What is our new CTR “Joyful Communion Prayer Service” planned for Sunday, Nov. 22nd at 2PM? (Answer submitted by Parishioner Shannon Carlson)
On the surface, Joyful Communion is a no-shush, meaningful inclusive prayer service for persons of all abilities and all ages. It is a shortened (roughly 20-minute), lively, interactive and joyous prayer service centered around music, instruments, prayer, bible stories (acted out) and the teaching of simple life lessons.
On a deeper level, this ministry was created to enrich the spiritual lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as to create a prayerful environment in the church where all who attend are encouraged to be themselves without fear of being “shushed.”
The idea of inclusion is one that works to benefit all people and the very premise recognizes and honors the fundamental value and dignity of each person. There’s a saying that is passed around that says, “It takes a special kind of person to care for a person with a disability.” I believe it is rather the opposite. I believe it takes a person with a disability to inspire people to be that special kind of person. Inclusion allows us to realize that we are all fundamentally alike in many ways, regardless of our abilities or disabilities, but also gives us more insight of the very unique strengths those with these challenges have. These strengths allow them to make very valuable, meaningful contributions to the church and its community.
Everyone should be welcomed and fully included into a faith community of their choice and have a meaningful way to participate, lead, serve and build relationships with people in similar and different situations in this community. Joyful Communion will not only provide this opportunity, but will provide our parish with the opportunity to become more aware and accepting of people of all abilities. This lesson is carried from our faith communities and into our daily lives. The impact of this has far reaching implications, not only for our church and people with disabilities, but for our entire community.
Our monthly Joyful Communion Prayer Services will be open to people with or without disabilities and to all faith backgrounds. Families with small children may also prefer the more casual, no-shush style of prayer.
Many volunteers are needed to launch this new venture with a strong start. If you are interested in getting involved please email Shannon at carlsonshannon1234@yahoo.com and/or attend our upcoming planning meeting on Sunday, July 12th at 1PM in the library. Your support and prayers are deeply appreciated. Mark your calendars!
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Crazy Catholic Question #39: Atrium
What is going on in room Luke 1 back by the library?
We are VERY excited for our summer program ready to launch on July 13th! Our Office of Family Ministry staff has been working extra hard, burning the midnight oil, and feeling energized and without question propelled by God’s Spirit in our preparation to work with our children in the year ahead. We ask our CTR community to keep all our kiddos in your prayers as we begin a new year of Faith Formation. This year our theme is “Prayer and Parables.” Our goal is two-fold: to further develop our children’s prayer life and invite them to ponder some of Jesus’ most profound teachings from Scripture: the Parables.
Our presupposition is that even the youngest of our little ones have a prayer life; a connection and awareness of God in their lives. God is present to them in their deepest being and they are more than capable of developing both a conscious and intimate relationship with God. This summer we hope to provide materials and lessons that nurture this relationship with God and deepen the prayer life that they already have and also build on that relationship by introducing (or pondering anew for our older kids) the Parables that Jesus told us.
To aid in these goals, we are incorporating bits and parts of a Montessori-based, contemplative approach to the religious formation of children, rooted in Sacred Scripture, liturgy, and respect for the child's rich relationship with God called “Catechesis of the Good Shepherd” originally researched and developed in 1954 by Dr. Sofia Cavalletti & Gianna Gobbi.
Central to this CGS method is what is called the “atrium”: a sacred, prepared space containing beautiful homemade, “hands-on” materials that focus the child's attention on key scripture passages or liturgical moments. If you haven’t had a chance, sneak-a-peek at room Luke 1 near the library…though still in its infancy, the development of this type of atrium is what we are working towards. This method of instruction and design of curriculum has been very well-received this past year at our “Parent/Child” retreats that are part of our sacramental preparation programs here at CTR. We were delighted (and a little surprised) to discover that even the parents found the material and presentations engaging and spiritually nourishing! So, in response to this positive feedback from parents, little by little, we have been integrating and building child-size materials that Montessori professionals traditionally call “works” for our Catechists to introduce and our children and parents to explore throughout the year ahead.
