This Issue

• Models of Faith
• For Principals and School Boards
• For Educators
• For Parents
• Forming Adult Faith
• Compendium Corner

Models of Faith

After Jesus’ death and Resurrection, the apostles and disciples conformed their lives to model the way in which Jesus lived and died. They imitated the original model of faith in God, Jesus, and passed down that tradition to all who call themselves “disciples” or followers of Christ. We recognize models of faith both formally as saints of the Church and informally as those we meet in our daily lives who demonstrate the love of Christ for God and one another.

November gives us numerous opportunities to remember, celebrate, and thank those who serve as models of faith for us—All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Veterans Day, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, and Thanksgiving Day.

This issue of To Teach offers various suggestions on how to remember, celebrate, and thank those who model faith for us and challenge us to become better models of faith ourselves.

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For Principals and School Boards

• Give religion teachers and their students responsibility for decorating the school for the Solemnity of All Saints (November 1). Encourage them to use various media and highlight different saints that are meaningful to the school, in the local diocese, and in the U.S.
• Create a prayerful space in part of the school’s public area that features a picture or statue of the school or parish’s patron saint. Include copies of a brief biography of the saint that children can pick up and read. If the saint is connected to a particular charitable work or charity, encourage your students to participate in that charitable work. Provide them with instructions on what to do and if it involves collecting something, use this space as a place for collecting those items.
• Use Pope Benedict’s reflection on five November saints as part of your morning prayer and announcements.
• During announcements on November 2, the feast of All Souls, read and post a list of the names of those who have died who are connected to the school community. Include a moment of silence to pray for them and those they left behind.
• Pray the Litany of the Saints from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers as the start of your PTA/PTO or school board meeting.
• Give formal awards or informal “thank you’s” to those members of the PTA/PTO and/or school board who have been models of faithful witness to the Gospel and the needs of the school during the past year.
• Take up a collection in the school for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (held nationally on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the Feast of Christ the King) and note which organizations and efforts in the local diocese receive grants.
• Confirm how your school will celebrate the Advent season this year. Include a link to the USCCB Advent/Christmas pages in your parents’ newsletter, highlighting the daily Advent calendar and the various activities available through it.

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For Educators

• Set aside a whole or portion of a class session to talk about what the Church believes and teaches on the saints and death.
• Read excerpts from the lives of the saints (Pope Benedict reflects on five of them) of each of your students’ patron saints during the month. If they do not have a patron saint, ask them to choose a saint that is a model of faith and discipleship for them.
• Invite your students to name how the Church, Mary, the saints, priests, and their family are models of discipleship for them. Read one of the excerpts from Following Christ by Pope Benedict XVI and ask them to compare what they said with what the Holy Father said.
• Create a Book of the Dead for your classroom by asking each student write down the names of people who have died that they would like to pray for on one sheet of paper and then decorate it. Bind the pages together and read off some of the names each day during prayer.
• Encourage students in grades 7-12 to enter the Multi-Media Youth Arts Contest sponsored by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
• Teach your students about the “Two Feet of Social Action,” identifying a specific way that your class or individuals can work for charity and justice.
• Read an excerpt from Following Christ aloud each day and ask your students a question like “Why is this true in your life?” or “Who do you know that is an example of this?”

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Parents

• Attend Mass on Sunday, November 1, as a family and share with your children which saints have been meaningful in your life and why. Or research your and their patron saints.
• Review the names and basic facts of the American saints like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Katharine Drexel, St. Frances Cabrini, and St. John Neumann
• Visit the gravesites of family members on All Souls Day, November 2, as a family. Share stories about the lives and deaths of these family members with your children.
• Pray the Litany of the Saints from Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers each night before bed.
• Post a copy of the “Two Feet of Social Action,” on your refrigerator. Identify ways that you as a family have “use both feet” during the month of November.
• Decide as a family how much to contribute to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development collection which is taken up nationally on November 21-22, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Determine the amount based on how much your family spends on food, transportation, or housing for a day or some other concrete measure that would be meaningful to your children and family.

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.

The following chapters touch on different aspects of social ministry:

• Chapter 13. Our Eternal Destiny
• Chapter 14. The Celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Christ
• Chapter 23. Life in Christ—Part One
• Chapter 31: The Seventh Commandment: Do Not Steal—Act Justly

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" usually 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 following questions relate to this month's topic.

• 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).

131. What is the saving meaning of the Resurrection?
135. How will Christ judge the living and the dead?
165. In what way is the Church holy?
194. What is the meaning of the “communion of saints”?
195. What else does “the communion of saints” mean?
205. What happens to our body and our soul after death?
206. What does it mean to die in Christ Jesus?
209. What is meant by the term “heaven”?
210. What is purgatory?
212. In what does hell consist?
264. What is the meaning of the Christian name received at Baptism?
429. How does the Church nourish the moral life of a Christian?
550. What are the essential forms of Christian prayer?
564. How are the saints guides for prayer?

The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the foundations of Catholic faith. So, select one question a week (8-12 questions for the whole summer) to learn and memorize. Choose questions on topics that are of great interest, that you struggle with and want to understand better, or that you find arise in your classroom repeatedly.

• Review the questions and answers.
• Consider how to use them in the coming year as part of your lesson plan.
• Develop learning activities that will encourage you and your students to learn the teaching by heart (memorization)

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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