There are a number of Faith Formation Models being used by parishes across the United States. We will be reveiwing all of them to help us understand these models and evaluate their fit to the needs of our St. John community.
The Traditional Model is weekly or biweekly classes for children. This classroom model is the one we are most familiar with. Here at St. John's our biweekly classes for children are lectionary based.
In some circumstances, Home Schooling has been used. This is usually used in response to some special need of the families. In Home Schooling, parents meet and receive guidance and work assignments for their children. They then work with their children at home in order to help their children grow in knowledge and faith of God.
In more recent times, Intergenerational or Whole Community Catechesis is being developed and experienced in many more parishes. Our Saturday Catechesis Gathering which meets once a month is based on this model. To get a better understanding of this model and how they are being used in parishes in the Metuchen and Trenton dioceses, we will be reviewing the programs of St. David the King in Princeton Junction and St. Matthias in Somerset. To view a video that explains St. David's Parish Family Ministry click on the St. David's link. We will be featuring St. Matthias' G.I.F.T. or Growing in Faith Together program in a future post.
Most recently, a Summer Alternative model has proven to be successful. This catechesis occurs during two weeks in the summer. The children spend ten consecutive mornings or evenings Monday through Friday participating in catechetical lessons and activities. This takes the place of Traditional or Intergenerational classes for children which start in September. It has been found that children learn more from this focused catechetical experience while they are on summer vacation from school. To find out more about this model read "Reinventing Religious Education" by using the Reinventing Religious education link. At the beginning of this article from the Trenton Monitor you can view a video that shows you the Summer Catechesis program at St. Anselms.
Many parishes have separate models for Sacramental Preparation. While some parishes continue to include this catechesis in their traditional and intergenerational classes many parishes have developed separate programs to involve the parents and the parish community in the sacramental preparation of children. Along with making the parents more equipped to prepare their own child, the parents receive adult level catechesis on the sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation.
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10 comments:
This is a comment only on the VBS (vacation bible school)/summer alternative model. I appreciate that this "immersion" method produces more learning (or greater recall?) as the total condensed hours are the equivalent of a complete semester of a college course. But I think there has be a year long component as well, even it was a once monthly movie night that utilized NatGeo or History Channel programs, maybe for the whole family, to give historical context to where we are today. And maybe these are done in homes to stress community.
Yes,if we start a summer alternative program at St. John's, we definitely want to keep families connected to the parish community during the year. This was discussed at the Jan.9th Parent Meeting. Liturgy is the primary catechesis of the parish community and so participation in the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments are the most important year long component. We discussed the possibility of expanding Children's Liturgy into two groups, one for the younger children and one for the older children to get more 4th and 5th graders to participate. We also discussed having parish events for the whole family. We do have some as the parish picnic, decorating of the narthex Christmas tree, Marde Gras, the Living Stations of the Cross, etc. CM- thanks for your suggestion of Family Movie Nights. The purpose of this blog is share our ideas and come to a consensus on the future of faith formation at St. John's.
I believe the summer intensive would be a welcome approach, however, an alternative would be helpful as I am sure that whatever dates are chosen would not work for every family in the parish. My family has already purchased airline tickets and would not be able to participate from mid-July until mid-August. So, if the chosen dates are within that time frame, we would very much appreciate an alternative program so that our children can remain in a Religious Education program at St. Johns. On a different note, ten partial consecutive mornings or evenings might be problematic for some families. It might prove difficult to families with working parents who would have to arrange rides, and perhaps child care, as partial days would not allow for them to enroll their children in camp -- which many families with working parents do during the summer as a means of child care. I know of other parishes who do one full week -- five days from 9am until 3pm -- and call it camp. This would be a much more prudent approach. I understand "sacrifices" must be made, but sometimes I think we are "sacrificing" families out of our parish to other nearby parishes (St. Luke's comes to mind) which take measures to make their CCD program more accessible and convenient. If the program were five full days during a one week time frame, I would be willing and happy to volunteer the entire time.
Although the summer alternative program (not to be confused with a Vacation Bible School) sounds interesting, maybe there's a better way to utilize the programs we already have in place. I've always enjoyed the monthly family gathering, and it's exciting to think this can be expanded upon to be intergenerational/whole community. Perhaps there can be more than one held a month to split the number of students, and especially if not all can make a Sat. morning, make another day/time available. The current bi-weekly program also seems to be working fine, with the exception of the fees charged by VVS. A suggestion would be to conduct weekly or bi-weekly classes utilizing the church and office space (when available) -- maybe classes during the week might be considered instead of only the weekends? I think keeping catechesis during the school year helps keep families connected with the church.
Here is an email from A.K. who wished me to post these comments:
After reflecting about the different models that you presented, I still like the traditional model, being led by a teacher once or twice a week. .. My three older girls all went through catechism and made all their sacraments at St. John's and I know they learned a lot about our Catholic traditions from the various teachers who shared their faith and life experiences with my girls and the others in the class. Ideally, I would prefer if religion classes could be on Sunday because it is the Lord's day and we don't usually have sports or homework to worry about on Sundays. If there are only 59 students at VV school on Sunday morning, then it doesn't seem to make sense to continue to hold classes there and pay rent and custodial fees. Maybe classes for grades K-6 could be moved to the parish house or church center when not in use ? It might even be a little less distracting for the students if they were not in a classroom setting. (Having taught religion in a classroom for several years, I have often struggled to keep the kids focused on the lesson - they get so distracted by what's in people's desks and the various projects around the classroom that they can't help but touch). Even if classes had to take place on a weeknight, we would make it a priority to be there.
