Catechism Archives - Amazing Catechists

Puppet Script: Jesus, the Greatest Gift of All!

This week, I offer you another Advent-themed script about a grumpy kid frustrated with all the busyness and distraction of the adults during Advent.

Jesus the Greatest Gift of All-Advent

Feel free to change the names, add or subtract from the content, and share my free script in any way that helps you catechize and enjoy the season with your family, your students, or your parish. I recommend it be used as a puppet show for little ones or a skit to be performed by your confident readers!

NOTE: The only thing I ask is that you not sell the scripts. I own the copyrights and I’d like to keep them free for everyone. If you charge for performances, that’s fine. I know your ministries can use all the help they can get!

p.s.

Some of my scripts, you will notice, were inspired (many years ago) by a Christian script writer by the name of Louise Ferry. I believe this is where you can currently find her wonderful work: https://puppetscripts.tripod.com/puppet.htm

Why We Should Pray With Our Children From an Early Age

By Lisa Mladinich

Hi All!

This is my ten-minute discussion with Matt Swaim on the Son Rise Morning Show, today!

We cover why it’s important to pray with children from an early age, what they learn, and how to help our teens and young adults who have lost their faith. Just the simplest points are discussed, but we could go a lot deeper.

I’d love your comments, suggestions, and questions in the chat!

Here’s where you can order my book, “Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days.”

I’m looking forward to your comments!

Blessings,

Lisa Mladinich

Follow me on Facebook!

The Good Samaritan Revisited

By Gabe Garnica

One of the hallmarks of what I will call relentless holiness is the drive and desire to go steps beyond the convenient, obvious, and practical. Thus, we often heard how Padre Pio advised his flock to pray many decades of the Rosary daily instead of the perfunctory single decade. It is with this spirit that I suggest we revisit the famous story of the Good Samaritan ( Lk 10:25-37 ).

We are All Travelers

The victim in this famous parable is a traveler who has been robbed and lies beaten on the side of the road. I do not know about you, but I have not come across any beaten and robbed folks sprawled across the sidewalk lately. We would like to believe that most, if not all, of us would try to help such an unfortunate person in some way. One would like to think that we would prove those cynics who believe that technology does not help us be better people wrong by using our cell phones to call for help.

This all reminds me of speaking about the Fifth Commandment to Fourth Graders in Catechism class. Left at face value, there would be nothing to talk about since these children are not usually involved in murder. However, one can tell them that mocking, gossiping, criticizing, and isolating people for sport murders their spirit and well-being and can kill their chances of overcoming adversity. In the same way, let us consider that we come across many unfortunate travelers on our daily journey who are prime candidates for some Christ-like assistance. Ultimately, we are all travelers on our journey through life and, hopefully, toward God. If we fancy ourselves true followers of Christ, we will see many opportunities to be Good Samaritans helping those struggling around us.

A Tale of Two Real Estate Professionals

A famous line in the real estate industry is the value of location, location, location. Given this mantra, we may ask where our priorities, hearts, and compassion are located. Are we truly willing to help others whenever possible or do we just love to say that we do? Do we only help people for a price in money, fame, business, or some other immediate benefit we crave? Do we wax poetic about serving Christ and bounce around pollinating our own agenda even as we look the other way when we can help a fellow traveler? To illustrate these points, I submit the following story of two real estate professionals.

Adam is a successful real estate professional with a well-established portfolio of accomplishment in many avenues and facets of his field. He has managed to develop both traditional success in investment and resale but has also managed to achieve in online, publishing, speaking, and marketing areas as well. His story reads like a textbook guide to starting from little and achieving much. By all parameters and indicators Adam is a very successful person helping others achieve their dreams. Ben, on the other hand, is just starting out in the real estate arena. He clearly has talent and a desire to help others, but he has been unable to make the most effective networks much less gotten any help at all from established pros like Adam.

Realizing and eager to achieve, Ben reached out to Adam in the hopes that Adam would help him become established. Ben also wanted to write books and do presentations in his field as Adam had done and he figured that a little help from Adam could help him get his foot in the door. Now Adam charged high fees from clients and others wishing to learn from his experience and knowledge. He justified those fees by arguing that nobody had really helped him break in and knowledge does not come cheap. Ben could not yet afford those fees and he really struggled with getting connections and building a network like Adam had managed to do.

Words are Cheap

Ben repeatedly asked Adam for help and made his intentions of achieving the kind of success Adam has clear, but Adam turned a blind eye to those overtures. At one point, Ben directly asked Adam to have Ben do a presentation as a warm up to one of Adam’s speaking engagements. Ben also asked Adam to help him get published. Adam ignored all of these overtures, requests, and opportunities to help Ben. At one point Ben even directly asked Adam to mentor him a bit to which Adam began shifting the conversation to taking on Ben as a client for a fee. Adam often expressed great faith and confidence in Ben’s ability to succeed and achieve in the field they both shared but, ultimately, he did nothing to help Ben along.

Eventually, Ben had some success, but with much less impact and extent than Adam’s achievements. Despite this modest achievement, Ben did his best to help others like himself find their footing in the field. He mentored others and even invited some to speak at his speaking engagements in the hopes that they too, would find a following. When asked why he was so willing to reach out to and help others succeed, Ben simply stated that he had been given a gift to help others but that gift would be lessened or tainted if he also did not use that gift to help others to help others moving forward.

Do Not Be a Smiling Hypocrite

Given the above two men, I ask you to consider which, Adam or Ben, is truly an example of what Christ meant by the Good Samaritan. Which of these two men is truly using his gifts to help others and to make a difference in the world. Which of these is all talk and hot air and which truly tries to live the kind of selfless, generous, and compassionate help that the parable of the Good Samaritan entails?

My friends, do not drone on about how much you love and care for others unless you are willing to help others selflessly and generously. Do not wail on endlessly about how much faith and trust you have in others’ road to success unless you can honestly say that you tried to contribute to that success within the means of your ability to do so. In short, be a Good Samaritan, do not just sell yourself as one.

2019 Gabriel Garnica

Are You a Yada Yada Catholic?

