www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization How to make Catechism more Engaging?

I just finished teaching Confirmation I for this year, and though the kids got what they needed to know I don't feel as it if was as engaging as it could have been. We tried doing activities (befitting their age), show a couple of films, had a Christmas party and end of the year celebration. Yet through it all they barely talk to each other, and more or less listen to us, they don't ask questions or anything like that. They all have the knowledge, our religious education director makes sure of that before the kids move onto the final year of formation for the sacrament, but I just feel like the must be something more that we can do besides feeding them the information. My co-teacher and I wanted to know of anything else we can do to make this something that is engaging and exciting for the students. We've already asked them what they would like to see in the class, but that was met with a non-answer. If there are any other catechists here please let us know what you do for your classes, so we can try different methods. Thank you all so much.

-Ira Green & Rosie O'Brien

As a former DRE, what is the structure of your typical class and at what age are they Confirmed? That might help with some answers.

Our youth are between the ages of 13-16, and we use a cathecial book that makes use of the CCC, other than that we are simply told to cover the fifteen chapters of material in any way or order we wish. This past year we tried to have roundtable discussion, films, projects etc. In regards the former no real discussion ensued, so we ended up simply talking about it. With the latter two we were able to gain some headway. Given that we have some free reign to implement new teaching techniques etc. in the class I was wondering if you had any advice?

Actually, real catechesis should take place through the liturgy of the Church in the form of mystagogy--initiation into the Holy Mysteries. What most people call "catechesis" is actually "padaea", which can perhaps be described as "religious education" or "faith in search of understanding". It is definitely secondary to catechesis through mystagogy. If you want to make initiation into the faith interesting, attractive and meaningful, I recommend you toss most of the books and go back the that which the Church itself describes as the touchstone and font of theology, the most perfect expression of the faith of the Church, its liturgy.

The liturgical texts of the various services and sacramental rites have everything you need to teach catechumens (and I'll, for sake of simplicity, call candidates for confirmation "catechumens"), presented in a manner far more gripping and memorable than anything found in a catechetical manual. indeed, anything in a catechetical manual is bound to be inferior to the liturgy itself, since it will be secondary and derivative (and probably written by some hack, to boot). The fundamental liturgical documents of the Church--you can never go wrong with those.

As you discuss the liturgy and the Holy Mysteries, this will become the point of departure for further investigation and illumination--whether it be the history of the development of the liturgy and sacraments, the mystical meaning of the sacraments, the purpose and meaning of the liturgy itself.

This is going to require the cooperation of your pastor, since the best way to learn about liturgy is to participate in it. And by liturgy, I don't mean the Mass alone, but the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours), together with such sacraments as baptism, chrismation, marriage, confession and holy orders. He should arrange for your class to participate or at least observe as many of these as possible, followed by an extensive Q&A in which you discuss what they just did or watched.

While at it, take advantage of the opportunity to visit some of the Eastern Churches in your area, to see how other Churches in the communion celebrate the same rituals. A number of parishes in Arlington send their confirmation classes to visit our parishes, and they seem to come away with a deeper appreciation for the variety of the Catholic Church.

Some years ago I was involved in this ministry. Unfortunately, the kids didn't seem to have much interest at all. Most admitted that they were in class because their parents wanted them confirmed. In fact, one mother told me to my face that none of this meant anything at all to her, but that she wanted her son confirmed and then he could do as he wished. I offered to bring olive oil and a pointy hat to class the next time and let him be done and I thought from her reaction that she would take me up on it.

Fr. Corapi made a good point the other night on EWTN. He said that with the way our culture has gone, we have to BEGIN by introducing people to the Person of Jesus Christ. We have to demonstrate a genuine relationship that we, oursleves, have and that makes us head-over-heels in love with Him. We have to introduce others to Him. Only after we bring them into this type of relationship do we go about bringing up things like the Catechism, fasting rules, and other practices of our Faith. Otherwise, we turn them off and leave them with the idea that the Church is nothing more than a bunch of arbitrary rules that have littel or nothing to do with their reality and their lives. And they miss Christ altogether.

I think he makes good sense.

My catechetical materials were pablum that made my students cringe. The book I had was sticky sweet and an insult to teens. So I switched gears and did my own thing. Unfortunately, the limited time we had together didn't allow us to really get to doing what Father Corapi suggested and I really wonder how much good was done.

On the other hand, I teach the death and dying segment each year to the confirmation classes and it allows me to talk about my own encounter with Christ, how faith is all that gets me through the work that I do, and how faith works where the rubber meets the road--in everyday life. Many students have really connected once their walls come down. I usually take off my coat and tie, roll up my sleeves, and sit down with them face-to-face. Authenticity always does more than anything else.

Bob

"Unfortunately, the kids didn't seem to have much interest at all. "

One of the problems I have seen, among Latin kids in my neighborhood, and of which I have heard from other families, is parishes (and perhaps whole dioceses) using the rite of confirmation as a stick with which to keep kids coming to church. Confirmation in the Latin Church is today very much a sacrament in search of a theology, and in the minds of many it has degenerated into a rite of passage, "Catholic Bar Mitzvah", to be marked by irrational exuberance and conspicuous consumption. Confirmation is the big cheese, wherein kids finally make the big haul for dragging themselves to those long, boring confirmation classes all those years. And parishes have been dragging it out, so that some of my neighbor's kids did not get confirmed until they were sixteen or even seventeen years old. Holding the sacrament for ransom not only devalues the sacrament, it makes kids extremely cynical about the Church and its ministers.

