Notes from the Liturgical Catechesis and the New Evangelization Conference Part 4: James Pauley, Practical Considerations

Here is the 4th installment of my notes from the Liturgical Catechesis conference at the Liturgical Institute at University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein. This is from the second talk by James Pauley, University of St. Francis Steubenville.

"Liturgical Catechesis: Practical Considerations"

Necessary skills for a rich liturgical life that a catechist needs to have and teach:
1. Ability to disengage from distractions. 

We need to quiet ourselves. He teaches catechists that students have a right to the full prayer of the Church. They need to learn prayer with scripture, Liturgy of the Hours and other deeper forms of prayer. Students arrive in religious education class distracted. In the first 10 minutes of a class we need to get them away from their distraction.

2. Ability to unite our minds and hearts to the words we pray.
Where do catechists go for content? Textbooks, the Catechism, but also need to go to the rites of the Church. The first task of liturgical catechesis is to explain the words of the Mass. So, draw from the rites and preserve a disposition of wonder and awe. Especially important for those preparing for sacraments. Don't wait until the rehearsal to share with them the words of the rite. (We often do that for Confirmation, Matrimony...)

The second time we should use the words of the rites is in ALL other catechesis. Use the words of the readings or the Missal or ritual prayers. Example: when teaching about sin, use Ash Wednesday readings or the words of absolution from the Rite of Penance.

3. Ability to see what God is doing in the liturgical actions.
Reflect on the fruits and effects. You don't need to cover everything about a sacrament but be sure to cover the effects and do it well.

What does God do in a sacrament? Look at the words of the rite. They tell us exactly what we are asking God to do. Example: the Epiclesis in new marriage rite draft calls the Spirit to pour out God's love into the couple's hearts.

See CCC 1624 (matrimony) - grace builds on nature
CCC 1642 - what happens when Christ dwells with them... human love becomes supernaturalized

4. The ability to cooperate with sacramental grace so that a change is effected in how we live.
Liturgy is expected to lead us into metanoia. We are to be transformed to share Christs love.

Two principles
1. the liturgy is a lifelong source of catechesis
2. There is a great need for all of us to be more responsive to the grace we receive in the sacraments.

We need to be mentored how to live the sacramental life, cooperating with the grace of sacraments. Example, we should be doing Mystagogy for marriage. That would include testimony, mentoring...

(From his handout:)

REFLECTION:  What for me, does attunement to God's presence and action in liturgy look like?  How can I put myself more frequently in that position? How can I invite those I teach into this place?

Part 5: Jim Beckman - Youth

Review: The Spirituality of the Catechist

The Spiritualityof the Catechist: Feeding your Soul, Growing in Faith, Sharing with Others, by Sr. Janet Schaeffler, OP,  is a beautiful, deeply invitational short book for catechists who teach Catholic faith to people of all ages.

Sr. Janet, a national expert in adult faith formation, is a gentle soul and a wonderful storyteller. The pages of this simple and direct book are sprinkled with memorable, well-chosen  quotations and stories about spirituality and prayer, illustrating the dynamics of a fully-activated prayer life and relationship to the Risen Lord. She invites the reader to explore the possibilities inherent in spirituality in a deeply direct way.

Although the beginning is general enough to apply to any Catholic adult, the later chapters are more specific to how this should play out in the life of a catechist, who should pray for those he or she teaches as well as share prayer with them.

Yes, there is practical advice - lists of prayer types to explore, for example, and there are reflection questions at the end of each chapter, which makes this a great tool for further reflection or for discussion with others.

A much-needed book, which goes beyond the usual catechetical approach to how to pray with others and reaches the catechist where he or she lives, so that  having a deep and living relationship with God is foundational to sharing faith with others. This is a book not just for catechists and school teacher-catechists, but for catechetical leaders, RCIA teams and parish faith formation advisory boards.

God is...

What is your image of God?  That's a good question.

I am facilitating a course on prayer, which asks as its first exercise, how the image one has of God affects how one prays, so I have been reading a number of descriptions of what the students think God is like.  For many of them, God is friend. For a few, God is an almighty theological construct to be feared and respected. For others, God has been a watchful judge.

Who is God for me?

Presence.
Never Absent. Always. Forever.
A sometimes palpable presence I sense deeply near me and in me.

Yes, this presence is a Person. As I grow older, I am ever more aware that God is near. Even when I have been in the depths of pain or despair, I have known for a long time I am never alone. In the good things, God is with me, and we rejoice together.

Which Person? More and more, a triune presence - Jesus, trailing streams of the Father's glory and the
Spirit's encompassing warmth. Father-God, perhaps even more compassionate because of the suffering of his Son, oozing Spirit. Spirit - present in every breath, bringing Father and Son closer to me.

It has not always been this way. As a child, I only had a vague image of God as an old man with a beard watching me from heaven, usually with disapproval (no doubt the baggage of stern church ladies who watched us toddlers in the church nursery.)  As a teen during the 60's God was a mere intellectual exercise. Was God dead? That sappy sentimentalized Jesus guy - he was for people not smart enough to know better, right?

When did it change? Over time. With experience. With listening to the promptings of my heart. With the support of a community of faith. With the discovery that when I could rely on no one else, God was there. Over and over. Through it all. Once, when deep in meditative prayer, I saw myself walking through the corridors of the interior of my own heart toward a light glowing from just around the corner - a light I was in too much awe to approach...

When do I feel this Presence? Whenever I am mindful. When do I not? Whenever I let the tasks of daily life overtake and preoccupy me. Yet, beneath even that, I know.

I just know. God is...