By Gabe Garnica

The phrase Yada yada has been around for a long time, with varied origins proposed, but the phrase’s popularity was re-ignited by a 1997 episode of the Seinfeld sitcom. The double use of yadda implies a shorthand way of fast-forwarding boring or expected parts of life or speech. It is literally the equivalent of et cetera or blah blah.

For example, a student might tell her absent classmate, “The professor did her usual lecture on the scientific method, yada yada, and then she cancelled class early.” The implication is that the yada yadapart is the usual, mundane, unimportant, and/or redundant stuff already experienced by the parties involved. The idea is that such parts are so predictable that repeating them is a waste of time since people could figure out what was implied anyway.

Part of the irony and attempt at humor was that one party thought that Yada yada was appropriate, practical, and self-explanatory in a given context and the other party was only further confused by the phrase. Rather than save everyone a lot of thought, the phrase only threw the confused party into a sea of unanswered questions and unsure assumptions. A life immersed only in the secular can often be a paradox of such ironic tragedy in the midst of patronizing presumption. Such a life is pulled between satisfying flimsy and changing societal conventions and trying to grasp effective and fulfilling self-perceptions. We are often pulled between satisfying others and ourselves by a society that idolizes popularity and self at the same time. Like the townspeople pretending that the naked Emperor is wearing clothes, we are often too obsessed with looking right to do what is truly right.

Yada Yada Catholics

I am fairly certain that this might be the first use of Yada yada to describe Catholics, so embrace my pioneering spirit. As I see it, many of us might be tempted to fast-forward, assume, practicalize, and short-hand our Faith. Why would we do this? Perhaps, whether we admit it or not, we have allowed our Faith, or at least our perception and experience of it, to grow stale, mundane, predictable, and even boring. We have lost the transcendent power and meaning of our beliefs and practices to the point where we now see the practice of our faith as nothing more than commercials we want to fast-forward through on the DVR of our lives. This tragedy explains parents missing mass with their kids in order to take them to swim meets and soccer games. It explains folks treating the most Blessed Sacrament as nothing more than a weekly white cookie. It explains hordes of Catholics too ignorant about what their Faith is about to explain much less defend it.

The Five Culprits of Catholic Yada Yada

I believe that there are many reasons for Catholic Yada yada, but the five main ones are, in no particular order: 1) Ignorance 2) Distraction 3) Arrogance 4) Defiance and 5) Distance.

Thanks to a diluted and sometimes distorted religious education system, many Catholics have been raised increasingly ignorant of core Catholic beliefs and the relative importance and centrality of those beliefs. Many Catholics, for example, do not know, understand, or care about the Divine Presence.

Secondly, modern society embodies so many distractions, from technology to twisted values, that many Catholics are easily confused and readily blend truth with subjective whim and myth. Third and fourth, current social values promote and foment rampant personal arrogance and defiance against any absolute moral code. Morality is what each person defines as morality. Anyone who even attempts to guide others toward ethical behavior is labeled an intolerant and divisive threat to society. It is troubling that increasing numbers of Catholics stubbornly and cluelessly latch unto distorted, warped, and very subjective interpretations and applications of their Faith.

We see scores of Catholics encouraged and convinced that attending a wedding between two divorced Catholics without annulments is acceptable to “maintain the peace” and exhibit “love and acceptance”. Finally, all of these things and more cause many Catholics to grow distant from their faith. Their beliefs become nothing more than distant relatives they admit to being related to but barely know. All too often, many Catholics become Peter at the fire warming himself while Christ, their Faith, is interrogated. We too may deny Christ many times through our words, actions, and omissions merely to avoid trouble and criticism.

The Surprising Meaning of Yada and Its Implications

The most surprising part of my preparation for this piece was the discovery that a single Yada is a Hebraic word meaning a knowing dedication and sharing often based on love, mercy, and justice which is often referenced in the Old Testament. The obvious question is how can such a beautiful and positive word suddenly become so negative and dismissive when doubled? I think that the answer may lie in the idea that we often take what is most important for granted out of convenience, impatience, and a warped search for what I will call external novelty.

The process by which this terrible thing happens might begin with expecting core, profound, and central ideas to continually inspire and radiate their own wonder. Rather than embracing our responsibility to cultivate and refresh the wonder of the most transcendent, we tend to sit back and expect the transcendent to entertain and inspire us. It is almost as if we have come to equate greatness with the innate ability to generate greatness without any effort or participation on our part. A fantastic health speaker may provide us with a wonderful diet and exercise strategies, but our health will not improve unless we take, apply, and make those ideas work in our lives. Similarly, we are the hands of Christ in this world, not merely his audience eating popcorn and waiting for the next miracle or magic trick.

We tend to exhibit the obnoxious trio of lazy impatience leading to an obsession with finding the most convenient path to anything. In our rush to get to the next great thing which is often not that great at all, we tend to overlook the very greatness right under our noses. Ultimately, we seek external novelty, automatically assuming that new is better and new must come from outside of what is presently before us. In this context, the Hebraic Yada’s power and beauty are dismissed when we lump all of the Yadas in our lives into a convenient pile while impatiently looking elsewhere for the freshness and wonder we already have before us if we only care to look. Many Catholics, for example, are too distracted with the cares of the day to truly consider the majesty of the Divine Presence. Similarly, many folks go the bathroom exactly during the elevation of the Eucharist at the Offertory. Lastly, how many Catholics truly consider that we are just as present at the Last Supper, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord as the Apostles were when we attend mass? For far too many Catholics, the Holy Mass has conveniently become a weekly social ritual.

One Yada is Enough

Given what we know about the meanings of Yada as opposed to Yada yada, we can perhaps conclude that one Yada is more than enough when it comes to our Faith. We must see our Faith as a knowing dedication to Christ and sharing of that dedication with others in love, mercy, and justice. That view, however, invites us to continually seek the internal novelty of ways by which we may practice and apply such dedication, sharing, love, mercy, and justice. The answer does not lie in the society and world around us, for to believe so would imply that the value of our Faith is dependent upon this world and its values. Rather, the beauty and power of our faith are to be found within the Faith itself and our ability to discover, extract, and apply what we find to a needy world. We cannot be lazy observers of our own Faith merely waiting to be entertained while continually handcuffing our beliefs to the whimsical chains of this world. Rather, it is our duty, mission, and purpose to draw out from our Faith the necessary tools to both glorify God and bring Christ to everyone we meet.

