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CCD hs: Catholic pop quiz + Saints assignments (day 2)
In our high school Confirmation class (at St Mark’s), Jose & I gave a POP Quiz with 23 questions to see what our kids know to better gauge how much to review. I didn’t expect much, and wasn’t disappointed. After introductions and time to fill it out, we went over the first 10 questions in large group discussion. Here are some of the questions:
- How many Catholic friends do you have? (ranged from none to 12 to 1,000 to many)
- What Catholic tradition do you like? (sign of the cross, Eucharist, Holy Week, Lent, Christmas, Christmas Novena readings, )
- What Catholic tradition do you not understand? (Ash Wed, Halloween)
- What is the name of the Pastor here? (only 4 of 24 got it right … not good)
- Name 3 ministries in this parish.
- What prayers do we pray in the Rosary?
- What is the name of the current Pope? (who’s George III?)
- What is the Eucharist?
- Why do we have confession?
- What do we celebrate on Good Friday?
After some discussion about the questions, we paired up kids and assigned a Saint to present, one per day, with a schedule of presentation. Great class, quiet but very insightful discussions. Definitely a great year of catechesis ahead! Praise God!
ASSIGNMENTS: handouts + write 5 questions you have about your Catholic faith
CCD 7th: P.R.A.Y.S. + angels + Yom Kippur (day 2)
Today, in our 7th grade pre-Confirmation class, we handed out journals & wrote on inside cover …
In my BAPTISM, I …
- PRAISE = God for who He is … God
- REPENT = confess + rec forgiveness + change
- ASK = for me + other (“5 finger prayer”)
- YIELD = be open to God’s voice
- SHARE = my faith with others
In my CLASS, I …
- PRAISE = encourage others
- REPENT = take responsibility for wrongs
- ASK = learn by asking questions
- YIELD = respect speaker + listen
- SHARE = contribute + respect privacy
Difference between angels + humans?
- Angels = pure spiritual beings
- Humans = body + spiritual beings
—Yom Kippur = Jewish “day of atonement”
- fast, no work, pray, make reparations for sins
- “scapegoat” takes sins of the people = Jesus
HOMEWORK:
(1) Decorate Binder Cover with “ME” … on a sheet of paper, make a collage of you, your hobbies, likes, etc.
(2) do the “Doxology” prayer exercise from last week if you haven’t done it yet.
CCD hs: parents orientation (day 1)
A local parish, St Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, needed catechists for their Religious Education program on Tuesday & Wednesday nights. Since I go to St Mark’s for Mass occasionally & Wednesday Bible study, I guess I consider it a “2nd home parish,” so I volunteered to help. I was paired up with Jose A., another former seminarian (3 years in Colombia), who’s very excited about our High School Confirmation class of 24 kids, so far. Most showed up today with their parents for a large group orientation with the DRE and pastor in the church. We got to introduce ourselves for about 20 minutes at the end.
— Even though it wasn’t really “planned,” I can already see the blessings that will come from my passion for catechesis being used on Sunday’s at my home parish with 7th graders and here on Tuesday nights with high school teens.
CCD 7th: Intro + prayer “sweet spot”
Today is day 1 of Religious Education (CCD) at my parish. I’m a catechist for 7th grade Pre-Confirmation class with my aide Donny. We had 13 of our 17 kids today, with apparently more signing up late as we speak. A very diverse group from “quiet” to “super-animated.”
We played a classic “get-to-know-you” icebreaker game called “Four Winds Blow.” It’s like musical chairs sitting in a circle. The person in the middle says 3 things about themselves. Then they say “Four winds blow to anyone …” (wearing jeans, wearing gym shoes, with blue eyes, wearing glasses, with ears, etc.) Then everyone that fits the profile needs to get up and get another seat (at least 2 seats over) while the person in the middle tries to get a seat as well. If you get stuck in the middle 3 time, you need to sing a song of your choice. The “Alphabet Song” and a Spongebob song were sang. Lots of fun for all.
I also gave a brief into to the curriculum and talked about finding our “prayer sweet spot” this year. Using a tennis racket and baseball bat, the kids taught me about finding the “sweet spot” to get the best result out of their uses … although similar for many, everyone has their own sweet spot in the way they play sports. Well, our prayer life is very similar. We need to each find what works best for our own individual prayer experience in order to grow. Some like Scripture, some the Rosary, some praise & worship, some music, some poetry, some adoration, some quiet meditation, etc. This year, we’ll have different prayer experience in order to help find our own prayer “sweet spot.”
We wrote down the simple Doxology prayer on index cards and will use it this week as a homework prayer experience. Everyone needs to try praying it at different time, days and ways this week. Next Sunday, we’ll share what worked and what didn’t.
As we discussed the Doxology prayer, we asked the questions like “What is a creature? Can a rock praise God? What’s the difference between angels & humans? What’s a Holy Ghost?” — a very vocal and curious group … we’re blessed to be journeying in our faith together!
— I prayed the Doxology during this post. 🙂
Doxology prayer by Nicole Nordeman
In our religious education class today, we used this short Doxology prayer for reflection. Short, simple, glorifying God, and powerful!
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.
Bishop Noonan @ Confirmation prep
CCD — Since I’m a catechist for 10th grade Confirmation preparation (@ St Timothy’s), I went to the Confirmation prayer service led by Bishop Noonan. Kids, parents and sponsors prayed together with a very meaningful reflection by Bishop Noonan on Baptism, parents, purpose of marriage, our growth in faith, our call to service, our lives of prayer, and our response in Confirmation. — Awesome … I’m glad I went!
Jeopardy + Charades @ CCD
CCD — tonight, in 10th grade Confirmation class, we played Jeopardy and Charades to review for their mid-term test before Christmas break. Lots of fun and lots of review!
