On Not Doing Anything

Very sorry for the big lull, readers; for the past week, I’ve been absorbed with doing not very much. Yes, that’s right: no Internet connection, not checking your phone for days on end, with my family hidden deep in a forest. Wildlife, sports, leisurely meals, lots of family time.

Since the gap, I also have a lot to share with you from our Triduum, but more on that later.

I’m not promoting idleness, but a break from schedules, early alarm clocks, planning and productivity can do wonders for being human, don’t you think?

When Blessed John Paul II was bishop of Kracow in 1962, he gave a retreat to university students. It is a deeply inspiring series of meditations. One of the first talks speaks of how, in life, there are things of relative importance and things of absolute importance. We ourselves can experience being of relative importance: we discover after doing something well in our work that we are esteemed one day, then passed over the next. When in the middle of an important project, it takes on the status of absolute importance only to be largely forgotten about a few months down the line.

Only in prayer do we discover the one thing that is of absolute importance. When we go on retreat, we engage in the one thing of absolute importance: ourselves in relation to God.

The then Karol Wojtyla put it like this:

“There is no gathering in which each one of us is more wholly himself and has a fuller sense of his own selfhood and his own absolute importance than he has here [on retreat].”

Holidays are similar, I find. Within our families, we are cherished for who we are, not what we can achieve. In relaxing, we rediscover our identity formed in relation with those we love. Being together with no rushing, no deadlines, no using of relationships for our own ends, in some way recreates us. After all, who are we but the relations that we have with others?

Holidays, as well as moments to be together, also need to give us moments of no rushing, no deadlines, with our Creator. He is the One who makes us new. I think sometimes that if I come back to London after a holiday feeling pampered and indulged, but no closer to Him, what’s the point?

Finally, GK Chesterton thought that doing nothing was a “rare and precious” thing. Here is what he writes in his Autobiography:

When given the gift of loneliness, which is the gift of liberty, [such men who do not appreciate the freedom of having nothing to do] will cast it away; they will destroy it deliberately with some dreadful game with cards or a little ball. I speak only for myself; I know it takes all sorts to make a world; but I cannot repress a shudder when I see them throwing away their hard-won holidays by doing something. For my own part, I never can get enough Nothing to do.

He probably wouldn’t have approved of our canoeing this week, but definitely sitting around the table after lunch Doing Nothing.

Preparing Adults for Confession

For many adults becoming Catholic, Confession can be a necessary evil at best and an anxiety-inducing stumbling block at worst in their preparation to receive the sacraments. Here in the parish, Holy Week is the time when adults to be received into the Church at Easter receive this sacrament. How can we best prepare people to meet Christ here? How can we help people move beyond seeing it as ‘something to get through’ and rather a sacrament of encounter, where we have the opportunity to be touched and healed by the Lord in our deepest being.

Of course, one thing to remember is that as Catholics we take a long time to ‘grow into’ this sacrament, make it our own, and build it into our lives as a regular encounter with Jesus. Growing up, Confession was not a regular part of my Catholic life until I was 17, and it took me a long time for me to feel comfortable with it: now, I feel I cannot live without it. Candidates and catechumens too will need to make this journey, and their first Confession may be an awkward, uncomfortable experience, even if they know that they are speaking directly to the Lord. Like anything that we grow accustomed to, we increasingly become more and more at home, until it is the most natural experience in the world to kneel down in the confessional, unload all our sins, and speak with the priest.

How do we help candidates approach this sacrament? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Most have their whole lives’ worth of sin to confess. Where do they begin? The first point is that they receive a full and gradual catechesis on sin. Most will not think they have sin in their lives when they begin, but through a careful, gradual and complete catechesis on the dynamics of sin, the workings of our soul, and God’s mercy, they will begin to perceive the reality of sin in their lives. So, preparation for Confession happens throughout the catechumenate

2. Make use of the liturgies of the RCIA: the second Sunday of Lent includes a Penitential Rite for candidates, comparable to the scrutinies of the catechumens. This rite can give the grace to aid them in their self-searching and growth in repentance