One Yada is enough because one Yada tells us all we need to know and use to follow Christ. Once we let this world convince us that it has the prescription to improve our Faith, we will become Yada yadaCatholics who think that convenience, entertainment, external novelty, and compromise will ever bring us closer to our Faith much less to Christ. The internal novelty of our Faith is simply its transcendent ability to provide us with new insights and applications through Christ and his example. By necessity, any external novelty will be subject to the superficial and distorted values of this world. Ultimately, when it comes to the Yada in our Faith, less is more!

2019 Gabriel Garnica

Making Recitation a Tool for Success, Part II

By Brandon Harvey

Introduction

Recitation, referred to in the catechetical tradition as “catechism,” is a powerful tool, albeit not the only tool, for passing on the faith to young children. Discover my first article arguing for the necessity of its restoration. In my last article on recitation, I examined the first installment of the series Making Recitation a Tool for Success, Part I. That article reviewed the practical steps to initiating recitation within the catechetical classroom. This article will round out the practical tips to making recitation a success in its execution.

Recitation as an Immediate Assessment

The cumulative recitation experience at the beginning of class provides the Catechist with an immediate assessment of their child’s attitude for that day, their overall abilities, and current level of comprehension. The overall recitation should

be the class standing up and reciting a rhythmic harmony. Yet, in each class there should be a few questions that focus on a particular grouping of students in the classroom. For example, the Catechist might have a question that is just for each row, another question that is for boys, and another for girls.

Catechists may notice issues with a student during the group recitation, but the above examples of smaller groups will make it more challenging for a struggling student to hide it from the Catechist. Take note of any students not participating, not saying it proficiently, or overly distracted. Their struggles may be due to stressors at home or in school, but they might also inform the Catechist that the child has learning challenges or is falling behind in class.

You will not know all that is going on with a student from recitation, but it will provide you an idea of who you need to keep an eye on or follow-up with.

Recitation as a Foundation

Conducting recitation is not the same as a lesson. This tool will help your lesson and future lessons. It will provide the class with common vocabulary; everyone will be able to speak the same language and hopefully it will be a language that matches the Church. This is necessary in our age when many kids grow-up without many of the same cultural staples of Catholicism and mechanisms that helps one become accustomed to words like: Mass, Eucharist, Consecration, Confessional, Genuflect, Sacrifice, etc. Many of us have experienced the challenge of students that refer to the Eucharist as the “bread and wine” or confuse “Confirmation” with “Confession.”

Some Catechists struggle with needing to cover too much in the limited amount of time for sacramental preparation. Some communities have students entering into sacramental prep needing the basics as well. Where do you start? What do you do if there is not enough time? Rely on recitation to cover some of the foundational elements in order to ensure the core elements for sacramental preparation are covered.

The Struggle to Make Recitation a Habit

Whether its recitation or any other catechetical component, a once a week catechetical gathering is not sufficient to offer the ideal formation experience. Recitation requires habitual use to actualize its potential. It is a struggle to only have recitation drills once a week. The challenge is to attempt ways to get some or all of the students to review their recitation at home.

Let parents know about the importance of recitation. Provide them a copy of your recitation questions and invite them to review them 1-3 times a week outside of class. You can also provide children a notebook and ask them to copy the new recitation phrase for the week a handful of times in their notebook outside of class. Students can also review their recitation with not just parents but also godparents or siblings; relatives can sign a paper to witness to the practice at home.

Communicate well and communicate often with parents. Let them know what you expect and how it will impact the end of the year event (see below).

A Closing Recitation Event

Invite parents, godparents, and clergy to enjoy a formal last recitation to end the year. Think of it like a RECital or performance of the year’s cumulative recitation. Try to create a true celebration spirit for those attending to see their child showcase their mastery of catechetical formulas and increased memory capacity. The benefits of such an event include:

Students will have a chance to discover a sense of accomplishment towards their hard work.
Parents and members of the community get to see an example of something that the kids worked on during the year.
The buildup towards this annual event may inspire some of the parents and students to review it outside of class and help cultivate the habit.

While I am passionate about the importance of recitation in catechesis, I am under no impression that recitation alone is what these kids need. It is simply a component that assists their overall catechetical formation and child developmental skills.

Making Recitation a Tool for Success, Part 1

By Brandon Harvey

Introduction

I have previously written about the importance of restoring the use of recitation within Religious Education Programs, referred to in the catechetical tradition as “Catechism.” With the near disappearance of this essential tool within the contemporary educational systems, both public and private, and current catechetical programs, most of us have not experienced a mentor utilizing the tool of recitation in a skillful manner. For most of us, it sounds like a relic of the past that stirs up a wide array of reactions. It is my hope to offer a few words on how to use recitation well.

Initial Habits for Successful Recitation

Recitation begins with the Amazing Catechist. The catechist must know the content of recitation. If the children are asked to memorize their recitation, they need to see that it is possible by seeing the mastery commanded by their guide and mentor in the catechetical enterprise. The catechist also needs to prioritize the use of recitation so that the children will be given a chance of making it a priority for themselves. Lastly, the catechist must properly plan for the classroom and designate the appropriate amount of time for recitation.

Recitation must become a habit that children come to expect in each class. Recitation is not like a craft, trivia game, or showing a video. These things can be used during some classes but are not typically found in all classes for the given year. Recitation is needed for every class. The habit of recitation creates a sense of universality, a sense that regular use of recitation is normative, and its absence is unnatural to their experience.

Catechetical recitation should have a degree of formal solemnity, or ceremony, within its place in a class. The way the catechist calls students to the beginning of recitation, standing, beginning, the rhythm, handling problems, and concluding should have a feel of joyous ceremony. This will create a healthy environment for enriching their ability to memorize and recite.

