Overwhelmingly Grateful

It has been a week and I have much to be grateful for beginning with God's mercy and ending with the Eucharist. 

Family is a blessing and having both our children living near us is wonderful  My son kicked off his new business, The Plate and Table with a fabulous dinner Wednesday night and our daughter had a birthday.  My husband does not need to see the infectious disease doctor for the foreseeable future.  

I also must say that last weekend was insanely busy for me.  On Monday when I was getting dressed I was so surprised that my husband had not only done the laundry, but folded and put my clothes away!  What a guy.  

At work we had a canned food drive and there was a very good response.  

We finally did our yard work.  On Saturday morning we went and hired two day laborers and got busy.  How bad was the yard?  Well, the front was okay, but the side and back were so bad one guy asked if we had been gone all summer and were just getting back?  WOW!  

I am on week 9 of the Retreat in the Real World.  It is truly amazing.  Last week the focus was on gratitude, I am constantly humbled by the love and mercy God has for each of us. 

Being grateful is helping me change my thought process to focus more on the positive and the possibilities in my life.  How does being grateful  help you?

Amazing Catechists

When I look at all the different work I have done in my life, the work that I always come back to and holds the most meaning for me is teaching.  It can be adults, little children, other teachers, really anyone at all, I love to teach.  I am using "teach" in a very broad sense.  If I get together with friends and we bake biscotti or cover chairs together, it's teaching.  Of course, leading people to know more about our faith and to have a deeper relationship with God is my passion.

I am excited to tell you that I am now writing over at Amazing Catechists which is a must read site for those who are teaching the faith to others.  The posts are written by catechists for catechists.
My first post is on an Imaginative Prayer experience from our Middle School EDGE program at St. Peter.

7 Quick Takes

Somehow, we have reached Friday.  I've gotten here with lots of coffee, not enough sleep, a little fun, and grace.  How did you get here?

1.  Right in front of me is me 2014 list of goals.  I am moving ever soooo s l  o  w l  y through this list.  Which is better than not at all, but one quarter of the year is gone and one quarter of the list is not, so things are not equal here.  My husband the algebra teacher could come up with an equation for this but he's at work so you'll just have to make do with words, no formulas.

2.  Tonight is First Penance at work.  We are having dinner first and then going to the service. All families are invited so they can also go to confession during Lent. I have spent this week answering numerous emails about this sacrament.  I dare not repeat the questions, but let's just say I felt as if maybe I was not speaking English at the parent meeting or maybe my emails were mysteriously being translated into gibberish when I hit the send button. My problem is that I get very upset and take it personally, which I shouldn't.  I know I am there for all the families, no matter their level of interest or participation, but the exceptions are greater than the rule and it wears me out.

3.  I have three WordPress accounts and have a serious problem with remembering the user name and password combinations.  Now, for one I just paste what was given to me, fine. The other two, I keep forgetting and one is saved on my computer to sign me in automatically but I can't see the password.  Why is this a problem?  Because I can't comment sometimes on WordPress blogs and need to use some other account and it all just makes me nutty.  I guess that's the bottom line, it makes me nutty.

4.  I need to stop whining.  Done.  Honest.  Read the next take.  It will be positive.  PROMISE.

5.  I actually have a free day tomorrow.  No actual appointments.  YEA!  I should be quiet about it though unless the universe finds out and conspires to fill my calendar.  I have a few things I want to do but it will be on my schedule.  Possibilities:  cutting out John's alb of muslin, going to Michael's for Easter centerpiece supplies, visiting my parents, the gym, and lots of time reading. Okay, more than a few but I have all day!

6.  This is John's last weekend at seminary.  He has two or three more Wednesdays and then graduation.  WOW.  It has been a journey for sure.  Ordination is next, but I want to enjoy this part before moving on to the next part.

7.  If you need a book to put in a teen's or college student's Easter basket, try Made for More by Curtis Martin.

For Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!

Learning Curve

This week I am starting a new project, interning with

You can read about it here!

