Catechetical Etiquette
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Faith on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 2:00 PM
This Sunday, I was fortunate to receive a special commissioning and blessing in my home parish as a part of Catechetical Sunday.
Our pastor called to the altar all of those responsible for the faith formation of adults and children in our parish. Following the blessing, he thanked each of us for our devotion to sharing the faith with our fellow parishioners.
The truth is, I felt somewhat guilty for receiving this blessing, since I am unable to commit to as large a catechetical role as I would like. I constantly tease our Director of Religious Education that “when I grow up”, I would love to be a Catechist - a full blown religious educator with a class of my own.
As it is, I help with our RCIA team when I can and assist with other matters of adult faith formation in our diocese. I also feel the weight of my role in sharing my faith on the Internet, and as such will welcome all the prayer and blessings I can receive to adequately carry out this role. I would love some day to teach a weekly religious education class and hope to do that when my commitment to my own children takes up less of my time and energy.
When I returned home from church, I found an email in my inbox from reader Jackie, asking for our help. Jackie is a catechist, and is seeking assistance in creating a code of etiquette/expected behavior for her students. She wants to help them learn how to behave in class, but also to give them some guidelines for appropriate Mass behavior. For some children in our church, the lessons they are taught be their religious education teachers may well be the only form of instruction they will receive in these matters.
I would love it if you could share your input for Jackie. What should a teacher expect of her students in a religious education classroom? What should Jackie, as a teacher, convey to her students about how they should be behaving in Mass? As parents, what do you expect of your children when it comes to both classroom behavior and Mass participation? Please chime in and offer your perspective to help Jackie’s students and others who will benefit from your words of wisdom.
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