Introducing Recitation

Recitation possesses the ability to strengthen a child’s memory, provide essential content and vocabulary for the day’s lesson, give them catechetical formulas that will remain with them for years to come, and allow catechists to see how their students are doing. How should the new recitation for the week be introduced? After reciting the recitation from previous weeks, since part of the power of recitation is its cumulative nature, the new recitation is offered at the conclusion of the previous weeks, “Now I will introduce our new recitation.” For example, the new recitation for a class of 1^st graders might be:

Catechist: “Who made the world?”

Class: “God made the world.”

Catechist: “Who is God?”

Class: “God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Each catechist needs to find their own way for introducing the new content. I find that it is helpful to simply have it written on the board when the class arrives. Repeat it several times together. Then begin erasing a word or two while continuing to recite it together. For example, the board may look like the above points and then slowly erase the word “God”, then “made the”, and then finally “world.” Doing the recitation in rapid succession will motivate them to retain the original phrase within their minds while observing the remaining words to be found. I know other catechists that simply put it on the board and do not erase it. Others give it to their children on a sheet of paper.

Conclusion

The more a catechist perfects their artform of teaching and guiding recitation, the easier it will become for the catechist and students. This will allow recitation to move smoothly within a class, allow more time for the subsequent catechetical lesson that often follows, and allow the potential of “catechism”/recitation to be actualized within our classrooms and programs.

A Case for the Restoration of Catechetical Recitation

By Brandon Harvey

Over the last fifteen years I have heard numerous individuals share about their experiences as the “last real Baltimore Catechism Generation.” Some express that the formal catechism recitation, comprised of a question and answer dialogue, was a positive influence on their faith life and provided them sound doctrinal formation. Others have a somewhat negative view of their experience and felt that the catechism recitation monopolized their classroom experience. Interestingly though, they do have one positive thing to say about the use of recitation: “I will never forget what I learned.” The famous example being:

The Catechist: Why did God make you?

The Class: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.”

This dialogue recitation was not only found in Catholic catechetical classrooms but also is a hallmark of the Classical Education Movement that has been seeking to restore the essence of an authentic education. The name for this dialogue or echo between teacher and class has also been called “Catechism.” For now, let us remain with the title “recitation.”

I seek to suggest that it would be in our best interest as Amazing Catechists, either at home or in a classroom, to carry out the restoration project of bringing back the Catholic recitation. I am not suggesting that this be done as the sole means of educating youth but that the use of recitation should once again become part of our catechetical process. The question and answers of recitation can easily be integrated into the opening of class or the closing of class. The reason for its restoration is that it works.

The traditional characteristic of the younger grades, what we call Grammar School or Elementary School, was the emphasis on memory work. The emphasis on memory work was aimed at cultivating a child’s memory capacity and at the same time teaching them something. Small children can do it, and the last couple thousand years have demonstrated that it fits well with the developmental stages of small children. They like to repeat and imitate. They are a sponge and can handle unusual amounts of information if it begins simple and grows in complexity. Recitation for a small child is like exercise. The more a person exercises, the easier it becomes and the more complicated routines can then be adopted.

Within a few short minutes I have seen 1^st communicants be able to answer questions like:

Who is God?
What are the two parts of Scripture?
Name the four Gospels.
Who is Jesus?
What are the Old Testament types of Baptism?
What does John 3:5 say about Baptism?
What does Romans 6 say about Baptism?
How does Confirmation complete Baptism?
How does Confirmation help with the reception of Holy Communion?
What is the Manna in Exodus 16?
How does the Lord’s Prayer connect with Manna?
What does Jesus say about the Eucharist in John 6?

The benefits for the child are beyond this article and deserve an entire book to do them justice. I have chosen to simplify and provide the nine most common fruits when recitation is done well and consistently:

Recitation teaches children to organize a body of knowledge in a systematic way.
Recitation demonstrates to a child how the new lesson of a given class fits within the greater body of knowledge of the Catholic Faith.
Recitation teaches children new and proper vocabulary to help them formulate the concepts they will learn in class.
Recitation provides students the opportunity to grow in confidence for speaking in front of others.
Recitation provides all students in a classroom the same base knowledge to build from in the catechetical lesson.
Recitation motivates the child to develop their memory capacity and their speed and ability for recall.
Recitation provides a body of knowledge that will be ingrained in their long-term memory for the years and possibly decades to come.
Recitation encourages teamwork when done in a classroom setting since the class answers together.
Recitation develops a sense of confidence through the year’s mastery of recitation.

Besides being a time-tested approach to learning for smaller children, especially within a Catholic environment, recitation also provides many helps for the Catechists. Classroom recitation provides the most immediate assessment of a student’s or students’ abilities and their current status in the process of formation. Unlike True and False questions or multiple-choice questions, recitation does not allow for guessing. You either know it or you do not. A catechist does not need to wait until the end of the unit quiz to know if a student grasps the content. They will know immediately. The process of conducting recitation will be discussed in my next article.

The importance of recitation, and the fact that it should not monopolize the classroom experience, is best expressed by turning to L.M. Montgomery’s classic Anne of Green Gables. The orphan, Anne, has arrived at her new home at Green Gables. Marilla asks Anne if she knows who God is. Anne responds, “God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” The narrator explains that Anne’s answer was prompt.

Anne then explains that she learned it at Sunday school before being adopted. “They made us learn the whole catechism,” likely referring to a sort of recitation, “There’s something splendid about some of the words.” The role of this catechism recitation had a big impact on her vocabulary, her memory, her recall, and her worldview. However, Anne does not yet know how to be a person who prays to God and follows God. For this reason, Marilla immediately seeks Anne’s religious instruction.

Just as in the example of Anne of Green Gables, catechism recitation can have many benefits but must be accompanied by something more within the classroom. The catechetical recitation and catechetical lesson work together to create something grand: a child formed in the way of Jesus Christ. Anyone would be hard pressed, once they know the different approaches to conducting recitation, to find a good reason to not restore catechetical recitation to its proper place.

Image Credit from Wikimedia Commons: Jules-Alexis Muenier: Catechism Lesson

God Even Works Through Unworthy Souls

By Lisa Mladinich

The Crucified Christ, Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664 Spanish)

I have known many priests and a few bishops throughout my almost 59 years of life in the Catholic Church, and all of them have been good men. In fact, some of them are counted among my dearest friends, and the witness of their lives is a continuous inspiration to me in my walk with God. The current scandals are torture for them, as they suffer the degrading and humiliating backlash that comes with such revelations.