We are looking for adults from our community who would be interested in taking the formation courses for catechists. These courses provide an in-depth look at basic child development along with the child’s spiritual development. Catechists leave the “retreat-like” 90-hours of training with a new, fresh richness in the arenas of child development, pedagogy, and theology…as well as a unique experience of “receiving” the Good News for oneself. There is a summer intensive course being held June 22-26 at Gesu Parish near UDM in Detroit. The training costs $200 (we may have some scholarships available). It is not too late to register for this summer course if you are feeling called to support the children of our parish in this way (Yes, you read it right…it starts THIS Monday!). The training is also offered one Saturday each month during the school year. Please contact Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org if desiring to enroll.
For a fantastic article on CGS visit:
http://americamagazine.org/issue/667/article/faith-child
We are VERY excited for our summer program ready to launch on July 13th! Our Office of Family Ministry staff has been working extra hard, burning the midnight oil, and feeling energized and without question propelled by God’s Spirit in our preparation to work with our children in the year ahead. We ask our CTR community to keep all our kiddos in your prayers as we begin a new year of Faith Formation. This year our theme is “Prayer and Parables.” Our goal is two-fold: to further develop our children’s prayer life and invite them to ponder some of Jesus’ most profound teachings from Scripture: the Parables.
Our presupposition is that even the youngest of our little ones have a prayer life; a connection and awareness of God in their lives. God is present to them in their deepest being and they are more than capable of developing both a conscious and intimate relationship with God. This summer we hope to provide materials and lessons that nurture this relationship with God and deepen the prayer life that they already have and also build on that relationship by introducing (or pondering anew for our older kids) the Parables that Jesus told us.
To aid in these goals, we are incorporating bits and parts of a Montessori-based, contemplative approach to the religious formation of children, rooted in Sacred Scripture, liturgy, and respect for the child's rich relationship with God called “Catechesis of the Good Shepherd” originally researched and developed in 1954 by Dr. Sofia Cavalletti & Gianna Gobbi.
Central to this CGS method is what is called the “atrium”: a sacred, prepared space containing beautiful homemade, “hands-on” materials that focus the child's attention on key scripture passages or liturgical moments. If you haven’t had a chance, sneak-a-peek at room Luke 1 near the library…though still in its infancy, the development of this type of atrium is what we are working towards. This method of instruction and design of curriculum has been very well-received this past year at our “Parent/Child” retreats that are part of our sacramental preparation programs here at CTR. We were delighted (and a little surprised) to discover that even the parents found the material and presentations engaging and spiritually nourishing! So, in response to this positive feedback from parents, little by little, we have been integrating and building child-size materials that Montessori professionals traditionally call “works” for our Catechists to introduce and our children and parents to explore throughout the year ahead.
We are looking for adults from our community who would be interested in taking the formation courses for catechists. These courses provide an in-depth look at basic child development along with the child’s spiritual development. Catechists leave the “retreat-like” 90-hours of training with a new, fresh richness in the arenas of child development, pedagogy, and theology…as well as a unique experience of “receiving” the Good News for oneself. There is a summer intensive course being held June 22-26 at Gesu Parish near UDM in Detroit. The training costs $200 (we may have some scholarships available). It is not too late to register for this summer course if you are feeling called to support the children of our parish in this way (Yes, you read it right…it starts THIS Monday!). The training is also offered one Saturday each month during the school year. Please contact Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org if desiring to enroll.
For a fantastic article on CGS visit:
http://americamagazine.org/issue/667/article/faith-child
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Crazy Catholic Question #38: Parable
What is a parable?
We teach our little ones in faith formation that a parable is “a story with a mystery.” Jesus told many, many parables, and there is really no right or wrong way to understand them. They are stories that we can listen to and chew on for our whole lives and never really fully comprehend or come to the end of, so to speak. We hear one such parable this weekend.
