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
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