But while most priests are sincere men who have sacrificed the comforts of ordinary life to help us and draw us into heaven, it is also true that there are wolves among them, causing terrible harm to the Church. There is much of worth being said about this in other places: about how we can respond, how we can help purge the guilty from their powerful perches, and how the laity can and must be a part of this process.*

But I would personally like to focus on something that is just as important for parents and catechists to understand, especially as our children and our students start to ask hard questions:

We can and should have great hope in Christ, through the sacraments of the Church, in spite of the unworthiness of some of its ministers.

It’s horrific when our shepherds betray our trust and do grievous harm to those they are ordained to serve. It is the worst kind of betrayal: setting themselves up as examples and guides in the spiritual life and then abusing their access and influence to exploit innocent victims. Our disgust is both appropriate and understandable, and swift legal action should be taken against every one of them. Their victims should be treated with tireless and committed care and consideration, wherever we find them.

I met one of the victims, not long ago, and her suffering was palpable, but a simple teaching of the Church was a great help to her.

About two years ago, after giving a presentation to a gathering of Catholic women, an attendee approached me and asked to speak privately. Flushed and emotional, she confided something dreadful: a priest had harmed her, years before. She gave me no details, but she was traumatized and deeply hurt by what had happened, trapped in an agonizing struggle between her love for the Church and her legitimate fury at the way she had been used by one of its ministers.

I expressed my sincere sorrow, sympathy, and disgust, but as we talked, I could see that she had been unable to start the necessary process of healing her own life. She had not even considered the possibility of forgiveness, so her wounds were still as raw, at that moment, as if the offense had just occurred. Her own authentic and much-deserved freedom was being held ransom by her choice to live in bitterness.

(Full disclosure: I myself suffered a sexual assault in college, though it had nothing to do with the Church. The perpetrator was a trusted friend, someone who callously took advantage of me in a moment of vulnerability. As a result of that lived experience, I was able to truly empathize and be present to this dear lady, with both a sense of sisterhood and a desire to challenge her–for her own sake.)

As we talked, an important and related issue surfaced. She adamantly denied the validity of the offending priest’s sacramental ministry. He was unworthy, clearly. He had lived a double life. He had betrayed, not just her, but countless people who had come to him to be nourished in the sacramental life of the Church. His leadership was false, she pointed out, so his duplicity had voided any good that might have come from his priesthood.

But that’s not necessarily true. I’m not God, so I don’t have the ability to weigh the ultimate fruits of any life, including my own. But I do know something that all Catholics should know, and I offered it to her in a spirit of encouragement.

Here goes: It is Jesus, not the priest, who makes all of the sacraments efficacious (CCC 1120). I’ll say it another way: the priest’s worthiness has no bearing on the validity or spiritual value of the sacraments themselves. Therefore, a priest who has just committed a murder, for example, can validly baptize an infant, consecrate the Host, anoint the sick, confirm a new Catholic, marry a couple, or even give absolution in the confessional! In each case, because of his ordination, the priest stands in persona Christi (in the person of Christ). Therefore, it is Jesus who baptizes, Jesus who consecrates, Jesus who marries, Jesus who anoints, and Jesus who forgives (CCC 1088). As long as the sacramental actions are done in the correct way by a validly ordained priest, they are completely valid, efficacious, and beautiful. Isn’t that incredible?

In other words, right after betraying Jesus, Judas could have validly consecrated the Host and provided the Holy Mass for himself and others! He could have baptized and absolved, and his actions in persona Christi would have blessed and nourished the souls of the people he served. His worthiness would not have been an impediment because it is always, always Jesus who acts, in every single sacrament.

I guess we shouldn’t be shocked that the Church has such great trust in Our Lord’s power to overcome evil. Jesus brings redemption from our suffering, just as he purchased eternal life for each of us from his own gruesome, scandalous death. Our Lord even brought a thief who repented at the very last minute with him to heaven, and some of our greatest saints started life as champion sinners.

As I explained this teaching of the Church, the suffering lady protested, her hands coming up in a defensive pose, so I spoke these words to her, very gently: “This should give us all great hope because even when we ourselves are unworthy, God can still do great good through our lives, too.”

I watched her eyes widen in amazement, as she staggered backward. I steadied her by lightly grasping her arms, and she teared up as her eyes took on a warmth that had not been there before. She was shaken, but the beginnings of gratitude flooded into her expression, as the liberating reality of this truth took hold.

The gist is that God can work through all of us, in spite of our sins, in spite of all the ways that we betray our love for him and for each other. Yes, we need repentance and sacramental healing to truly walk with the Lord and live our best lives, and criminals should be prosecuted and removed from active ministry. But Jesus can bring beautiful fruit from even the darkest of circumstances.

“SACRED HEART OF JESUS” (DETAIL) BY CHAMBERS

He can overcome our sins, resurrect our lives, and make all things new (Rev 21:5).

He can redeem our past, at any moment, and fill our lives with hope (Joel 25:2).

The weight of unrelenting bitterness and unforgiveness seemed to abate, as the wounded lady was graced with a vision of hope in Christ’s mercy. In Christ, she was alive, and through Christ she had truly been strengthened by the Sacraments that He gave so lovingly to the Church. No unworthy priest could take that from her. We parted warmly and I never saw her again, but to me, it was an unforgettable encounter.

I hope this teaching brings peace and courage to our readers and to those we teach and evangelize. In the midst of an extremely hurtful and complex crisis, let’s all pray hard and stay close to Jesus in his Word, his sacraments, and in grateful friendship with our many, many good priests. Our beloved church needs us to be strong, well-informed, and ready to boldly and compassionately minister to those who are reeling from these terrible revelations.

Be assured of my prayers. God bless you all.

*Here are some great pieces that address the laity’s potential role in the housecleaning to come, by one of my favorite writers, Elizabeth Scalia, and this link will bring you to a superb article by Dan Mattson, regarding a common thread that runs through the vast majority of the Church’s sex scandals.)

