I taught CCD to sixth-graders for a year. It is a great privilege to be in a classroom teaching young ones about God, and it is a place where God does great things.
Now, let’s face it: Catholic education in America, and in Boston, is not what you would call top notch. When you teach CCD, you have a bunch of young men and women who are there only because their parents want them to be there. You have 20 hours of classtime a year, compared to over 1000 for all their other school subjects. In CCD, there are no grades, no getting kept back, so guess how the kids approach homework and tests. The sacraments are given anyway to anyone who shows up. And support on the home end is missing a lot of times: parents haven’t been shown how to live their faith, and even sometimes are not even taking their kids to Mass.
On top of that, do you know how this shapes the kids’ attitudes before they even step into the classroom? They understand from this that God and religion are not important. They are either necessary (for now) burdens, or flighty fluffy things.
When you step into the classroom and you want to teach kids about the greatness of God and knowing Him, you have very little - and everything else is stacked against you.
Perfect. There is no better place to be with God. This is where I get to see His redeeming power.
In one class, I asked one of the students for his answer to the first homework question. “I didn’t do it.” Why? “I didn’t know we had it.” How about someone else, can someone else help? No hands. I picked another student. “I didn’t do it.” Wait a minute - did anyone do the homework? Nope. What?!
I couldn’t believe it. They are all great kids, we’ve had lively discussion. NO ONE did it?
I didn’t know what to do. So I just did something.
“OK, one by one, I want to have your excuse and we’re going to make a list of them on the board.” So, one by one we went around the class, and everyone gave me their reason for not doing the homework and I made a list on the blackboard.
When I was done, I didn’t know what to do. So I just did something again.
“What do you think?” I asked. “It looks like a lot of excuses,” Mike said. No one was happy looking at all the excuses. It was depressing. Again, I didn’t know what to do, so I just said, “So who do you think is happy now, God or the devil?”
They all responded, “The devil.”
“So who has won this little battle?” Together they answered, “The devil.”
And who has lost? “God.” No, God can’t lose. Who has lost? “We have.” That’s right. We have only 20 classes, half as many homeworks, while you have 1000 classes in your other subjects. And the only thing the devil wants is for you not to learn about God. English, math, science, sports, yes - but God? No way. Everyone here, every class, every homework is very important.
They got it. They got a lesson that I could never have given them for homework. They learned much more from their failure than they would have if they had just done their original homework assignment.
Their homework was redeemed.
It may seem dark in the world or in your life. You may be facing a circumstance where you have little and everything else seems stacked against you. You know what? That is the best place to be with God. Embrace your circumstance boldly. Trust in God, have confidence in Him, and you will see something great: “I shall let him see my saving power.” (Ps 91:16)
He will redeem it.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Pia // Jun 7, 2008 at 1:50 am
I spent several years “teaching” catechism to 6th graders (I live in Italy). I emphasize the word “teaching” because I always used to ask myself “who am I to think I can teach anybody anything”? Was it more important for those kids to know facts and figures? “Can God be a subject?”
Wasn’t it better for them to “experience” God’s Mercy first hand, rather than just talk about it? Wasn’t it better for them to BE, and LIVE “Caritas”, to incarnate it, rather than to talk about charity or just drop a few coins into the poor box? In other words, it seemed to me that there was a lot of talking going on, and not much listening, either on the part of the kids or the teachers. It was distant from their world and their problems and life situations, and there was very little contact between the two realities.
The best “lesson” I ever gave in catechism (where I think homework is a no-no) was when my kids and I wrote a letter to a man who was on death row in the States. The kids came into contact with a shocking reality, but he received renewed hope, even though he knew he was going to die. He realized that through his battle and his courage (not only for himself but for others in his same condition) had touched the lives and hearts of these young people. They, on the other hand, learned what it means to reach out to someone who is in an apparently hopeless situation. They learned that if they look beyond the outward circumstances, they were reaching out to Christ Himself. They learned that even though he “lost” when he was executed, his story his words of thanks, and his example of fortitude and faith even in the most dire circumstances, will remain in their hearts forever.
Years later, I can’t say that all of those kids still go to church, and it certainly isn’t my personal merit or blame if they do or don’t. But I know that they aren’t afraid or embarrassed to lend a helping hand or a willing ear to someone in need.
“Caritas” is the first channel for God’s love, and if they keep that channel open, anything can happen because there is room in their hearts for God to move around in.
One thing they surely don’t remember is most of the facts and figures, the rules and regulations that are part and parcel of “teaching” catechism. Here in Italy, teaching the Catholic religion is obbligatory in public schools, unless the kids belong to other religions or are non-denominational. I think it’s one of the most detrimental situations because it’s considered a non-subject, even by the teachers themselves. Most of the people who teach this subject, do so only because they knew it was the easiest way to get a teaching job.
Btw, I “ran into” you over at Contemplative haven, and I really like your blog…
2 livingmonstrance // Jun 7, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Hi Pia,
Great thoughts, thank you. What a great act you’ve done with leading the kids in reaching out to that prisoner. Wow. That is the Lord.
When I was teaching, I had in my hands a great book called Words of Love, published by Tan Books. It was filled with quotes from the Lord to 3 religious sisters in the early 20-th century. One of the quotes was, “One must be blindly generous. Children must be taught generosity; it will turn their souls toward Me for the whole of their lives. Teach them to do rather more than not enough - to give always a little more than is actually asked of them. And in giving, to hide their gifts.”
I’m sure your students have been opened up to generosity at a very deep level. Especially toward the sinner, the guilty. Wow - that is really great.
As you mentioned about Italy, I’ve seen as well with some Latin Americans who have immigrated to the States - the condition where Catholicism is encultured and has lost its saltiness. But the Lord can still work great things there, I’ve seen it, and I hope it doesn’t discourage you, but rather I hope you see opportunity for His Mercy to be poured out!