Here are some of the “answers” … what are the “questions”?
catagory: FIRST DAY FAITH QUIZ
1. THE NAME OF THE FIRST POPE
2. THE STORY OF CREATION IS IN THIS BIBLE BOOK
3. MARY’S COUSIN
4. THE NAMES OF ALL THE GOSPEL BOOKS
5. THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE SAVED ON THE ARK
6. THIS APOSTLE WAS A TAX COLLECTOR
7. THE MEANING OF “CATHOLIC”
8. THE NAME OF ABRAHAM’S SON
9. ON THIS DAY, WE CELEBRATE THE SCURGING, CRUCIFIXION & DEATH OF JESUS
10. THESE ARE THE 2 TYPES OF SINS
category: CHAPTER 1 (of our text book)
1. GOD REVEALING HIMSELF TO US
2. COMMUNICATING WITH GOD
3. HEBREWS 11:1 SAYS IT IS “BEING SURE OF WHAT YOU HOPE FOR AND CERTAIN OF WHAT YOU DO NOT SEE”
4. THE PART OF THE BIBLE THAT FOCUSES ON THE FAITH RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD & THE ISRAELITES
5. THIS IS WHAT WE CALL THE SPECIAL GUIDANCE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT GAVE HUMAN AUTHORS OF THE BIBLE
category: PHONE CALLS (prayer)
1. GUESTURE MADE BY CATHOLICS AT THE BEGINNING & END OF PRAYERS
2. THE MEANING OF THE WORD ” AMEN ”
3. THE NUMBER OF DECADES (10) ON A ROSARY
4. IN THE LORD’S PRAYER, THE MEANING OF “HALLOWED”
5. THE NAME OF THIS PRAYER STYLE COMES FROM A LATIN WORD MEANING “CROWN OF ROSES”
category: FAMOUS CATHOLICS
1. THE CURRENT POPE
2. THE ONLY CATHOLIC U.S. PRESIDENT
3. WRITER OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS BOOK SERIES
4. THE VOICE OF “THE GOVERNATOR”, AN H1, FROM THE ANIMATED MOVIE “CARS” (2006)
5. RAPPER, MODEL, & ACTOR IN “THE ITALIAN JOB”
category: PHONE (prayer) TYPES
1. GRATITUDE FOR WHAT HE DOES
2. THE CREATED BEFORE THE CREATOR, USUALLY IN FRONT OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
3. ASKING GOD FOR MYSELF
4. GLORIFYING GOD FOR WHO HE IS
5. TUNING INTO GOD
CCD: Saints + Rosary
CCD — For apostalic work (10th grade Confirmation religious education), we continued on the Rosary, reviewed the Mysteries, prayed the Joyful Mysteries, discussed All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, Purgatory and debated “only saints go to heaven.” — next week they’re doing saint reports & presentations!
CCD: Christian music
APOSTALIC WORK — Today in 10th grade CCD class, we tried to review some things we’ve discuss so far by adding some discussion on application. We used some mainstream Christian songs and studied their lyrics to bring a Christian perspective to practical life issues. Here are the songs we used …
Life, sin, shame, forgiveness … “Dare You to Move” by Switchfoot
Heaven … “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe
Effectiveness of prayer … “This is a Call” by Thousand Foot Krutch
Dating relationships … “Gone” by TobyMac
Parable of the Lost Sheep (Mt 18:10-14) … “Leaving 99” by Audio Adrenaline
CCD + BAPTiSM + 5 finger prayer
Tonight’s CCD class (religious education) was on “Prayer.” We used a PowerPoint slide show I made a couple years ago to profile the different types of prayer. I used an acronym I made up using BAPTiSM:
B A P T i S M =
B = Blessing (to invoke God’s power for a person, place or activity)
A = Adoration (the “created” before the Creator)
P = Praise (glorify God)
T = Thanksgiving (gratitude)
i = Intercession (I ask God for OTHERS) + Petition (I ask God for ME)
S = “Sorry” (ask for forgiveness)
M = Meditation (tuning into God)
When discussing Intercession, I suggested using the “5 Finger Prayer” that I personally like using:
5 FINGER PRAYER =
Thumb – Pray for those nearest you such as your family, parents, siblings, spouse, children, friends and co-workers.
Pointing Finger – Pray for those who instruct, heal and minister such as teachers, health care professionals, pastors and church workers.
Middle/Highest Finger – Pray for leaders in business, police and fire departments, military personnel, and local, state and federal government including the judiciary.
Fourth/Weakest Finger – Pray for those sick and in need, locally, nationally and internationally including the persecuted church and those who have suffered natural and man-made disasters.
Fifth/Smallest Finger – Pray for your needs.
CCD + free will + Bruce Almighty + prayer
Today in 10th grade CCD we did “free will” and prayer using clips from Bruce Almighty. We had a great debate of “free will” verses God’s “all-knowing” nature. Also discussed angels, being that today is the feast of the Archangels. It was a great day!
Here are most of the clips on “Free Will” from Bruce Almighty:
Another clip from Bruce Almighty:
SJVCS Seminary Life Album
July '09 -- hospital chaplains @ IPF
Easter '09 -- Miami SJVCS friends
the Son always finds a break in let the clouds
Feb '09 -- school vocation talks @ AMHS
Feb '09 -- cold breakfast with brothers (Matias, Fenly & Randy), now at SVDP and Imad (at SJVCS)
Superbowl '09 -- eating great @ SJVCS
Sept '08 -- Worklist Coordinators?
St Raphael Chapel mural @ SJVCS
Sept '08 -- retreats @ SJVCS
"It's not easy being green"
Catholic Kermit 
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