Enjoy Pat Gohn’s latest podcast episode about the crisis and a new book by Alexis Walkenstein about a wonderful bishop who lived out his mission faithfully: Fulton J. Sheen.

MAC Notes For Praying With Children

By Lisa Mladinich

It was a great joy to present some ideas about praying with children, this past Friday (February 16), at the Mid-Atlantic Congress, in Baltimore. It touched my heart very much to be in Maryland (Mary-land!) surrounded by dedicated people of faith.

I want to thank all of you who attended for your warmth, your attention, and most of all for your commitment to bring the Faith to others, no matter how difficult that task may seem. But we know that God is faithful, and what we plant He waters.

Please feel free to ask questions in the com boxes and I’ll add more material, as needed. Here are the bullet points, reading resources, Catechism quotes, Scriptures, and other elements of the talk:

The Annunciation, by Henry Tanner

I began by talking about the fact that we are all made for supernatural experiences and interactions. It is natural for us to experience the supernatural! From the beginning of our lives to the moment we enter heaven, we are accompanied by a guardian angel, a pure spirit so unique that it is a separate species from all other spirits (according to Catholic angelologists). This mighty being beholds the face of God in heaven and attends to our souls with perfect dedication and love.

I shared two prayers from my new book, Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days. The first is from Week One and was written for the adult preparing for the school year (there are two weeks of preparation prayers), and the other is from Week Nine of the children’s prayers and provides a prayer lesson on the same topic: Angels!

Here they are:

Holy Angels, you surround us with your prayerful and protective presence at all times, and I thank you. I ask that you watch over our classroom throughout the coming year, filling it with your praises to God and guarding it diligently with your holy presence and your powerful prayers. Draw down from heaven every grace and blessing we need to heal our wounds, repent of our sins, and offer our sufferings in union with the cross of Jesus Christ for the good of souls. Amen. (Week 1: Theme: Strength in Weakness)

Dear Jesus, St. Anselm taught that from the moment we are created in our mother’s womb, God gives us a guardian angel to watch over us. We are precious to God no matter how small we are. Even though we are hidden away for a little while before we were born, God always sees us and loves us! After we are born, God’s angel stays with us throughout our lives and guides us safely to God, when we die. Our angel will not leave us or stop praying for us until we are ready to enter into the joy of heaven! Amen. (Week 9: Theme: The Unborn)

Nothing is more natural than teaching the Faith through prayer. We do this naturally when we are raising our own children. We call out the attributes of God, express our trust in His mercy, and use a language of love that helps each child feel they are a part of something beautiful and true.

Every one of the almost 300 prayers in my book is a short catechetical lesson, as well as a prayer. The collection spans about 10 months of school days, plus special occasion prayers, a glossary of challenge words, and a scriptural reference for each week. The traditional dedications of the days and months, the liturgical seasons, virtues, and mysteries of the Rosary, are also woven into the prayers, so that young children experience them simply and older children and adults have more to interest them.

More notes:

We ourselves express an amazing nature that will be perfected, in heaven. On earth, we possess five senses that help us to access the intangibles of heaven, and after the Resurrection of the Dead, our glorified senses will be even more amazing! That’s why the Church is so wise about beauty, which is a gateway to truth and goodness–to God Himself.

Body and Soul: One Human Nature: CCC 365

The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

When Jesus entered into time, He sanctified it. And when He took on human flesh, he sanctified that, too. That means that every moment of our lives is holy and our lives have meaning and purpose from our earliest biological beginnings to the very end of our natural lives. It is all His! Every moment is precious. The world tells us otherwise, discarding the helpless unborn and the elderly, which is the darkest kind of ignorance, masquerading as sophistication.

Note: Those who have been lied to, indoctrinated, pressured, and wounded by these evils (i.e., post-abortive women and families) are tenderly loved by God and need only seek His healing love to be restored and strengthened, to be given new life, and to carry out their true purpose in Him. Check out Rachel’s Vineyard for loving support in finding healing.

Never doubt the dignity of your own soul. God, who contains the entire universe and all of heaven–the angels, saints, holy souls, our beloved who are living and those who have died, the stars and planets, every layer of creation–this God abides tenderly and devotedly in our souls. Within our souls dwells the Holy Spirit, by virtue of our baptism, and each time we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we become tabernacles of His holy presence. That Presence has an impact on the world around us, as it radiates through us.

St. Therese of Lisieux said, “How great must a soul be to contain a God.”
Jesus said, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (Jn 14:23)
When the Lord is with us, we are empowered to live the adventure of our own lives, to fulfill the unique calling of God to our individual souls!
God wants to make a masterpiece in our souls.
Learning and teaching the Faith is a key to that wondrous transformation in Christ.

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Learning our faith a little at a time draws us closer to God and empowers our mission.

As we move through our lives, studying our faith, we “scratch” at ideas that may be familiar, but perhaps we don’t fully understand, yet. The Liturgical year takes us round and round the treasure map of our faith, and we scratch a little every year, going deeper into the treasury of grace and knowledge that feeds our walk with Christ. If we keep scratching a little at a time, we uncover treasures that change our lives, light our souls on fire, and make it impossible for us to keep our excitement to ourselves.

I absolutely love Dr. Edward Sri’s book, A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy. He takes each piece of the Mass, scratches and digs deeply into the origins and biblical connections, and unearths the treasures within. He begins with the very start of the Mass:

“On the one hand, from a Scriptural perspective, the words ‘The Lord be with you’ remind us of the high calling we each have. As God’s children, we each have a particular mission to fulfill in the Father’s plan…each of us has a role that no one else can play…these words also assure us that we have access to a higher power that can support us through the trials and challenges of life and help us be faithful in whatever task God has entrusted to us.” (p. 26)

Dr. Sri goes on to explain that when God says, “I will be with you,” or an angel says, “The Lord is with you,” he is saying that we need not fear anything. He describes some examples: Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Mary. Each is empowered to accomplish the impossible, in friendship with God.