"Find Your Inner Iggy" Week! - Making St. Ignatius Accessible

Ever had the feeling a particular saint has your number?  I have. Somehow, in my most profound moments of spiritual awakening for me either a Jesuit or some part of the spiritual methodology of Ignatius of Loyola have been in the mix (many long stories.) I am convinced he is my heavenly spiritual mentor (maybe my spiritual gadfly?)... and I did not choose him. He found me. Probably has something to do with my extremely visual imagination - guided meditations on Scripture - an Ignatian prayer form - will "get" me every time. I think God waits for those moments when I am most vulnerable in prayer to pounce.

As someone who embraces the spirituality of St. Ignatius, I am excited as we approach his feast day on July 31st. So are others who love his spirituality. Beginning Wednesday, Loyola Press celebrates online with "Find Your Inner Iggy Week".

Characterizing Ignatius as "Iggy" makes him cool and accessible - and I think Ignatians who celebrate him by that name are on to something. Iggy, quite frankly, is very relevant to the modern world. We need to learn to read the signs of God in all things in the world, we need to embrace Scripture as saying something directly and personally to us, and above all, we need discernment, not just decision-making that focuses on our own desires, but instead on what God desires for us.

So get ready for some great helps from the Loyola Press Inner Iggy team, with help from Fr. James Martin, SJ, Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, Margaret Silf, and others.  Here is the schedule of online activities:

July 24: Finding God in Unlikely Places
July 25: Finding God in Our Decision Making
July 26: Finding God in Our Prayer
July 29: Finding God in Our Imagination
July 30: Finding God in Our Service to Others
July 31: Finding God in All Things

You can find out more at http://findyourinneriggy.com/ (which will soon take you to the main page) or by watching the dotMagis blog . You can follow it on Facebook by liking the Ignatian Spirituality page.  The search hashtag on social networks will be #FindIggy.

Making Class More Like Mass: Beyond the Catechist's Toolbox

Catechists sometimes wonder why students often seem disinterested, disinclined to participate in class, despite efforts to make class engaging. Joe Paprocki has stepped up to challenge that paradigm with a great new book: Beyond the Catechist's Toolbox: Catechesis That Not Only Informs But Transforms (Loyola Press)

Paprocki hits the nail on the head when he says the problem is not with the message we are delivering in catechesis, nor in ourselves, but "with our method of delivery, which for many learners, feels just like another class period in a long school day."  The problem, he points out, is that too often, we are merely "reading the textbook" - using it as the only (or nearly the only) tool for catechesis. Even when catechists use audiovisual technology, games or other activities, these pretty much echo the same educational approach experienced in the dayschool classroom.

Yet, the aim of catechesis, the General Directory for Catechesis tells us, is "to put people not only in touch, but also in communion and intimacy, with Jesus Christ" (80) It is not supposed to be just another class, but an experience that should open students to the presence of God.

When I was sent out on diocesan Catholic school observations a few years back, how well the teacher-catechist made that distinction between academic subjects and "religion class" was one criterion for evaluation. That should apply to the catechetical session as well. Paprocki's book is a recognition of the reality that if we give students textbooks, pencils and learning activities rooted in secular pedagogy, instead of those rooted in divine pedagogy, we are not forming kids in faith, but simply teaching religion.

Catechesis, Paprocki says, "is about more than information. It is about transformation." In this 90-page book, he outlines some methods to help catechists teach using any textbook as a toolbox but teaching "beyond the book"- in a climate "permeated with prayer," making class "more like Mass." How? by including  "the language of mystery" - sign and symbol, ritual and gesture, silence, song, story and myth.

To do that, he says, we don't ADD blessings, anointings, liturgical symbols, processions and other "Catholic" things to the textbook content, but rather translate the content into that language of mystery. Using the 4-step process from the Loyola Press Finding God series, Paprocki outlines how to create a climate of prayerfulness from the moment students enter the room, using ritual action, sacred music, prayer, and lectionary-based reflection. He explains how to engage students by letting them "enter through their door" but drawing them back to varying prayer experiences, including Ignatian guided reflections, interspersed with reading from the textbook and engaging in learning activities that culminate in some form of assessment, followed by closing prayer, sign of peace, music and a ritual of sending forth, again echoing the elements of the Mass.

Paprocki describes this process as "teaching faith as a second language." I call it giving kids "Catholic bones." By infusing the catechetical session with "smells and bells" and liturgical elements, the catechists lets students experience sacred space and sacred time - and to begin to know what it is that makes the time they spend being formed in faith different from the rest of their learning day.

I recommend that every catechist read this book with a prayerful openness and decide which elements he or she can comfortably begin to introduce into their sessions. That could only improve the experience of learning about faith.

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together!

OK, just finally saw The A-Team movie - pardon my use of Hannibal Smith's tag line... but this weekend in the liturgy, the Plan really did come together. Yesterday was the feast day of St. Ignatius Loyola - and the Lectionary readings for the weekend are a perfect interface with one of St. Ignatius' famous prayer, the Suscipe, a version of which, we sang at Mass  at my parish.   As we hear of the "vanity of vanities" of putting all our concentration on worldly goods and how it is of no help to us in the larger scheme of things - and of the rich man who had so many good things that he wanted to build bigger storage barns to put it in, hold up for comparison this:



All that we have comes from God. Bigger barns are never the answer, even though material gain is one of the highest values in our modern culture. Indeed, here is where Jesus is calling us to be counter-cultural. It's not easy, but what Jesus is saying in the parable of the rich man and the bigger barns is that we should, with Ignatius, find our way to saying: "Everything is yours; do with it what you will.  Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me."