Crazy Catholic Question #142: Montessori

Crazy Catholic Question #142: Who is God? Where was I in the very beginning (before I was born)? How did I get here? Who was God with in the beginning of creation? Was God by Himself? Where is my grandmother who has died? What is life? Do you like life?

We hear these and many other questions from our children. When we consider our answers, we can remember Maria Montessori who said “joy is the indicator of interior growth, just as an increase in weight is the indication of bodily growth.” Just as the mother knows that the food she gives her child is good because her child grows, so also the joy the child manifests when encountering certain religious themes indicates that these themes correspond to deep, vital needs.

As we begin our Summer Faith Formation with our CTR children this Monday, we ask for your prayers and thank you for your continued support and care of our staff and catechists as we work to plant seeds that will be nurtured by this community in the years to come among our little ones. In the spirit of our shared work of providing good, nourishing spiritual food for our children, I’d like to share this short excerpt from Dr. Sofia Cavalletti, the originator of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd method of Religious Instruction from her book “The Religious Potential of the Child” volume two.

“We first focus on the mystery of the Kingdom of God, as communicated through several short parables: the mustard seed, the yeast, the seed of grain, the pearl of great price and the hidden treasure all found in chapter 13 of Matthew’s gospel. We believe that because the parables present essential themes about the nature of reality, they help one become oriented to reality…The mystery of the reign of God is the mystery of life itself: the mystery of a marvelous energy at work that causes growth and transformation, a movement from the “lesser” to the “more.” And this mystery carries within it all that is most beautiful and precious. As the child awakens to life, he or she needs to be oriented to it. In observing very young children, we cannot help but notice how compelled they are to reach out and touch the things around them. But this need for physical knowledge of his or her surroundings is not the only need of the child; there also lies, deep within, an all-engaging, through unexpressed question: What is life? To hear this question, we need not wait until the child can formulate it in words. Rather, we must “hear the question” in the intensity of the child’s response to the answer being offered. Clearly the question does not arise from mere intellectual curiosity; the very way the child receives the answer indicates to us its importance.

The gospel tells us that the life force that compels the universe and ourselves always toward the “more” is the kingdom of God. The giver of this life force is God. Our God is a God who gives. We can say that the gospel meets the vital need of the child, or illuminates the need, with the presence of a person and love. The gospel transforms a fundamental experience of being alive into a personal relationship.

The silent question of the child, What is life? Leads us to several parables that answer in a form and a language suited to the child. The form of the parable is allusive in nature and offers an answer which is substantive but, at the same time, open-ended. The form of the parable invites ongoing reflection. The child’s response of deep satisfaction and joy occurs when the hunger to know the reality in which he or she lives is fed with the gospel message.”

Send your "Crazy Catholic Questions" to dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at: www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.

For more on Montessori's legacy: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/06/29/montessori-schools-are-exceptionally-successful-so-why-arent-there-more

Crazy Catholic Question #141: Feminism

CCQ #141: Is there anything exciting happening this week? 

Why, yes! Very exciting indeed! (Hint: I made this question up so I could answer it). As a matter of fact, one of my heroes is coming to town, to OUR church, this week with the Castelot Summer Scripture Conference. I still remember the first article I read written by her, copied on salmon colored paper and given to me by a trusted spiritual guide back in 1995 or so. In 10 minutes it changed my life, my spirit, my relationship with God, my self-understanding as a woman, a minister and as a child of God. In a word, Dr. Sandra Schneiders, IHM is a treasure.

She also is an internationally known biblical scholar, esteemed professor at Berkley’s Jesuit School of Theology, author of 10 books, and holds an S.T.L. license from the Institut Catholique in Paris and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; she is a scholar of the highest order. Her feminist interpretation of our sacred scriptures and insights on how to view our church history in order to “remain” in the best sense of the word have been immeasurably valuable to me.

I, like virtually every Catholic female I know, have some pretty strong feelings about being a woman in the church. For me, some are good. Very good. I am grateful to have worked for visionary and forward thinking priests in all my 23 years of formal employment in the church; men who value, listen and actively support women called to ministry and empower us to do the work we feel called by God to do as unencumbered as the organization will allow, up to and including our own Fr. Joe.

I am grateful for my Vatican II loving Dad who taught my sister and I (with gusto!) that we, even as women, are baptized “priest, prophet and king” and that through our baptism each of us share in the priesthood of Jesus. I am deeply thankful for dedicated and fearless scholars such as Dr. Schneiders in speaking truth to power with unflinching courage, brilliance and grace. And I am grateful for you, the community of CTR (and my former parish of SJF). Not all Catholic churches embrace their female leaders like you do. This is no small thing! Sincere gratitude to each of you for your kind acceptance. Let’s hope it continues as I move on to this next paragraph! <insert nail-biting here>

Though I am grateful for the Catholic Community who has formed and nurtured me all my 48 years, I am also lovingly critical of it, which I believe is not only my right as a contributing family member, but also my responsibility. My rose colored glasses fell off when I was a young woman teaching 2nd grade “catechism” (as it was called back in the day) and I asked the children “How many sacraments are there?” and one little girl answered “There are 6 for girls and 7 for boys.” I was momentarily speechless and then with great sorrow I told her she was quite right. Formative.

Our progress since the 60’s does instill some hope, but it continues to anger me, disturb me and break my heart that even at our most local level of church leadership, the Presbyteral Council, the main consultative body that assists Archbishop Vigneron in his pastoral care and governance of the Archdiocese of Detroit, out of 34 seats, not one is offered to a woman. Not one woman’s voice (or even lay person) is heard.

As the mother of three strong-willed daughters, there is nothing I wish more than that my girls would be steeped in Dr Schneiders redeeming scholarship. A few of Dr. Schneiders quotes that are well worn in our home (in sentiment if not exact language) are: “No matter how entrenched in the imagination of the average Christian the image of a male God might be, our theological tradition has never assigned sex to God.” “The gender of God, God's presumed masculinity, has functioned as the ultimate religious legitimization of the unjust social structures which victimize women.” Despite appearances, God has not prescribed that men are to have a monopoly of leadership and authority in our church – and there is a “flip-side” to the experience of oppression that we women have and continue to experience that is akin to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

President Jimmy Carter once wrote "The justification of discrimination against women and girls on grounds of religion or tradition, as if it were prescribed by a Higher Authority, is unacceptable. The impact of these religious beliefs touches every aspect of our lives…it is not women and girls alone who suffer. It damages all of us. It is simply self-defeating for any community to discriminate against half its population. We need to challenge these outdated attitudes and practices.”

Sincere gratitude to Dr. Schneiders for her consummate, life-giving work spanning over 4 decades in doing just this!

Send your "Crazy Catholic Questions" to dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at: www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.