When we hear the priest say, at Mass, “The Lord be with you,” we should hear the voice of the Lord saying to us:

I will equip you, I will provide for you, I will defend you, and I will give you victory.
Through the gift of Himself in the Eucharist, Christ strengthens us.
Our heroes are heroes because they trusted in the power of God.
Prayer and study change us, opening us up to God’s grace (LIFE).
When we persevere in prayer and sacramental life, we become radiant witnesses.

Pope Paul VI famously wrote: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.”

We all want to be radiant witnesses, but I sometimes feel, working with children, that I’m ill-prepared or uninspired, so I pray, “Lord, light me up! You are my wattage!” And He never lets me down. If I walk out of class feeling like a failure, I say, “Lord, I don’t know what I did in there, but I know You did something!”

The amazing Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen always prayed before he taught: “Lord, send me Pentecostal fire!”

But to become Radiant Witnesses, we need sacramental healing and cleansing: confession. Here’s the fun commercial I do at all my talks. When you do this for your own presentations, have fun! Sell it! Make them laugh. It will help them remember.

Feeling tired? Rundown? Discouraged? Feel like Jesus hasn’t been answering your prayers, lately? Well, how would you like to get back in the game so fast it’ll make the enemy’s head spin? Get some religion, get your groove back? Let the light of the Lord shine right through you and out to the world? Well, you’re in luck! Because right now you, my friend, can get back in the race with some sanctifying grace. Discovering the elation of reconciliation. Free at last! Free of charge, at a Catholic parish near you, where a priest is waiting to take your call. Get back in the game. Get back to confession!

Why It is Important to Pray With Children

Adults humbly approaching the throne of God is a powerful witness.
Recognizing something greater than ourselves is an important reality check.
Respecting authority in childhood—leads to exercising healthy authority as adults.
Praying together gives children a blueprint for prayer—they mimic to learn the language of love.
They realize they can have a relationship with God, Our Lady, the saints, angels, and the Holy Souls.
They are reminded that they are made for supernatural encounters.
Prayer empowers them to enter into the mystery—and the paradoxes of a life lived for God.
Memories and habits of prayer, soaked in love, become rich in meaning and take root for a lifetime.
An intimate relationship with God is an indispensable means to achieving their life’s purpose with clarity.
The habit of prayer strengthens them to stand against dark influences and live for God.

Pixabay

Working prayer into our lessons and lessons into our prayers

Here, I shared some ideas about the naturalness of prayer as a way to teach, and lessons as a way to incorporate prayer, beginning with the Sign of the Cross–again, based on a lesson from Dr. Sri’s book. I began with this excerpt, however, from an EWTN interview with author and editor, Bert Ghezzi:

Bert Ghezzi (from EWTN interview):

The sign of the cross is: a confession of faith; a renewal of baptism; a mark of discipleship; an acceptance of suffering; a defense against the devil; and a victory over self-indulgence.
When you make the sign, you are professing a mini version of the creed — you are professing your belief in the Father, and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit.
When you say the words and pray in someone’s name you are declaring their presence and coming into their presence— that’s how a name is used in Scripture.

The ancient version of the Hebrew letter “Tav” looks like a cross (or an X)

Dr. Sri talked about “signs” in the Bible:

Exodus 12: Passover: the Israelites were spared because of the lamb’s blood on their doorposts
Revelations 7:3: the saints in heaven have a seal on their forehead
Ezekial 9:4: those marked with the TAV were spared the wrath of God.

St. John Chrysostom said this about the Sign of the Cross:

When, then, you make the sign of the cross on the forehead, arm yourself with a saintly boldness, and reinstall your soul in its old liberty; for you are not ignorant that the cross is a prize beyond all price.

Consider what is the price given for your ransom, and you will never more be slave to any man on earth. This reward and ransom is the cross. You should not then, carelessly make the sign on the forehead, but you should impress it on your heart with the love of a fervent faith. Nothing impure will dare to molest you on seeing the weapon, which overcometh all things.

All of this to say that when we “scratch” below the surface and find treasures, we cannot help but share them and that passion ignites a fire in children.

Pixabay

Creating a Prayerful Environment for Children:

No phones, please. The addictive quality of cell phones and other electronic devices is very real and should be prohibited in class.
Basic discipline should create a safe environment for the shyest children. Don’t let alpha kids take over. Be forgiving but firm.
Your own example of faith and reverence is contagious.
Beauty! As we know, our souls are touched by beauty. Use it as much as you can: sacred art, candles, music, Easter and Christmas cards! God speaks through beauty and touches our hearts when nothing else can.

Meeting Them Where They Are

Learning styles and developmental issues can be understood easily. Lots of information is available online.
They remember how you made them feel, so ask Jesus to act through you and speak through you with the love only He can give.
The grace of forgiveness and second chances: show mercy, while maintaining order.
Children’s memories and associations: sometimes they surprise us with weird connections. They are making memories, as they connect their own ideas with the new ones. Don’t despair that they don’t seem to understand. They’re working on it.
Communication and cleaning up messes: be sensitive to the children’s feelings. You don’t know how much you may matter to them or how God may be touching that child by your witness, without your knowledge. If you think you may have done something insensitive, circle back and make amends.
Prayer Basket keeps the community strong: get the names of all their loved ones on cards that go in a basket for weekly prayer. They stay connected with the community of the classroom that way, even when they are not able to be present.

First Through Third Grade

A decade of the Rosary takes five minutes! Inviting Our Lady into the classroom makes everything better. And Sister Lucia, one of the seers of Fatima (and many saints) have said, “…there is no problem that cannot be resolved by the recitation of the Holy Rosary.” It is a spiritual weapon par excellence!
Intentions clarified: make sure the children understand what they are praying for. Invite feedback.
Marching to hymns of praise gets their wiggles out and provides a liturgical feel as you transition to the next activity.
Spontaneous prayer is important. If a child brings up a worry or concern, pray on the spot.
Throwing their prayers up to God. I have them close their eyes and hold out their hands, palms up, giving God everything on their hearts and then making a tossing motion, giving it to him to take care of.
God can make good come out of any bad thing, can bring beauty from ugliness, and hope from despair. Keep weaving this into prayer with them.
Name saints! I research the children’s names at the start of the year and weave those saints into lesson time.
Trips to the Church are essential: entering reverently, blessing themselves with holy water, and genuflecting with their eyes on the tabernacle (greeting Jesus silently in their hearts) can be practiced ahead of time, in class. I love to walk through the Stations of the Cross with them, having the boys say one half and the girls the other, and then switching halfway through (We bless thee oh Lord and we praise you; for by your holy cross you have redeemed the world). Talking about the altar as a table for a holy meal, a place of sacrifice (the Lamb of God), and connecting it all to the sacraments gives them more connection to the Mass.
Sacramentals: have them reverently practice venerating blessed sacramentals: i.e., a crucifix, a sacred image, a relic, a medal.
Living a moment in Scripture: I act out Bible stories with my kids after I read them aloud, so they get to experience in different ways: they hear the story, see the pictures, and then “live” it for a few short minutes. Every learning style is covered, this way, and it helps them remember. It’s all very easy and loose. For more information, see my booklet, Be An Amazing Catechist: Inspire the Faith of Children.

