The Gatekeeper
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Level I
November 04, 2008 - Level 1, Issue 1 |
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| Dear CGS Level I Parent, |
 Since the first catechesis sessions in October this year, Level III parents have been receiving e-newsletters as part of an experiment to improve parents' connection to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Catechists often hear from parents that they don't quite "get" the program. Fair enough! CGS is dramatically different from the typical CCD programs we parents experienced growing up.
The feedback from Level III parents has been positive, and we now want to expand the effort to cover all three CGS levels. Generally, we will e-mail one newsletter every other week in keeping with the catechesis schedule. Newsletters will be level-specific, although certain common articles will be included, as well. For those of you with children in multiple levels, please just skim through "repeat performances" of common articles. Also, please know that this first, introductory newsletter is a bit lengthy because there is much to cover at the beginning. Future ones will be shorter.
We hope these newsletters will help parents gain insight into what happens within the Atrium. We thank you for your commitment to catechesis for your child(ren). Know that the Level I catechists pray these children will grow in their relationship with and love of God and Jesus, our Good Shepherd.
Peace,
The Level I catechist team:
Anne Edwards, Sylvia Pelini on Tuesdays
Betsy Peterson, Sarah Coles on Wednesday
Natalie Spadaccini-Rosenberg,
Megan Wallenfang on Thursdays
and Lina Hilko (editor) |
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| Falling in Love |
The central aim that permeates all of the Level I presentations and experiences is to help the child fall in love with God. It's beautiful just to rest in that concept for a moment ....
Level I children, who are 3 to 6 years of age, are in a "sensitive period" (a Montessori term) for relationship. The 3-6 child has a strong capacity to fall in love and to be in love. I really like the description I read in Mustard Seed Preaching by Ann M. Garrido:
Children have a deep desire and capacity to be in loving relationship. Relationship - children teach us - is the most essential, the most beautiful, and the most real thing in the universe. It is their deepest need and, when it is met, it is their greatest joy. Because their capacity for relationship is so large, it can be difficult to satiate. The children's great hunger to love and be loved offers perhaps the best testimony we have to the foundational principle of Christian anthropology that humans are ultimately "wired" to be in relationship with God. For, only in God, does the child's need and capacity fully meet its match.
The 3-6 child isn't in a sensitive period for moral formation; that will start to emerge in Level II. But the time, space, and opportunity that Level I offers the child to fall in love with God through Jesus, the Good Shepherd, provides the solid foundation for the child's moral formation because their whole life and all its moral choices can be built on the child's knowledge that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, loves them abundantly, completely, and perfectly. Their life becomes a joyful response to that gift of love. |
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The Good Shepherd |
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Catechesis of the Good Shepherd initiates the child's relationship with the Father through his Son. We can read in John 14:6 Jesus' words, "No one can come to the Father except through me." Thus, the central element of the proclamation CGS gives to the youngest children is through the parable-allegory of the Good Shepherd found in John 10:1-18.
The complete parable is presented gradually over the course of the three years of Level I, with specific portions being provided at appropriate times, based on the child's readiness for the various pieces of the proclamation. Parents may read over the entire citation, but they should know that in reality this parable unfolds in a careful manner. (Specifically, the hired hand and the wolf aren't presented to the youngest children.) The youngest children will receive just the following passages: John 10: 3(b) - 5, 10(b) - 11, 14 - 16. The catechist would open by saying something like, "Jesus talked about being the Good Shepherd. I'll read his words from the Bible."
The sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.
If you would like to reflect on other related scripture passages (ones your Level I child will also receive), you may read about the Found Sheep in Luke 15: 4-6 and the wonderful Psalm 23, which starts "The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I lack." |
| On Presenting Parables |
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One of the harder things a catechist must do is to stop themselves from interpreting, explaining, or defining parables - to simply proclaim and facilitate the children's joyful discovery of meaning and purpose. Parables speak uniquely to each individual. The same parable can provide a different message at different points in one person's life. But the power of a parable can only work within a person if the catechist humbly steps down and leaves space and silence. Parents, too, though eager to know what their child is "getting out of catechesis" must respect, with faith, the slow work of the Holy Spirit in their child. |
| Introduction to Presentation Schedule |
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In the next section, we show the presentation plans for the entire 2008/2009 Level I year. But it's important to know that this just provides the catechists a starting framework. Each CGS level is designed as a three-year cycle. So, in any given session, the catechist may choose to present a material to a subset of the group. The catechists actually keep track of the presentations received by each individual child and work to provide all the Level I presentations over the course of three years.
Even though subsequent newsletters will describe the presentation planned for that session, you need to be aware that your specific child may have a "tailored" experience in the Atrium that given day. Perhaps your child has already received the presentation planned for that day. In that case, sometimes your child may be offered the choice to work on something else during the presentation. Also in that case, the catechist may choose to provide a special presentation to your child (or a small group of children) later in the session. This can make it tricky for parents to talk to their young children about what they worked on in Atrium. Just keep that in mind.
Parents must be patient in order to see the overall plan unfold or emerge. Despite the help of a newsletter, you still may not "get" the CGS program. Even as catechists, we don't fully see the fruits of this work. After all, this is God's work through the Holy Spirit. And we each must walk by faith and not by sight. |
| Schedule of Presentations |
Session T,W,Th Date Presentation
1 10/14*,8,9 Introduction to the Atrium
2 10/21,22,23 The Good Shepherd
3 11/4,5,6 Liturgical Calendar
4 11/18,19,20 Globe & Relief Map
Advent begins 11/30
5 12/2,3,4 Advent Ceremony / Prophecy of the Light
6 12/16,10*,18 The Annunciation
Christmas season 12/25 - 1/10/09
7 1/6,7,8 Christmas Ceremony / Adoration of the Magi
8 1/20,21,22 Parable of the Mustard Seed
9 2/3,4,5 Parable of the Precious Pearl
10 2/17,18,19 Gesture of Offering
Ash Wednesday (beginning of Lent) 2/25
11 3/3,4,5 Lent Ceremony / Psalm 23:1-4
12 3/17,18,19 Cenacle
Palm Sunday 4/5
13 4/7,8,9 Last Supper
Easter Sunday 4/12
14 4/21,22,23 Easter Celebration / Empty Tomb
15 5/5,6,7 Baptism III
16 5/19,20,21 Pentecost / Last Day in the Atrium
Pentecost 5/31
* Denotes "off" schedule weeks due to space conflicts. | |
Please share your opinions or comments about this newsletter effort with Sarah Coles, St. Teresa's Director of Religious Education, and/or Lina Hilko, a catechist who is serving as editor for this effort. Their respective e-mail addresses are SEColes@gmail.com and LHilko@aol.com. Thanks! |
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