This Issue

• Encountering the Living Christ
• For Principals and School Boards
• For Educators
• For Parents
• Forming Adult Faith
• Compendium Corner

Encountering the Living Christ

Theme for the 2007-08 Catechetical Year

Each day and week, we recognize in big and small ways that Jesus Christ is present in our world—in our families, with our friends, at school, and in each interaction with another person. This year's catechetical theme Encountering the Living Christ highlights those encounters and our response to them.

We recognize the important role that parents and teachers have in passing on the faith and helping us to better see where and how Christ is present and alive in our midst. Through simple, daily and weekly activities like grace before meals and participating in Sunday Mass, parents fulfill their role as primary catechist of their children. During the school, teachers and school staff have the opportunity to present other ways in which children enounter our living Lord.

This issue of To Teach focuses on the opportunities that the upcoming celebration of the annual catechetical theme, and the celebration of Catechetical Sunday on September 16, put before us to further explore where we encounter the living Christ and how we respond.

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For Principals and School Boards

• Open staff and school board meetings with a reflection on one of the symbols for Jesus Christ that appears in the poster image. (An explanation of the artwork is on page 6 of the manual and on the CD.) Invite the staff or members to reflect on how they can put Jesus’ teaching into action in the school.
• Encourage teachers and parents to pray for students throughout the school year. Give them a copy of Prayer for Students. Ask teachers to use the prayer in their classrooms at the start of each week, month, quarter, or semester. Ask parents to pray with their child before school each day or week.
• Each week of the school year, post one of the symbols for Christ in a public area to encourage discussion and reflection on the ways in which we encounter Jesus throughout our day.
• Ask parents and children to pray each day or week for their teachers using the Prayer for Teachers.
• At a staff meeting, examine the ways in which you create and maintain a Christ-like environment, especially in non-academic areas of school life.
• Invite the pastor to commission parents as primary catechists (National Directory for Catechesis, p. 234) at your first PTA/PTO meeting using the optional blessing in manual Celebrating the Catechetical Year 2007-2008.
• Read and revisit the pastoral reflection, "The Link Between the Baptismal Catechumenate and Catechesis," at the start of each staff meeting. Use the discussion questions as a starting point for making connections between the baptismal catechumenate and catechesis in your school. As an alternative, use the article, "Talking Points for Catechetical Sunday and Beyond," and its reflection questions to break open the theme throughout the year.
• Schedule a retreat or day of reflection using one of the retreats for the opening of the school year, Advent, or Lent that is found on the Celebrating the Catechetical Year 2007-2008 CD.
• Provide each teacher with a copy of Life as Sacred Journey, a reflection book for teachers that uses the Sunday Gospel as its starting point.

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For Educators

• Display the Catechetical Sunday poster at the front of the classroom. Highlight one of the symbols in the image picture (those in the columns or above the doorway including the Lamb of God image) and explain what the symbol is and what it means. Ask the children to name places where they have seen the symbol before, e.g., wheat growing in a field, fish at an aquarium, or a loaf of bread at home, and make a list that can be displayed in the classroom. Invite them to do two things whenever they see any of these images: (1) Say a short prayer to Jesus, and (2) put a check mark on the classroom list next to the appropriate word.
• On a large piece of paper or on the board, write the theme, “Encountering the Living Christ ” Throughout the year, proclaim each Sunday’s Gospel to your students. Invite a few students to come forward and write down how where they have encountered Jesus during the week.
• Using copies of magazines and newspapers, create a collage to decorate one of the bulletin boards in the classroom that is filled with pictures of how and in whom we encounter the living Christ. Encourage your children to think of ways that they can imitate these people and be the face (or hands or feet) of Christ in their families, in school, and among their friends.
• Keep a copy of Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers handy in your classroom. Lead your students in prayer using the blessings in the book, especially the daily blessings during the liturgical seasons and those for special days and seasons.
• Send a copy of the Family Commitment Prayer Card with each student. Instruct them to lead the prayer before or after dinner or before bedtime, ask everyone in their family to sign the card, and then display the signed card near their family Bible or cross.

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For Parents

• Display a Catechetical Sunday poster in your home. With your children, find the places in your home where you see the symbols in the columns and above the door, e.g., the keys in the hallway, grapes in the kitchen. Research online the images that are unfamiliar to your children.
• Join or start a parents’ Bible study group. As you learn more about Jesus through reading the Scriptures, especially the Gospels, spend time before or after meals or before bedtime talking with your children about where and how we encounter Jesus in our daily life.
• Go to Mass as a family each week. Review what the Catholic Church teaches about the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. For background information, read The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
• Keep a copy of Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers near your family Bible or where you gather for family prayer. Use the blessings for special occasions like during Advent or when important family events (e.g., pregnancy) occur.
• Play a simple game with your children using the symbols for Jesus. Visit area churches and look for the symbols of Christ in those buildings. Award points or a give a small prize to your children when they identify one correctly and can explain what it means.
• Teach your children one of the traditional prayers to Jesus including the Anima Christ, Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, and the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that can be found in the Manual of Indulgences or Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.

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Forming Adult Faith

"Forming Adult Faith" is an ongoing feature of To Teach. It includes suggestions from the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCCA) on how to promote ongoing faith formation among the adults in your school community.

The following chapters touch on different aspects of the theme, Encountering the Living Christ.

• Chapter 7. The Good News: God Has Sent His Son
• Chapter 8. The Saving Death and Resurrection of Christ
• Part II. The Sacraments: The Faith Celebrated (Chapters 14-22)
• Chapter 23. Life in Christ—Part One
• Chapter 24. Life in Christ—Part Two
• Chapter 36. Jesus Taught Us to Pray

Ideas and suggestions on how to use these chapters for your individual and group reflection can be found online and in the Reader's Journal to the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.

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Compendium Corner

"Compendium Corner" is provides a list of questions and answers in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that are related to this month’s topic. (The number before the question is the question number in the Compendium.)

• Review the questions and answers in preparation for your class.
• Consider how to use appropriate questions and answers as part of your lesson plan.
• Develop learning activities that help youths and young adults learn this information by heart (memorization).
  

85. Why did the Son of God become man?
86. What does the word "Incarnation" mean?
112. What is the importance of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus?
120. How is Jesus' offering expressed at the Last Supper?
156. In what way is the Church the Body of Christ?
158. Why is the Church called the "Bride of Christ"?
237. From where do the sacramental signs come?
282. How is Christ present in the Eucharist?

To obtain a copy of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, visit www.usccbpublishing.org or call 800-235-8722.

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