Fourth Through Eighth Grade and Beyond

See above, plus…
Cultivating silence: their lives are noisy. Give them opportunities to experience silent prayer.
Spiritual bouquets for the Holy Souls: these powerful allies in purgatory need our prayers and pray for us with great impact when we pray for them. Establish this relationship early. It benefits the Church and many souls.
Adopting a mission or ministry: choose something where they can receive progress reports and other kinds of feedback, so they see the impact of their prayers and a way to help out when they are old enough.
Relationships with saints: through their name saints, the liturgical year, and martyr stories, children can be intrigued about the saints and want to know them better and learn from them. Also, namesaintgenerator.com is a great online resource. Have them pray to the Holy Spirit, then click the interface to choose a saint. They should study the saint’s life and pray, “Teach me what you know,” for a set period of time.
Eucharistic miracles: true accounts abound and are fascinating to tweens and teens: see this website: https://therealpresence.org/

Scroll down to these images for more information.

Incorruptibles: these somewhat strange miraculous occurrences fascinate teens and tweens.
Adoration: teens often find a personal relationship with Christ in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I even take very young children and tell them that Jesus is waiting for them, His arms loaded with gifts of grace. They should silently tell Him about their day, share their hopes and worries, and pray simply, “Jesus, I adore You!” With older students, we memorize the Anima Christi for after Communion and for Adoration:

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malignant enemy defend me
At the hour of my death call me
And bid me come to Thee
That with thy saints I may praise thee
Forever and ever
Amen

Special liturgies that involve them in the planning, reading, and music, help them to understand the Mass and their role as contributing members of the community.
Conferences can do what we can’t. Chastity, TOB, the Real Presence, Vocations–youth speakers have a powerful calling to reach the hearts and minds of teens and tweens. Do whatever you can to get your middle and high school students to appropriate events.

Remember, what we plant, He waters!

Here’s my resource list! Let me know if you need anything else. I’m happy to help!

Published Resources:

Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days, by Lisa Mladinich (Liguori Publications)

Be An Amazing Catechist: Inspire the Faith of Children, by Lisa Mladinich (in English and Spanish, from Our Sunday Visitor)

Be An Amazing Catechist: Sacramental Preparation, by Lisa Mladinich (in English and Spanish, from Our Sunday Visitor)

A Biblical Walk Through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy, by Edward Sri (Ascension Press)

The Happiness of Heaven: The Joys and Rewards of Eternal Glory, by Fr. J. Boudreau, S.J. (1870) (TAN reprint)

Champions of the Rosary: The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon, by Father Donald Calloway (Marian Press)

What Matters Most: Empowering Young Catholics for Life’s Big Decisions, by Leonard J. DeLorenzo (Ave Maria Press)

Prayer for Beginners, by Peter Kreeft (Ignatius Press)

Free Online Resources:

AmazingCatechists.com

Article on praying with children: https://amazingcatechists.com/2018/02/teach-kids-pray-5-simple-steps/

CatholicMom.com (my puppet scripts)

https://catholicmom.com/kids/puppet-ministry/

MyFirstHolyCommunion.com (Tarcisius)

https://www.myfirstholycommunion.com/portfolio-view/st-tarcisius-boy-martyr-of-the-eucharist/

TheRealPresence.org

https://therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/a3.html

SaintsNameGenerator.com

https://saintsnamegenerator.com/

Fisheaters.com (tour of the church)

https://www.fisheaters.com/churchbuilding.html

Is Finger Yoga Safe?

By Lisa Mladinich

Israeli Stop Sign (Wikipedia Commons)

Today, a reader asks whether it is safe to use something called “Finger Yoga,” so I did a quick search and found an informative article by Susan Brinkmann, at one of my go-to resources, Women of Grace. You can read it here.

In its essence, Finger Yoga is the practice of using specific chants and finger positions, ostensibly to generate energy and spiritual awareness. In what seems like trendy PR, some also claim it helps with healing and weight loss. Unfortunately, like all yoga, the aim is to enter an altered mental state that leaves its users vulnerable to dangerous spiritual entities.

While its practitioners are very likely good folks with only the best intentions, the spiritual dangers cannot be overstated. With exorcisms on the rise all over the world, we need to be savvy about avoiding any practice that places our souls in jeopardy. I know from experience that this statement alone will elicit a firestorm of condemnation from certain quarters, but the facts remain: yoga is not just exercise or a practice of self-awareness, no matter how Christianised or modern it may seem; it is a pagan spiritual practice with the potential to invite unknown entities to enter our souls.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus, by Pompeo Batoni Photo Credit: Lisa Mladinich

This EWTN video features brain researcher, Adam Blai, on the topic of Exorcism: How to Keep the Doors to the Demon Closed.

For Catholics interested in reading further, the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Interreligious Dialogue produced JESUS CHRIST, THE BEARER OF THE WATER OF LIFE: A Christian reflection on the “New Age”, which can be read free at this link, online.

On this lovely autumn Friday, my prayer is that all people will turn away from pagan and New Age practices to embrace with great faithfulness the Heart of the One through Whom we are made, in Whom we have life, and Who loves us more than we can fully comprehend: Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

(See also: Yoga: It Stretches the Bounds of Belief, by columnist, Mary Ellen Barrett)