This links with the CGE (Catholic Graduate Expectations) #1
A Discerning Believer Formed in the Catholic Faith Community Who: (b) Participates in the sacramental life of the church and demonstrates an understanding of the centrality of the Eucharist to our Catholic story.
In this section, I have placed my thoughts on:
- The story of creation,
- The Sacraments,
- Challenges you may encounter when taking children to mass.
Differences between the two versions of creation - comparison and
contrast of these two stories of creation.
Genesis
1:1-2:4
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Genesis
2:4–25
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1. This account is very ordered and sequential,
much like a list, detailing the creation day by day (six days of creation and
one day of rest). The sequence is based on hierarchy, rather than order. The entire account reads poetically and rhythmically,
often repeating phrases like a poem.
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This account appears to have everything happen on
one day as it begins, “In the day that the Lord
God made…” and continues the details of creation without reference to any
more days.
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2. After each of His creations, God shows that He
is pleased with his creations and says, for example, “And God saw that the
light was good.”
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There is no mention of God showing his satisfaction
with His creations. It is merely a
list of His creations without reference to His feelings.
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3. Order of creation – heavens, earth, day and
night, sky, seas, vegetation, light differences (to separate light from
darkness which were sun for the day and stars for the night), sea and sky creatures,
land creatures, humans. Notably, mankind is created last, after animals. This is once everything is ready for man to
live and survive.
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Order of creation – earth, heavens, water, man,
nature (including food), knowledge (tree of knowledge of good and evil),
animals and woman.
There is no mention of day/night and light/darkness.
Notably, man is created before animals, showing
that everything was created for the purpose of man. However woman is created
last. Despite this fact, there is a
significant point that woman is “distinct from the animals and from the rest
of living things.” (Cooper p. 100)
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4 Humans are created in His image and they will
have dominion over the other creatures (sea, sky and land creatures). Man and
woman were created at the same time, “So God created humankind in his image.”
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Does not speak of man being created in His image.
Does not mention that man rules over the land (apart from being given the responsibility
of naming it) but instead speaks of man needing company: “It is not good that
the man should be alone.” Hence animals
and women were created – woman being created from the ribs of the man.”
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5. No warning given to humans about the garden of
Eden. Instead he gave instructions to:
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”
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Warning given to man about the garden of Eden not
to eat from the tree of knowledge and if man does then man will die.
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Ideas Chart -The Sacraments
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What I already
believe
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What I learned
(What we Believe, Lavin)
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Questions I
still have
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I can model the sacraments – what they’re
all about
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Eucharist nourishes and sustains us as we
strive to live out the challenge of our discipleship.
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Even after his death, Jesus remained a sacrament
to those who accepted his message and believed in him (Lavin,113). I still
can’t comprehend what it means when it states, someone ‘is’ a sacrament.
Later it she states, “Those who believed in Jesus… became sacraments to
others.” I’m misunderstanding how people
can be considered sacraments.
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I have first-hand knowledge of some of
the sacraments
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Liturgical practice is never separated
from human life.
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It’s a way of belonging to the community
of Catholics
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The sacraments are paradigms (models) for
the whole range of possible instances of relating the World of God to
concrete situations of life.
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The symbol of the bread and wine of the
Eucharist does not just point to the real presence of the Body and Blood of
Jesus; in its symbolic reality, it is his presence.
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Sacramentum means oat or allegiance
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Two extremes to avoid: The sacraments are
important because they are the only means to receive God’s grace and 2. Since
God is in all life and creation, we do not need the sacraments. Vatican II
proposed a balance between the two extremes.
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Church Life
- To what extent is your school a church for
your students? Think beyond the school masses and consider the day-to-day
life of the school and perhaps your class in particular. Consider the role
for students, parents, administrators, teachers, and the church community
(clergy, youth ministers).
As I am
currently teaching in a secular school, I am writing this response from my
previous experience teaching at a Catholic school.
At this
school, I recall the very first staff meeting (and every staff meeting
thereafter) started with a prayer from the head teacher. This, I believe, set
the tone for the staff as to the fundamental reason we work in a Catholic
School. The entire day, for the students, both started and ended with prayer. Within the school day, both problems and positive
achievements were handled by reflecting back to God. In addition, we had a
prayer room, where if the children just needed some time alone with their
thoughts and with God, they had a safe and quiet place within the school.
Finally, as is a requirement in all British schools, students must partake in a
daily collective assembly (led by teachers) whereby the entire school meets for
30 minutes. In our school, this was a
collective worship time, held in the school hall, whereby there was always a
religious element such as a Bible story and reflection. This is sometimes where
our church community, administrators and parents would be involved. For
example, once a month the local priest would lead this assembly. All in all, the day-to-day life of the school
reflected that of a Catholic school and felt like a church for the students.
The prayer room in particular, felt extremely spiritual and I know several
students who used it for a variety of reasons.
- How can your school come to resemble church more closely? To help you answer that question, think of what principles and practices you can learn from the early church community that you can incorporate into your classroom or school.