Strange

I just started using a website called Slideshare.  The purpose is to put up presentations and documents you want others to be able to access without having to worry if they have the right program to open it or you having to convert it before sending it.  You can upload various types of stuff (very technical word, I know) and there it sits, in a cloud waiting for people to look at it.
Late this afternoon I uploaded a power point that parents can view if they are not able to come to the parent meeting or to refer back to if necessary.  Apparently, over 200 people have already viewed it.  I don't even have that many families enrolled in the faith formation nor did I send it to anyone.  Seems strange to me.  Would you look at a presentation about a faith formation program in some parish you don't attend?  Are my power points that interesting? Let's hope the parents think so on Sunday.  I think I'll let them know how many people took a look.
Do you want to see it?  Here's the link. Fascinating isn't it, especially the snack information.
Okay, silliness aside, I do think it will be a useful tool to get information out. The more ways I can spread the word, the better.

Book Review: Engaging a New Generation

Being back in faith formation for a year now after almost seven away I find myself ready for new information   I often find myself reading or listening to information that sounds just like what I heard before and is not helpful in any way.  Often I keep hearing the problems and then sort of a shoulder shrug and no answers or even suggestions on improvements.  So it was with some trepidation I began this book, Engaging a New Generation:  A Vision for Reaching Catholic Teens by Frank Mercadante.  

I was completely wrong!  And I can't recall when I was so happy to have been wrong.  This book grabbed my attention from the fist chapter, "We don't have a youth problem"all the way to the Cultivation Strategic Planing Model in Appendix B.  

Mercadante points out the problems, both in and out of the Church, reasons for the problems and possible ways to correct the problems.  It also reassured me that what I see in my parish is really happening and not unique.  He uses hard data and studies, such as the National Study on Youth and religious to point out what many of us see on a regular basis, "The majority (of Catholic teens) tended to be rather religiously and spiritually indifferent, uniformed and disengaged."  One reason for this is that parents have not modeled a positive faith life and parishes focus on child more than adult/parent faith formation.  Which is ironic since if you have ever read the General Directory for Catechesis, you may recall that it stresses adult rather than child formation.

He reminds us that "parents are the single most important spiritual influence in their teenage children's lives."  Sadly, most parents have bought into the prevailing idea that they are somehow superfluous  only there to hand out money, make sure there's food in the house and be a taxi driver.  As a person heavily invested in catechesis for all parishioners, this is important for me to know and convey to parents. 

Each chapter is relevant including the questions at the end of each chapter "For Consideration"  which help you think about the information presented and how to utilize it in your situation.  Anyone involved in parish life, but especially those ministering to youth and children needs to read this book and learn how to make the shifts in catechesis so we can better reach the Millennials and the iGeneration.  

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Engaging a New Generation. The Catholic Company is a great resource for tools to help you participate in the Year of Faith, including Year of Faith bible studies and exclusive Year of Faith personalized gifts. The Catholic Company also has all your Advent needs in stock, such as Advent calendars and Advent wreaths.

Preparing for Classes

In many parishes Catechetical Sunday is the start of religious education or faith formation or parish school of religion classes or CCD...oh, please not CCD, it is truly my least favorite thing to call classes.  And I'm sure I've left off more than one name for classes.
I'll tell you what I think, (my friends are all laughing at this point, since when don't I?).  Classes are what you take in school to learn math, science, English, etc... or when you are out of school you take classes in cake decorating, sewing, karate.  Those types of classes, while they may have an impact on your life, do nto have the purpose of shaping or forming you into a person who is more math-like or craft-like.  The goal in those classes is not to become like a cake but rather how to make a cake look pretty.
Hence, I dislike calling religious education classes, especially for children and youth, 'classes'.  The goal of most programs is to help form or shape those participating into better Christians and Catholics; to become more Christ like internally, not just externally.
Here is the goal, written out for the parish, of our faith formation program: "The purpose of Faith Formation is to teach the truths of the Catholic faith, learn to apply them to our daily lives and grow closer to God.  We will use a variety of experiences to make our faith come alive for the children and youth of St. Edward. "  If we don't apply the truths of our faith and grow closer to God then we have ceased to form and moved into educating. 
This does not mean we don't teach prayers or what the Eucharistic is and how to go to confession and how to behave at Mass.  We do all of those things, but they are not an end in and of themselves.  

So, classes formation starts on September 16 in my neck of the woods.  And the catechists will be ready.  (Did you notice that, catechists, not teachers.) Words have meanings, so I like to use the right words.