3. When it comes to preparing for the Confession itself, advise your candidates to put aside some time – perhaps an hour – to prepare. We give our candidates a thorough examination of conscience to go through, and tell them to send the kids off with the au pair, step away from emails and phone, shut themselves away, and begin by praying to the Holy Spirit. He is the one who uncovers the deepest sins in our heart – the ones we thought we’d successfully concealed and now don’t particularly want to remember. But, we tell them, let it all be uncovered. Write it down if it helps you to remember. Know that Jesus forgives you even now, as you remember everything and repent in your heart. Don’t allow fear or anxiety to let you burrow anything back away. Just know that, in the confessional, this will all be wiped away.

4. Give candidates freedom about where, with whom, when they go to Confession. Ensure that they go at a time when the priest has enough time and it won’t be a hurried affair. Make sure the candidates know to tell the priest the frequency with which they committed serious sins. Not numbers, just an idea of the severity. Our Confession should be complete, contrite, concise.

5. Sponsors can be a great help in assuring, calming nerves, answering questions. Perhaps they can go with their candidate to the Confession and take them for a coffee after. We should be there to share in their joy

Flame Congress

Well, you have to admit it. CYMFed did a great job. Ten years ago Catholic youth ministry could not have pulled together something like that. Twelve years ago when I was confirmed, the local ‘youth ministry expert’ came to run a post-Confirmation day with us which, among other things, involved us painting a stone with something that expressed who we were. At fifteen years old, this activity, to put it mildly, turned me off being a Catholic quite considerably and sent me off in search of much less cringeworthy evangelical youth gatherings with my friends. Nowadays, going by what we saw at Flame, there aren’t many youth ministry gurus left who would subject teenagers to painting stones.

Our teenagers loved it. Highlights were the Glee musical flashmob and the interview with Paralympian Stef Reid. I admit that my group leader friend and I laughed out loud with embarrassment at Fr Timothy Radcliffe’s wonderful “Ri-Hanna” blip. But, ironically, it was one of my fifteen-year-old brother’s best bits: “Yeah that priest dude was a legend!” Err…really? Well, OK then. If you say so.

Most impressive by far was the fact that thousands of Catholic teenagers (most of whom, let’s face it, were not practising their faith) participated in moments of silent Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in a packed out Wembley Arena. That, along with Edwin Fawcett’s considerable talent at getting young people to sing and actually enjoy themselves, and Paschal Uche’s never-failing ability to inspire young people in their faith, showed our country’s youth ministry at the best it’s ever been (in my lifetime, anyway). God bless Paschal Uche. He is a household name now in Catholic circles and is invited to speak at just about everything. Paschal dropped into the parish yesterday and I was only glad he left right before the Confirmation candidates arrived as we’d have had lots of starstruck girls on our hands.

Now, onward and upward…

In the next post or two, I’d like to share some reflections on where youth ministry can still improve from here.

Ten Top Tips for Managing Your Class

OK, readers. These come from someone who has zero training as a teacher. But they are what I have picked up and learned (often the hard way) from giving catechesis myself. It is hard to find catechists who tick all the boxes – are good teachers, know the faith well, can manage a room full of children or teenagers – so therefore we often have to teach and learn these skills on the job. Please add any of your own tips in the comments!

1. Don’t forget you’re in charge! I know this sounds obvious – but I’ve known plenty of catechists who don’t like to assert themselves too much. I think it’s maybe a mixture of lack of confidence, not wanting to be unpopular with the kids, and perhaps also a misguided sense that Christians are ‘nice’ and a little bit timid and shouldn’t be too strict. However, we all know that young people feel secure and cared for when there are clear boundaries, and this means a catechist does need to ‘impose themselves’ a little bit on the class.

2. Have a clear, crisp beginning: If you just kind of drift into the catechesis, chances are young people won’t be engaged or won’t be clear about what’s expected of them. Routines are good: if they know what they need to do as soon as they arrive, chances are they’ll get in the habit of doing it.

