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Litany for the Ordinary
Mary, queen of the ordinary-- queen of spinning wheel and loom who wove from ordinary stuff the flawless fabric of God's humanness; queen whose pregnancy put Joseph's other plans aside and sent his saw singing into cradlewood; queen of water …
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Hands
Focusing Scripture I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. (Isaiah 49:15–16) Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, "Now I have …
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Glorious Nature
Theme: Francis proclaimed, "We are sister and brother to animals and plants, water and soil, earth and sky." Just as we meet the dancer in her dance, the painter in his art, and the poet in her finely crafted words, so …
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Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Step 1: Look at the situation What exactly is happening? Why is it happening? Who is involved? What are their motives? How is it happening, that is, by what means or method? When and where is it happening? Step 2: …
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From Isolation to Liberation
At the age of ten, I was diagnosed with pre-leukemia. Before being diagnosed I had to undergo numerous blood tests and very painful bone marrow tests. These tests continued after the diagnosis. I had to miss the last part of …
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A Christmas Legend: The Birth of Jesus and Gift Giving
Session Overview: This 2-hour session is designed to use role-playing skills for a presentation to an audience. Scripture: This session is based on Luke 2:1-20. Read the Scripture passage to the young people after the role-play, "Christmas Legend," has been …
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Ideas for Teaching Feminine Spirituality
In 1994, I started teaching a course on women's spirituality for seniors at Holy Names High School, an all-girls school in Oakland, California. Finding materials for such a class was a challenge. No textbooks or other resources existed that were …
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The Connections Binder: A Theology Project
The Connections Binder encourages students to find meaningful connections between the content they are studying in class and something from the world outside the classroom that they find interesting or appealing. I assign this project at the beginning of my …
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Using Literature in Theology Classes
Editor's note: The author of our feature article, Kathleen Hodapp, was one of the participants in last summer's workshop "The Catholic High School As Faith Community," held here in Winona, Minnesota, as well as on the East Coast and the …
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Service and Justice
We are standing on the brink, and our bishops are urging us to jump. Many of us don't know where we'll end up, and we aren't sure whether we'll land in one piece. Yet the sense of urgency is building, …
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A Thousand Teenagers Singing at Mass?
Every August, despite our enthusiasm to bring fresh ideas to our classrooms and curriculum, the same question lingers for us as we plan for another year of all-school liturgies: How do we get a thousand teenagers to sing at Mass? …
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A One-Day Retreat on Service in the Inner City
Our sophomore class day retreat focuses on finding spirituality in the inner city. It is a kind of "urban plunge" experience within a spiritual framework, and students go on this retreat during the same semester that they take a social …
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The Harvest Is Abundant: Reflections on a Spirituality of Service
Service is a golden word these days. Everybody's doing it: governmental bodies, schools, churches, even neighborhoods and families. Court sentencing frequently includes community service, the federal government holds service up as a value in programs such as Americorps, and state …
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Methods That Tune In to the Students' World
Jack Kelly, who teaches religious studies at Saint Albert High School in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, offers us thoughts on how to engage students, using the contemporary media that are so familiar to them. The textbook, chalkboard, and teacher remain valued …
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To Teach as Jesus Did: A Teacher's Reflections
"To teach as Jesus did." It's a phrase that must have been tucked away somewhere in my mind because it sprang to consciousness when I was asked to consider writing this article. "To teach as Jesus did." What an awesome …
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Leading Students to Hermitage:
Editor's note: A few months ago I met (by mail and phone) Sr. Mary Farrell, SC, who has taught at Saint Peter's High School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, for thirty-six years. Much of that time, she taught French and …
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Forms for the Hermitage Experience
For more information see Leading Students to Hermitage. Preparation for Hermitage Dear __________________________, Your day for hermitage is _____________________ in the MORNING at 8:00 a.m. or AFTERNOON at 1:40 p.m. To come to hermitage, you must do the following things: …
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Story Collections for Classroom Teaching and Youth Ministry
The following is a list of story resources and collections for teaching or ministering with teenagers. [Editor's note: See the article "Helping students Get the Most Out of Stories" for ideas on using these stories with young people.] Most items …
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Helping Students Get the Most Out of Stories
For the past six years I have been researching the power of stories for communicating Catholic religious and moral values. At the same time, I have been experimenting with stories in my high school classroom (tenth- and twelfth-grade classes in …
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Fruit from the Vineyards of Faith Community
Participants in this summer's workshop "The Catholic High School as Faith Community" offered one another insights from their experience in the "vineyards" of Catholic high school teaching and campus ministry. We are happy to pass some of their "fruit of …
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Building Faith Community in the High School
In a workshop entitled "The Catholic High School as Faith Community," religion teachers, campus ministers, and school administrators discussed, among many things, the obstacles they face in trying to build faith community in their school. One obstacle they addressed was …
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Gospel Values Across the Curriculum
Given the current educational climate in our country, most schools are making a concerted effort to create a clear vision for education that will carry them into the twenty-first century. That forward-looking "visioning" and "refocusing" for the future includes an …
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The Power of Parables
We all know that a good story will almost always act as an excellent springboard for reflection. Jesus' most effective teaching tool was the parable. He would gather his disciples and tell them a story with a message that moved …
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Committing to Your School's Catholic Identity and Mission
A group of fifty-four religion teachers, campus ministers, and administrators from thirty-seven Catholic high schools across the United States gathered in June 1995 to share dreams, struggles, and moments of grace around the theme of building faith community in their …