I don't like the summer model because I think it would be too rushed and might be difficult to coordinate given people's vacation schedules. It sounds like something mandatory that might make kids feel they have "to get it over with". I like the continuity of the kids getting together with the same teacher every week or two, where the teacher can reinforce and "tie together" things learned in previous lessons with the current lesson.
I don't think the family or community model is necessarily bad, and I would go that way if the traditional model were no longer an option.
I must admit to being forever spoiled after having my oldest son go through the RCIA program. I learned as much as he did and we built friendships with other church families who were in various stages of their lives- from grandparents to young people who each brought different perspectives to the same topic. I have always very much liked the idea of a family or community program for the depth of that experience. Unfortunately, the current schedule is not one that works for my family as our Saturdays are already overloaded with community, sports and family activities. IT is NOT that I value sports more than church or God. We have reliably attended the Sunday program for almost every session because it works for us and I feel like I can make a useful contribution by teaching. I would like my kids to be healthy and well-rounded individuals who bring the practice of their faith with them to various other places in the community. I believe that these activities are where they learn and practice this-whether working together and encouraging a teammate score her first soccer goal, playing with a friend who is lonely, visiting a family member in the nursing home, or celebrating a birthday with a cousin. The odds of a once a month Saturday of making them miss one of these is surprisingly high. I truly feel that I could find no quicker way for them to resent their initiation process than to make them have to choose between or be forced to miss these things. While I'm not against either of the other options, I don't feel as though they fully integrate children into the community in the same way and I really feel like some flexibility or choice for families in scheduling is a bigger concern. One schedule is unlikely to work for everyone. I recognize that it is a struggle for many families to make a consistent commitment to any schedule due to work/family/life commitments. I have always found it valuable that our parish has offered some choices to parents and have appreciated the occasional option to review a lesson at home with my kids because we just couldn't make something work. Sometimes it really is a struggle to make a certain schedule work within each of our families other priorities and I believe that a little compassion about this could prevent turning a family away from religious activities. In sum I think that regardless of what is chosen, maintaining options is important but I would love to see more community involvement in our children's programs.
Rose here is my response for the blog...I was having trouble posting it. Could you
please post it for me, thx, danielle
Growing up CCD was a weekly class. It kept the church teaching current and present
in my everyday life and it made the weekend the time to go to church. I propose
having classes on Monday's after school either weekly or biweekly, at the church
offices. I understand that is may pose a problem for working families, but we would
all help out with carpooling etc and the children would be picked up at the church.
Mondays are usually a day without sports practices or games. Then it would be known
that SJN has CCD on mondays an allowances would be made. My husband works long
hours during the week and values the time he spends with the kids on weekends. By
having it during the week it would make it easier to attend church as a family more
consistently on the weekends. I truly find it hard to attend church on the weekends
when there is CCD on the weekends. I would be available to teach CCD during the
week.
Summers are getting shorter. Schools have more snow days to make up and some even
start before Labor Day. A date would have to decided on NOW. It would also need to
be a one week, full day to accommodate the working families. Of course there would
have to be another alternative such as Saturday or Sundays or during the week.
We will never make everyone happy with a decision, but it needs to be one that is
the best use of our resources and one that the majority of parents prefer. Also,
one that would entice more families to join our parish and keep families at our
parish.
Here's an email I was asked to post:
Here's my opinion (even though my kids are in high school)...
We would have preferred a weeknight program or a Sunday morning/evening.
Saturday, once a month would be our last choice.
We would not want to participate in a summer program as the kids look forward to having a break from school and would probably hate religion school if they had to go in the summer. Really would't want that to happen. Not to mention it would also be difficult to plan around everyone's summer vacations.
K.A.
Roger M. says:
Have kindergarten, 1ST and 2nd at the church AM one Sunday, and then have 3rd, 4th and 5th at the church AM the next Sunday. You add 6th grade to Sunday night.
Upon receiving and reading the Religious Ed Survey, I have to say it was a “Stop the Presses” moment for me and my family. I know the beginning statement talks about listening to the voice of the parents, but it appears the survey options do not reflect that based on the comments on the blog and the feedback from my wife after she attended the meeting regarding this topic.
I agree with some previous blog comments such as Saturday is full of other extracurricular activities. The options on the survey are essentially giving an ultimatum with having to choose between Religious Ed and soccer or t-ball for example, which may cause resentment. My oldest child is just beginning these types of activities and I have two other children behind her that will start eventually.
Monday at 4:45pm is not convenient either for a family with both parents working. It would be extremely difficult (nearly impossible) to make a 4:45pm weekday drop-off for Religious Ed due to work schedules and commute time.
I really need help in understanding why Sunday is not a listed option on this survey for Religious Ed. Keeping it Sunday would show consistency. We as a family are already dedicating our time to attending Mass on Sunday mornings, so having Religious Ed on Sunday morning adds no additional complexity on family schedules. Let’s face it; the people currently participating in Religious Ed are making Sunday mornings work now. And if you are picking your child(ren) up after Religious Ed, then there is not really a good excuse to not make it on to Mass with your child(ren).
I can only assume this was evaluated; look at the big picture impact of changing the day and time for Religious Ed. We encourage Parishioners, especially our young families, to participate in Parish activities outside of Mass. These other activities are different days of the week as well. Changing the day for Religious Ed further expects a greater percentage of our weekly schedules. This results in spreading ourselves too thin. Our Parish is having a difficult enough time as it is to have people participate in other Ministries.
If the two options listed on this survey are truly the final options, unfortunately it will force my family to make some tough decisions on our future.
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