Jesus says “What is the kingdom of God like? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
For the Israelites of the first century there was a great disconnect between their identity as God’s chosen people and the reality in which they were living. Over a few centuries they had gone from the great heyday of national power under Kings Solomon and David to a brutally conquered nation, split and under occupation several times over, and during Jesus’ time, of course, they were under Roman occupation.
Jesus would have grown up with the language of the “kingdom of God” which his family and friends, and all of the Jewish people of his day envisioned as a place of triumph and power. An image often used of this imminent kingdom, found many times in the Old Testament, is that of the “Great Cedar of Lebanon.” These enormous trees would be comparable to the great red woods we have in California – towering some 300 feet or more.
So our Jewish ancestors dreamed of God’s kingdom as a time in the future when God’s chosen people would tower and rule over all nations, just like the image of the great cedar, well-known in Jesus’ time and culture as the greatest of all trees.
In light of this, Jesus’ metaphor is really very surprising and jarring because it turns the whole “Cedars of Lebanon” image on its head. The mustard seed wasn’t highly prized at all. In fact, on the contrary, it was something of nuisance. You didn’t dare plant it in your garden or it would crowd out all the other plants and literally and take over.
In fact the rabbinical law of the day that identified holiness with order and sin with disorder had very strict rules about what you could plant in a household garden and a mustard seed was one of the most forbidden things to plant because it caused such great disorder and upheaval - it grew fast and choked out anything growing around it.
So the first-century hearers of Jesus’ parable here would have known that the person planting the mustard seed in his garden was doing something illegal! Jesus is actually beginning his vision of the kingdom of God with someone breaking the law!
And the rest of Jesus’ story just continues to mystify. Some translations call it a tree, but what grows from a mustard seed is actually more of a shrub. It grows only about 4 feet high and isn’t a particularly attractive plant. Many people regarded it as a bit of a weed.
So (much to the horror of the first people hearing this parable, I’m sure) Jesus has literally cut the “Great Cedar of Lebanon” image of the Kingdom of God down to the image of an annoying, short bush, planted illegally in someone’s backyard garden that causes great upheaval and disorder when it grows…(?)
Scripture scholar CH Dodd defines a parable as “a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life that arrests the hearer by its vividness or strangeness and leaves the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application so as to tease it into active thought.” So, a parable is a kind of riddle designed to both confuse and instruct….a story with a mystery!
We teach our little ones in faith formation that a parable is “a story with a mystery.” Jesus told many, many parables, and there is really no right or wrong way to understand them. They are stories that we can listen to and chew on for our whole lives and never really fully comprehend or come to the end of, so to speak. We hear one such parable this weekend.
Jesus says “What is the kingdom of God like? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
For the Israelites of the first century there was a great disconnect between their identity as God’s chosen people and the reality in which they were living. Over a few centuries they had gone from the great heyday of national power under Kings Solomon and David to a brutally conquered nation, split and under occupation several times over, and during Jesus’ time, of course, they were under Roman occupation.
Jesus would have grown up with the language of the “kingdom of God” which his family and friends, and all of the Jewish people of his day envisioned as a place of triumph and power. An image often used of this imminent kingdom, found many times in the Old Testament, is that of the “Great Cedar of Lebanon.” These enormous trees would be comparable to the great red woods we have in California – towering some 300 feet or more.
So our Jewish ancestors dreamed of God’s kingdom as a time in the future when God’s chosen people would tower and rule over all nations, just like the image of the great cedar, well-known in Jesus’ time and culture as the greatest of all trees.
In light of this, Jesus’ metaphor is really very surprising and jarring because it turns the whole “Cedars of Lebanon” image on its head. The mustard seed wasn’t highly prized at all. In fact, on the contrary, it was something of nuisance. You didn’t dare plant it in your garden or it would crowd out all the other plants and literally and take over.
In fact the rabbinical law of the day that identified holiness with order and sin with disorder had very strict rules about what you could plant in a household garden and a mustard seed was one of the most forbidden things to plant because it caused such great disorder and upheaval - it grew fast and choked out anything growing around it.
