our Lord and eve of Pentecost. Ideas Here and Here
Pentecost – Although this Solemnity is 50 days after Easter and not always in May (but it often is), this year, it is May 28th. Celebrate this important day which is the Birthday of the Church.
3 Apostles are celebrated this month – Saints Philip and James on May 3rd and St. Matthias on May 14th. The Apostles were chosen by Jesus as the first bishops to go out and proclaim and witness the Gospel.
Often Religious Education Programs have ended sometime in April and many of the great saints and liturgical celebrations of May are not able to be celebrated or reflected upon. If you do have faith formation sessions, don’t miss the opportunity to share about these Feasts. At the very least give ideas to parents to celebrate these special days of May!
How have you celebrated these Feasts at your parish or in your own home?
In many parishes the religious education/faith formation meetings/sessions are in school classrooms. While the classroom probably has a crucifix in it and possibly other religious items, it still feels like a classroom. It is important in a faith formation setting to create an environment that is not only welcoming but one that has a distinct holy/sacred feel to it if at all possible. The environment should speak of something different than “school”. How can you create an environment that better prepares and cultivates something more than “school”? Our aim in catechesis is to cultivate intimacy in Christ. Here are three possible considerations for making your environment more than just a classroom or meeting space.
Each year I send out evaluations to both my catechists and parents to get their feedback about the catechetical year. I praise God for the many blessings from the year: how God worked in families, the creativity of catechists and their desire to share Christ with their students are just a few blessings. Christ desires to draw us closer to Himself and I am grateful for the opportunity to reflect on the many gifts and blessings (seen and unseen) that occurred this year.
Over the last year or so I have often heard people in ministry discuss how there is too much catechesis and not enough evangelization in the Church today. Or said another way: We need to lead people into a relationship with Christ and help them encounter Christ and our current means of catechizing children and adults is failing to do this. Catechesis too often is thought of by those involved in the ministry of evangelization as merely the intellectual piece that does not engage the modern believer to Christ. It is true that if one thinks of catechesis as merely being intellectual then they are correct that an intellectual approach to leading people to Christ is not the best point of entry. However, I think one of the misunderstandings is what catechesis is (better stated who catechesis is). St. John Paul II said this about catechesis:
