The Screwtape Letters is a clever, thought-provoking text that can get teenagers (or adults) to examine their own moral development in a new light. I used the book with a class of ninth graders, as an introduction to a Morality class, and I’m going to be sharing lesson plans for the unit study.

Here’s what I posted about it at the time – you may have to squint to see through the dust that’s accumulated since 2006:

My freshman class kicked off the semester with The Screwtape Letters. I was worried it might be a bit over their heads, but I made a very detailed study guide for the first ten letters that has helped them to understand Lewis’ writing style. My husband downloaded a recording of John Cleese reading the first few letters, and I played them for the students to help them understand how to read the book. I confess, to almighty blog, that I utilized a pirated recording in my religion class. I do intend to purchase it someday…but this was a last-minute find. (EDITOR’S NOTE: HAVE NOT PURCHASED YET.)

Today, we had a panel discussion in which each student played the role of a “devil” and discussed the best way to tempt teenagers. Their assignment for the week was to write a letter in the style of Screwtape on the topic of how to tempt a teenaged “patient,” and to address the topics discussed in the first 10 letters, including
o how to use the patient’s relationship with his/her parents to your advantage
o the role of friendships in temptation
o how to manipulate the patient’s prayer life

For a first discussion, it went fairly smoothly. Interesting points – an argument over whether it’s best to totally isolate the teenager from friends (so that he’ll blame God for his loneliness) or to surround the teenager with friends who can lead him astray. There also was a discussion of teenaged love which I didn’t really follow and had to bring back on track. I would like to see them get more specific than “peer pressure is our best strategy,” because I think modern teenagers are taught from late elementary school to parrot such wisdom about peer pressure without a deeper examination of what that really means. But I would definitely say that the entire class was engaged in the discussion and looking forward to the next one.

Ooh – update! Check it out – you can download a recording of Ralph Cosham reading The Screwtape Letters from Audible.com for  – whatever the monthly fee is? And this site claims to be a storehouse of copyright-free recordings, and contains the original John Cleese reading of Screwtape Letters.

Apparently, there is now a Focus on the Family audio production of The Screwtape Letters, with Andy Serkis (Gollum!) as Screwtape. Haven’t checked it out myself, but I think the more dramatic, less dry and British (which is my preferred style) rendition might actually be better in a classroom/small group setting. Here’s the trailer:

Lisa Mladinich’s Be an Amazing Catechist reads like a Catechesis 101 magazine. Packed with practical suggestions, resources to investigate, and advice drawing upon her classroom experience, this would be a terrific resource for giving to teachers at the beginning of the year or for reflection at any point in their vocation. Lisa writes with humor and assures us:

What this book is not, is the esoteric product of a highly educated, highly trained expert. Based on several years of my own classroom experience and my own and others’ reserach, it is more like a field guide – written by one of your own in language you can relate to.

Be an Amazing Catechist

Her tone remains similarly light throughout the booklet, while touching on real-world challenges like determining age-appropriate materials for your students, ways to encourage parent involvement, and classroom discipline. Mladinich emphasizes both children’s different learning styles and our own unique approaches to catechesis. Reading this can help you to evaluate where your own strengths lie and encourage you to try new approaches with your students.

It’s thanks to this book that I discovered Lisa’s treasury of puppet show scripts for religious education, which would be great for a teacher to use with younger students or for older kids to create shows for younger classes. She also speaks to the special needs of many of our students and how to handle them with sensitivity.

The overall theme of growing in faith runs strong throughout the book. She provides ways to introduce students to Scripture, prayer, and the sacramental life. At the same time, she reminds us that we need to nurture our own faith.

“To be all lit up and powerful, you’ve got to cling to the sacraments, to Scripture, to daily prayer, and to spiritual reading. We’re all busy, so find even a few minutes a day to let God refresh you and turn your heart to Him.”

Lisa has assembled more resources and a team of columnists at AmazingCatechists.com to complement and expand upon many of the themes explored in her booklet. I would highly recommend her work for both new catechists unsure of where to start and experienced catechists in need of reflection.

I wrote this review of Be an Amazing Catechist for the Tiber River Blogger Review program, created by Aquinas and More Catholic Goods. For more information and to purchase, please visit Aquinas and More Catholic Goods. Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases. I receive free product samples as compensation for writing reviews for Tiber River.