So the first-century hearers of Jesus’ parable here would have known that the person planting the mustard seed in his garden was doing something illegal! Jesus is actually beginning his vision of the kingdom of God with someone breaking the law!
And the rest of Jesus’ story just continues to mystify. Some translations call it a tree, but what grows from a mustard seed is actually more of a shrub. It grows only about 4 feet high and isn’t a particularly attractive plant. Many people regarded it as a bit of a weed.
So (much to the horror of the first people hearing this parable, I’m sure) Jesus has literally cut the “Great Cedar of Lebanon” image of the Kingdom of God down to the image of an annoying, short bush, planted illegally in someone’s backyard garden that causes great upheaval and disorder when it grows…(?)
Scripture scholar CH Dodd defines a parable as “a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life that arrests the hearer by its vividness or strangeness and leaves the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application so as to tease it into active thought.” So, a parable is a kind of riddle designed to both confuse and instruct….a story with a mystery!
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Crazy Catholic Question #37: Face-to-Face
Why is our annual Parent Orientation important?
We have our FINAL PARENT ORIENTATION
meeting for our summer program coming up next week, Monday, June 15th at 7PM. Even though I’m relatively new to this job, there
are some patterns I’m noticing. Each
time we hold one of these “Orientations” I get one or two parents who express
some frustration about having to attend this meeting every year in order to
register their child for our faith formation program. I would like to briefly share why we think
this meeting is important….
First, what this meeting is NOT. It is not our effort to make your life more
difficult. It is not just another hoop
to jump through. I have three kids and I
get it…life is busy. Our intent is not
to coerce or frustrate but rather to have at least one opportunity (about one-hour
in length) each year to meet with parents face-to-face to discuss the faith
development of our little ones because, YOU, the parents are BY FAR the primary
catechists of your children.
Coming from 16 years of University
Ministry, I can tell you there was not one single college student who was
involved who didn’t have at least one prayerful parent who talked with them
about his/her own personal faith life…NOT…ONE.
In short, everything we do here in our Faith Formation program is a
waste of time without the foundation already being set at home.
At our last orientation meeting I
invited parents to share with one another who taught them to pray. Afterwards I asked for a show of hands “Who
in this room was taught to pray by a parent?”
Virtually every hand went up…
So, we think of ourselves in the Office
of Family Ministry as your “Support Staff.”
We are here to support you, the parents, in your challenging work of appropriating
our faith to your children. Our goal is
to “tool you up” so that even in the blur of our daily lives we manage to fit
in a little discussion about Jesus.
If you spend just 5-minutes a day
fostering your child’s spiritual life in some way (dinner & bedtime prayer pretty
much cover it), you exceed our annual 30 hours of formal catechesis by a long
shot AND you will be more infinitely more effective than we could ever be. A strong faith community is of course
essential in forming our children in the faith, but we have no doubt that the
parents are the captains of this team.
This year our theme is: Prayer & Parables. Our goal is two-fold: to further develop our children’s prayer life
and encourage them to ponder some of Jesus’ most profound teachings from
Scripture; the Parables.
Our presupposition is that even the
youngest of our little ones have a prayer life; a connection and awareness of
God in their lives. God is present to
them in their deepest being and they are capable of developing both a conscious
and intimate relationship with God. Our
hope is to provide materials and lessons that nurture this relationship with
God, deepen the prayer life that they already have and build on their understanding
of God’s dream for our world by introducing (or pondering anew for our older
kids) the Parables that Jesus told us.
This year, to assist our working
parents we are partnering with a couple local childcare centers to offer
aftercare for our kids. PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND
NEIGHBORS! Our summer program is not
restricted in any way to just Catholics and/or CTR folks. Quite the opposite! It’s a fantastic way to invite new families to
our parish!
For a great article on passing on the
faith to our kids visit: http://www.uscatholic.org/articles/201301/show-me-way-how-can-parents-pass-faith-26739. Send
your "Crazy Catholic Questions" to dre@ctredeemer.org or read past
columns at: http://crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com
-
Lisa Brown
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)