Lessons and Activities

by Jeanne Heiberg As we start a new school year, it’s good to think about the art of listening. Will Rogers, a wise American...

September brings the beginning of new classes, activities, clubs, and so forth. The common element in all these new things is people. There are always new people to meet. It’s fun meeting new people, but sometimes meeting new people brings on a case of the “what ifs”: What if everyone knows everybody but I don’t know anybody? What if nobody talks to me? What if others don’t like me?

Two anniversaries of importance to the Catholic Church were marked on October 11, 2012. On that date, the Church celebrated both the fiftieth anniversary of the opening session of the Second Vatican Council and the twentieth anniversary of the publication, in French, of the original, provisional edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. To celebrate this anniversary, this article will provide a brief introduction to the Catechism (henceforth CCC), including its history, an overview of the CCC, and finally, suggestions on how it can be used most effectively within ministry.

Although the Triduum takes place over three days—counting from sundown to sundown, according to Jewish tradition, from Holy Thursday night to Easter Sunday evening—help your students begin to grasp that the Triduum is one three-day, continuous celebration. Unless we see these days as an organic whole, we miss their interconnectedness.

Many people live “cafeteria style” lives, self-service only. Catholics try to live life like Jesus, who “did not come to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). The Year of Faith is a perfect time to explore this calling.

This Complete-A-Project Bible Search activity is for teacher and students (grades 4-6) working together. This Bible Search is based on Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, the Gospel that is read on Ash Wednesday.

February celebrates St. Valentine's Day with hearts, flowers, and tokens of love. This month offers us another, more serious look at love as we enter into the Season of Lent. We are invited to reflect on how much God loves us.

In today's high-tech world, our students stay connected with their classmates and peers using umpteen gizmos and gadgets: cell phones, smart phones, social networking options, and online applications. Any effort to introduce religious education with this medium has the potential of exciting students and keeping them engaged. In the fifth-grade religious education class of Queen of Peace in Queens, New York, we have successfully used the technology and would like to share this so that any instructor could use this time-tested and successful model.

Peter was born in 1007 and lived with his family in Italy. His parents died when he was a child, so he went to stay with an older brother who treated him badly. Another brother, a priest, found out and helped Peter get an education. Peter was a good student and eventually became a university teacher.

How can one gain a deeper love of God's Word? Drawing on Verbum domini and other sources of the Church's collective wisdom, let me suggest a few ways.