Page 4 - Lessons and Activities on What Makes Us Catholic

INTRODUCTION
As Catholics, we have a treasure chest of customs, traditions, rituals, and symbols, all of them reminding us who we are and how we live as disciples. is book explores just a few of them.
I hope the ideas here will lead children and youth to understand these treasures more deeply and to live them more faithfully—all in creative, engaging, enjoyable, and engrossing activities.
Many of these activities can be changed and adapted to explore other symbols, rituals, and customs of our faith. In choosing and working with activities, remember nine noteworthy necessities:
1 Activities are theologically sound. All that we do needs to help learners delve deeper
into and remember the meaning. Oftentimes, our choice of activities might concentrate on the details (not that details aren’t important) but neglect the core meaning, the religious import.
In studying the creation story, for example, rather than drawing (or coloring) seven pictures
of the seven days, making a room-length mural of all of creation, with the words “God saw that it was good,” emphasizes the foundational meaning.
Rather than some type of project concentrating upon all the animals in the story of Noah’s Ark (cute as it might be), a large rainbow lled with some of God’s promises recorded in Scripture would depict the scriptural meaning of the story: God keeps promises.
2 Activities are catechetically/ educationally valuable. Activities are used to deepen the learner’s understanding or appreciation of the theme by illuminating the truth, the personal implications of the belief, and the relevance of faith.
Rather than simply reviewing by inviting
the children/youth to list/make a poster of the Corporal Works of Mercy, invite various pairs/ groups of learners to draw a picture, or do a PowerPoint or video, of how each work is or can be lived by those their own age.
3 Activities belong to the learner. e essence of the activity is self-expression: how
does what we have just learned apply to my life? erefore, there is no need for patterns or samples to illustrate “what it has to look like.” ere are no rules proclaiming “it has to be this way.”
Because the activity helps the learners interpret and deepen—not just repeat—what has been learned, it takes them beyond the presentation. After a study of the Psalms, rewriting a psalm in one’s own words or writing a psalm for today, from the learners’ everyday experiences/needs, will help to make the meaning of psalms more personal.
After a discussion on God: if you were to paint God, what color would you select?
After the Scripture story of Zacchaeus: if you were Zacchaeus, what would you say in a thank-you note?
4 Activities touch upon each person’s creativity. e skilled catechist invites the children/youth, saying just enough to spark their thoughts but leaving them with freedom so that they can imagine, dream, think, and apply.
Rather than doing a puzzle, or a ll in the blanks, etc., about the call of the disciples, children/youth can be invited to imagine they were there; they were called by Jesus. ey might write a letter to their family about what happened, their feelings about it, and what they will now do.
4
Twenty-Third Publications Sample