This makes be believe that the best way to deal with the problem is the full restoration of the rites of Christian initiation in the Latin Church, meaning the restoration of the three sacraments to their original order (baptism-chrismation-Eucharist), and administering all three at one time (normally, in infancy). This was certainly the intention of the Second Vatican Council, but not one on which the Church has followed through. If it hasn't happened after forty-odd years, I doubt it is going to happen in our lifetime. But, at the very least, try to make the interval between first communion and confirmation as short as possible, and make every effort to tie catechesis back to the liturgy of the Church, instead of discourse on a series of abstract propositions stripped of their liturgical significance.

I agree with Stuart that liturgy is the best way to "learn" the faith is through the Liturgies of the Church. Generally for Religious Education in the Latin Church, this cannot be the sole form of instruction. It is necessary to have Liturgy central to the program.

I found one of the things that worked best was personal stories that lead into discussion. Another thing is to be frank. In the Parish I was employed in at the time, we were having a discussion on human sexuality and why man and woman are made for each other. The discussion revolved around, scripture, physiology, etc... In this circumstance the thing that got the conversation rolling into a full blow discussion was my talk on the "physiclaity" of the human body. I spoke in words they could understand and use. I explained that if we look at the human body it's like a lock and key, man and woman fit together perfectly. Look at a man and a man, you cannot put two keys together all they'll do is hit each other. While this seems a trivial way to explain it, just that "uncomfortable" metaphor and surface scratching led into a deep and fruitful discussion.

I would also suggest, if the Rel. Ed. Leader and Pastor agree, to move the classes to a more informal setting. In meeting with other Rel. Ed. Leaders they have talked about how "successful" the program is when it is done in the homes of the families an a more informal level. The sessions are well prepared and the catechists ready, but the casual feel was the real force behind it. It's essential that the entire Confirmation community come together throughout the year(s) for Liturgies, retreats, gatherings and FUN/Fellowship.

I hope that helps and makes sense. If I can be of any help, please feel free to PM me. Although I'm sure there are others who are more experienced than I.

Stuart,

While I completely agree with you, this is not in our hands. Until the Latin Church moves in this direction, the only thing we can do is try to make the best hand out of the cards we are dealt. You also made a very good point that we need to connect Confirmation to Baptism and the Eucharist; this is key.

Not to sound like a moderator, but I think it best if we actually stick to the topic. Although I do it too, I hate to see threads go off tangent, when we can just start a new one.

Posters are reminded to keep their responses on-topic in this thread and to address the question posed in the opening post. I have already split some of the posts to this thread off into another thread located in Faith & Worship.

In IC XC,
Father Anthony+
Administrator

I'm afraid that what I have to offer is more of a "don't" than a "do."

My two oldest have been in Catholic schools since Kindergarten; the youngest started in pre-school.

We moved back as my oldest started high school (not a coincidence, but that's another story).

We enrolled her in confirmation classes at the Church up the street, where she was baptized. She continued altar-serving, and was quickly recruited as a reader.

She went *nuts* in those classes. For some bizarre reason, in this area there seems to be no CCD between First Communion and Confirmation! she was in a class full of kids who didn't know very basic basics--such as the Lord's Prayer, what the Sacraments were, etc. . . .

The second year, things got worse. Early in that year, I started attending our current Byzantine church. The DRE formed a separate class for the "advanced" students (i.e., those that had any business being in a confirmation class) and taught it himself. We paid a higher fee to support a retreat that was to happen there.

He got forced out/chased off in one of those disgusting power struggles (i.e., doing his job instead of kow-towing to the self-important). The pastor came into the classes and ordered the students to each fill out a Diocesan Appeal pledge of at least $100--and, no, they weren't to discuss this with their parents; "they could all afford it", and were to do it then and there. The retreat was canceled (but no refund made).

No longer forced to go to a particular Mass, she started coming with me (She had joined me a few times in Pennsylvania). When she announced that she wanted to formally change ritual, I dragged my feet, at first taking it as wanting out of those classes (which we allowed shortly thereafter, anyway--making her go to that nonsense with the regular class was more than counterproductive.).

Why am I bringing this up? Because a couple of individuals suffering from sever recto-cranial inversion nearly cost a devout child her Faith while they were playing their little power games. Fortunately, we were able to catch her when shee needed it.

Have (at least) two levels of classes. Those who aren't ready, whose parents haven't been near or taken them to a church since First Communion, should not be turned away--but you can't possibly have a class that can handle both them and the kids that actually are ready to prepare.

Be provocative. Shock them into responding (I used to start college economics classes with the bar scene from "A Beautiful Mind"--it threw them off balance and got me a huge participation rate on *my* terms).

For Heaven's sake, if you get a discussion where a couple of them take different sides and keep at it, toss your lesson plans aside and feed the fire, but steer it. Those are worth more than several planned lessons.

hawk

p.s. There was a bit of a backfire from dragging my feet on her changing rites. With neither of them actually being Byantine rather than Roman, they needed latin permission to marry in our church a couple of years later, and couldn't get it (blanket policy on age). But again, another story which has been related elsewhere on this site.

Sounds like what happened to me when I worked for a parish.