I think more work is needed in involving parents. “Close and
active collaboration among parents, teachers and school authorities is needed.
In this regards, it is appropriate to encourage means of parents’ participation
in school life: associations, meetings, etc.” (Circular Letter to The Presidents Of Bishops' Conferences On
Religious Education In Schools). As the article stated, the primary Catholic
educator should be the parents. If we
are entrusted to teach and essentially help to raise children in Catholic
faith, then it is vital that teachers and parents are working closely together.
From Lavin’s book ‘What We Believe’, I found many relevant points so I thought I’d
arrange them in a table for easy viewing and reference.
Point made by Lavin
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Action that a Catholic school can take to make it more closely
resemble church
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Preach the good news to all people, especially
the poor, the marginalized, the outcasts and the sinners.
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Look at how pastoral care is done at school for
children in these categories. For instance, could children of poorer families
be subtly chosen more frequently to take part on church events such as
bringing up the gifts or doing a reading?
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The roots of the contemporary church are to welcome
and serve one another in the name of Jesus Christ.
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Look at welcoming the community to share in
religious events at your school. Every
year, I get a postcard through my door inviting my family to a Christmas
service at one of the local churches. Inviting families in a similar way
would be what God wanted.
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Each person, no matter how prominent their gift,
is a member that is bound to Jesus Christ. Bertram clarifies this even more
with a great analogy, “each individual is an indispensable link in a chain.
Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain
unbreakable.” (p. 97)
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At our church, I sometimes see families holding
hands while they sing or say the ‘Our Father’. Similarly, at meal times, our family holds
hands around the table (completely linked) whilst we say ‘Grace’. This idea,
I believe, is really powerful and could be adopted within a classroom during
prayer time or before lunch. A whole-school attitude, as well, of realization
that week need strong AND strong cannot exist without the weak is essential
and this can be done with repeated lessons to the whole school of their role
in the school to look after everyone. Many schools have ‘buddy benches’
outside in the playground, which children can sit at if they have no one to
play with and the rest of the school is asked to invite to play anyone that you
see sitting there.
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Every member of the congregation is called to
engage in ministry
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Give students a voice in the school with a system
like a ‘Student Council’.
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A community that fosters relationships. Communities that know a person’s name,
welcome them and serve them.
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How well do children/adults know other children
in school? My grade knows each other
but are there opportunities to work/play together? A ‘buddy scheme’ is a good model whereby
older children have a ‘buddy’ in a younger grade and they meet up regularly
for activities such as sharing stories.
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Giving a message that everyone is special in God’s
eyes. For centuries, the church as fostered the opposite by telling people
how sinful and unworthy they are.
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Focus on the positive – in classroom rules, in
rewards and in general atmosphere. For example, many schools have celebration
assemblies or whole-school reward systems in place. Keep the school a ‘Spirit-filled
church.’
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Challenges you may encounter when taking students to a monthly mass:
| Challenge | Solution Suggested |
| What measures can we take to ensure all students feel welcome, and included? How can we accommodate students who are not active Catholics? | Have a daily prayer leader in the classroom so that everyone is taking part in worship in the classroom and thus being more involved. |
| Students who don’t regularly attend Mass won’t know how to participate appropriately (e.g. proper etiquette) | Give instruction and guidance both before and after the mass. Praise good behaviour and remind children about behaviour that needs to be improved. |
| Students (particularly older students) see the mass as outdated and can’t see the relevance to their world today. | Before the mass, ask the priest for a copy of the readings so they can be discussed beforehand. Link the ideas in the readings to current issues by finding a newspaper article or blog online that relates to the stories told. |
| How do you make mass attendance mandatory, so the entire school community can celebrate the Mass together? | Look at good practice from other Catholic schools in the board. Look at how some schools make church more engaging for their pupils, therefore encouraging them to attend on their own accord. |
| Students not interested during mass. |
Try
different seating arrangements so they don’t get distracted. Incorporate liturgies in the classroom
beforehand so that they are better motivated to listen.
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| Students don’t have the will to go to mass regularly, especially if their parents don’t attend mass. |
Contact
your youth minister and have them come in and talk to the students about
different ways that they can become involved. Be a role model ourselves by
attending mass weekly.
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| Lack of students who want to become altar servers. | Have students become more actively involved in other aspects of the church like the choir so that they are more likely to become involved in other activities as well. |
| For unbaptized students, how can we make them understand the significance of the Eucharist but still remain part of the mass? | During the giving of the Eucharist, have students still come up to the priest with their arms folded and receive a blessing from the priest. |
| Understanding how a space such as a gymnasium can be converted into a place of worship for a school mass. | Before going down to the ‘gym’, remind children that it is now a sacred place for mass to take place. In addition, relax the children so that they are in a calmer frame of mind by playing quiet music and having a time of personal, quiet reflection. |
| Children don’t understand the symbols of the mass. | Use art as a way of exploring the different symbols and their meanings. |
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