This Issue

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

Witnessing to the Living Christ

In April, Catholics join Christians throughout the world in celebrating Easter, the feast of Jesus’s Resurrection from the dead. Easter proclaims a special sense of joy, not only because it occurs in spring or includes precious traditions, but also due to a new beginning. What is the new beginning of Easter?

Two disciples on the road to Emmaus, after realizing they were talking with the living Christ, described their recognition as “burning hearts” ( NAB). Lent, Holy Week, and Easter prepare Christians to become changed people who witness to the living Christ.

This issue of To Teach provides ideas and strategies for learning how to be a faithful witness to the living Christ in our world.

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For Principals and School Boards

• Organize a special meal after Easter for faculty and staff, and use the blessing of Easter foods in Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers as a way to mark the occasion.
• Schedule time during your next staff meeting for any of your teachers and staff who attended the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) convention to share ideas and resources from their workshops and sessions. Encourage them to look for specific ideas on how to promote the Catholic identity of the school.
• As the school year concludes, give a copy of Pope Benedict XVI's thoughts on the Word of God to all faculty and staff as a way to emphasize the Word in the Jubilee Year of St. Paul.
• Schedule a time for faculty and staff to meet for discussion of Teaching the Spirit of Mission Ad Gentes: Continuing Pentecost Today. In this pastoral letter, the bishops thank educators for their important work and remind them that they have a primary duty of handing on the mission of Jesus to the Church of tomorrow. Facilitate a conversation on how encounter with the living Christ in His Word and the Eucharist influences our approach to catechesis.
• Renew your school's commitment to protecting children and youth from child abuse in April, Child Abuse Protection Month. Remember to schedule safe environment training for faculty and staff.
• Begin evaluating the current year and planning for the next school year with your school board by reading and discussing To Teach as Jesus Did. In this document the bishops outline the themes of message, community, and service. Take time to discuss how these themes are (or could be) integrated into your school programming and ministry.
• To commemorate National Child Abuse Prevention month, send home a copy of the Prayer for Healing: Victims of Abuse and invite families to pray daily for those affected by sexual abuse.
• Provide all faculty and volunteers with a copy of Walk in the Light: A Pastoral Response to Child Sexual Abuse as a reminder of the importance of keeping all young people safe. The statement offers basic information about child sexual abuse, including its prevalence, signs of sexual abuse, profile of an abuser, effects of abuse, and the healing process. It also suggests practical actions that can be taken to raise awareness and respond to the needs of abused persons.

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For Educators

• Give Pope Benedict XVI's book on St. Paul to students, and discuss the importance of St. Paul's encounter with the living Christ on the road to Damascus.
• Read the readings for Easter Sunday together in class, and have students reflect on what it meant to the disciples and Peter to witness to the living Christ.
• Introduce the Sacrament of Confirmation to students preparing for Confirmation with this video presentation by Msgr. John Zenz.
• As part of the parish confirmation program invite candidates to view Come to the Water: The Adult Journey to Baptism as an introductory session on the RCIA process. Discuss the ways the RCIA process and how it parallels the study and reflection of many confirmation candidates.
• Plan a Discipleship Day for youth and young adults in the parish. Set up various stations that encourage the participants to reflect on their call to live out their faith. Consider using some or all of the following media resources as part of the event:
• Faith Works: Across the USA: This video looks at "typical" days in the lives of several Catholics from varying backgrounds.
• You Could Make a Difference: Viewers can examine what is needed for public ministry and see if they or others they know might be encouraged to pursue life as a priest or religious.
• Garage Grandma: Some grandparents open up their hearts to family members in need. Others help out at the soup kitchen serving the homeless. Still others open up their arms to give a loving hug in troubled times. Grandma Marge Larsen does all of the above when she opens up her garage.
• Find ways to emphasize human life and dignity in next year’s curriculum with these free lesson plans for various age groups from the USCCB's Office of Justice, Peace, and Human Development.
• Present real case studies on how the living Christ continues to change the world through Catholic ministry from the CCHD publication, Credible Signs of Christ Alive.
• In class, plan a brief celebration of the Word on the theme of proclaiming the Gospel from the Celebrations of the Word in the Year of St. Paul with meditations by Pope Benedict XVI
.

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For Parents

• Learn how you can strengthen your witness to Christ in your marriage with this article on a spirituality of marriage.
• Find resources to help protect your children, as April is Child Abuse Protection Month.
• Use an old jelly jar, or container to start collecting coins for the annual Catholic Home Missions Appeal. This Appeal helps strengthen the Catholic Church in the parishes and dioceses where resources are limited and priests are few. Present the collection to your pastor the weekend of April 26-27.
• Make your home a place for witnessing to the living Christ by celebrating the Blessing of Homes during Eastertime from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers.
• Give a copy of Pope Benedict XVI's book on the Saints to your children as an end-of-school-year gift. Read the lives of the saints together throughout the year. After reading, talk about the special way each saint witnessed to the living Christ in his or her life.
• As First Communions approach, take time as a family to revisit what the Church believes and teaches about the Eucharist. Happy Are Those Who are Called to His Supper and The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist offer questions and answers that can help guide your conversation.
• Include the Nicene Creed as part of morning or evening prayer during the month of April. If your children have not yet memorized the Creed, work with them using the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church or Essentials for Christian Living so that they will know it “by heart” by the end of the month.

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Forming Adult Faith

"Forming Adult Faith" 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.

There are three chapters from the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults that can help you promote ongoing faith formation among the adults in your school community.

• Chapter 8. The Saving Death and Resurrection of Christ
• Chapter 10. The Church: Reflecting the Light of Christ
• Chapter 15. Baptism: Becoming a Christian
• Chapter 16. Confirmation: Consecrated for Mission
• Chapter 17. The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Christian life
• Chapter 23. Life in Christ—Part One
• Chapter 24. Life in Christ—Part Two

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 for the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.

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Compendium Corner

"Compendium Corner" 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).
  

127. What are the signs that bear witness to the Resurrection of Jesus?
155. In what way does the people of God share in the three functions of Christ as Priest, Prophet and King?
172. Why must the Church proclaim the Gospel to the whole world?
173. In what sense is the Church missionary?
188. What is the vocation of the lay faithful?

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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