Thanks for your support of this blog, Pia, and Contemplative Haven is a good “place”.
3 Pia // Jun 9, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Thanks for your reply..I realize maybe I came on too strongg…. I am no longer teaching catechism now, but I still run into those kids every once in a while, and just today one of the moms told me her son still has Derek’s letter to him in his night table drawer.
Derek Rocco Barnabei was accused of murdering his girlfriend and we believed and still believe in his innocence. You can read the latest news here: http://www.barnabei.com/RvsdW001.PDF and the children’s letters and his replies to them here:http://www.barnabei.com/main.htm, scroll down to “Letters to Children by Pia De Simone”.
The biggest challenge while I was teaching was to help the kids “encounter Christ” in their daily lives. They responded much more willingly and appropriately when I did not try to impose myself as a teacher in the classical sense. In my own life, having come from a very strict, traditional catholic education (Sisters of the IHM) I had found it so difficult to believe deep down in my heart that God loved me. It was something totally unfathomable and that’s why I always attempted to help the kids truly “encounter” Christ, in every possible way. The fact that they have religion every week in school was truly detrimental, (I experienced this also with my own children, and when my oldest was in high school I accepted his choice of not taking religion. When my second child asks me –it’s coming soon– I’ll do the same). It is a disgrace that such people are teaching religion, and it’s especially sad that they are given these jobs with the approval of each individual diocese.
I’ll certainly be back to visit soon! Ciao from Italy!
4 livingmonstrance // Jun 9, 2008 at 5:50 pm
“They responded much more willingly and appropriately when I did not try to impose myself as a teacher in the classical sense. In my own life, having come from a very strict, traditional catholic education (Sisters of the IHM) I had found it so difficult to believe deep down in my heart that God loved me.”
I think I understand, and I can’t help but to reflect my thoughts. A teacher to a class is like the Lord to His disciples - He does not lord it over them, He’s a servant. He teaches by example: “Follow Me.” It’s a matter of trust. If the students will trust the teacher, which they instinctively do, the teacher must trust the students and be a lever for them, to nourish and magnify their whole person. The teacher must lay down his/her life for them and be their servant and shepherd, the Good Shepherd or Our Lady. The teacher must see the strengths and weaknesses of each and understand that there’s an important reason that God has for each student to be in the class, that he/she is the instrument for freeing up the Holy Spirit in the class. I think the greatest fruit of teaching is a class that lives in the Gospel, in the dynamic of Christ and His disciples. If that dynamic is present, then I think the students have a living encounter with the Living Risen Christ. They have lived the Gospel.
When I taught CCD, I was the only male teacher, and I had 12 students in the class, and, very oddly said the director, mostly boys. The Lord gave me “low-hanging fruit”. By the end, we had a Peter, a John, etc., though I didn’t spell it all out to the kids. (And one of the girls was the John!) I think that is the gift that He and Our Lady gave to our class, that we were re-producing Christ and the Twelve in Galilee.
I’ve been up to IHM a couple of times, and I understand the dynamic you describe regarding traditionalism. Traditionalism *can* be reactionism, Phariseeism, especially if the study of right doctrine is placed over the prayerful study of the Gospel and Scripture. So, today, I think a “good Catholic” (I don’t like that term) is one who embraces what the Holy Spirit is doing in the Church, led by the Holy Father. I think that is a total dedication to Jesus Christ and Our Lady, by prayer and adoration and by reaching out to bring His Mercy - not His Justice and right doctrine - to the lost.
I agree: salt without saltiness is ugly indeed. “He who does not gather with Me, scatters.”
Thanks, Pia - Gratzie! (That’s one of four Italian phrases I know. One of the others you’ve already used. The other two will show up at some point.)
5 Pia // Jun 10, 2008 at 4:18 pm
6 Pia // Jun 10, 2008 at 4:19 pm
by the way, the purpose of the teaching method used in my grade school was “discipline”, of course. But it only taught fear. That is hard to overcome, but not impossible, thank God!
7 livingmonstrance // Jun 12, 2008 at 5:46 pm
prego! (your welcome…and it also means “I pray̶ “)
I’ve found that this means everything in Italy. But now you’ve struck number three, so here’s the last phrase I understand in Italian: Non parlo italiano.
Regarding discipline, there is a line in St. Louis de Montfort’s book the Secret of Mary that I think all religious formators and superiors, especially those who profess a devotion to St. Louis de Montfort and his Marian devotion, should understand and appreciate: “As these bonds [worn chains] are bonds of love, they remind us that we should do nothing except under the influence of love.”
Praise God and His Mercy for what He’s done with you, and each of us!
8 Pia // Jun 15, 2008 at 8:38 am
Yes, praise God!
Well, if you know that much of Italian, you must have had some experience with this wonderful country. Have you ever been to Italy?
9 livingmonstrance // Jun 17, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Well, you know what, there’s another phrase that I forgot about that I used the other day:
molto bene! So that makes 5.
I visited Rome and Assisi in 2004 and stayed with a friend studying at the Angelicum. Then, I was on a pilgrimage for World Youth Day in 2005, and we went through Rome and Assisi. I love both places. Both trips were full of great graces, many, many great moments. We also stayed at Menaggio on Lake Como, on the Swiss border - that also was very beautiful. Some day I hope to make it back to Rome and Assisi.
10 Pia // Jun 19, 2008 at 10:23 am
Molto bene!! I used to live about 10miles away from Assisi. I spent 2 years there. What beautiful country!! And I may just be going next week for two days! My husband has a conference to go to and that would leave me free to roam around as I please.. Just what I needed now!
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