3. Children fulfil the expectations you have of them: So make sure they’re clear right from the start. For older children, get them to make the ground rules themselves and remind them of them every now and again when needed. Be clear about what the consequences are and carry them through. Conversely, you can enforce a sense of low expectation simply by allowing bad behaviour: if children get away with getting up from their seat whenever they feel like it, this will start becoming the norm. Before you know it, chaos will rule!

4. Walk around as you speak: Don’t stand stationary. Moving around keeps your children on their toes a little and keeps them engaged. Don’t give them a chance to switch off.

5. Don’t start speaking until there is silence: Sounds obvious, but you wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve seen catechists try to keep speaking, battling against an undercurrent of noise. Again, if young people realise they can get away with even the slightest hint of this, soon this will become normal. The worst thing is having to shout to make yourself heard. Don’t do it to your voice!

6. Keep a quick pace: This is more important than we can imagine. Catechists want to cover lots of points, and before they know it the young people are bored, disengaged, doodling on anything they can find. Keep things snappy! Switch activities often. Use a wide variety of teaching and learning methods. Don’t give anyone time to be bored.

7. If things get out of hand, don’t panic: Stay calm. You can’t be in control of the situation unless you’re calm. If you are someone who rarely shouts, then they will know they’ve overstepped the mark if you need to speak sternly. And it’s important you do! Just because “it’s not school”, doesn’t mean that we have to overlook bad behaviour. So, move somebody away from their friends if they are disruptive. Speak to a child one-to-one if they are rude. Do everything out of love for the children you are forming.

8. Get to know each of your young people personally: Learn their names, if you can, as soon after the first session as possible, and use them. Speak with them socially in addition to giving catechesis. When I first started giving Confirmation catechesis, the session began with a social time. The catechists would chat in one room, and the candidates would chat in the other. I felt this was bad practice, we needed to mix with them! Be interested in their lives. Show that you care about what’s going on with them. You will find that they will soon come and talk to you freely. Especially with challenging children, ensure that the contact you have with them is mostly positive, not negative.

9. Ensure opportunities for everyone to participate: Even quiet children. It’s important, for the Application stage of the catechesis, that we hear their responses, that they feel comfortable to ask questions. I remember one girl in a Confirmation class one year mentioned almost right at the end of the programme that she wasn’t sure God even existed! Something had gone wrong there – the Application part of the catechesis hadn’t worked for this girl. With quiet kids, silly games are a great way of breaking the ice, and getting people to open up a little. Recently, I played a game with a group of teenagers: they were in two teams, and each child had a sour sweet – sourest I could find – eyewateringly sour. They had to eat the sweet quickly as they could before the next person in their team could begin theirs. It’s fun to watch, it gets them to laugh, what more could you want?!

10. Pray for and know your young people: It’s obvious, but how much do we remember this? Let’s resolve to pray for each of our young people – by name – every week or every month (depending how many you have!) For catechists of small groups, it is easier to pray very specifically for each child and their needs.

When we know the children we’re catechising, we know when they’re tired and not absorbing anymore, we know when they are a bit flat and need a game to get going, we know when there is confusion or discouragement which would benefit from an open chat with the whole group. If we simply plough ahead with the catechesis we have planned, we’re not being the best catechists we can be.

This Week’s Top Five… Catechetical Highlights

1. Giving catechesis on the Our Father to the catechumens. In the Fifth Week of Lent, they are presented with the Lord’s Prayer as a ‘foretaste’ and reminder of the Father who will be theirs after their Baptism. What I love about our catechumens is – they really know they will become children of God the Father

2. A great Confirmation catch-up class: two brilliant, bright girls with some fantastic questions about Genesis, the historicity of the Gospels, the meaning of evil… More teenagers like this please!

3. A brilliant Catholicism session on prayer: small groups shared about their own experience of prayer, and we talked about the ‘fasting of the senses’ as a means to deepen our prayer.

4. Showing the first half of the Human Experience to our Confirmation class – a powerful film to get them thinking about the dignity of the human person and the real meaning of happiness.

5. Adoration with our First Communion children. Every term they have half-an-hour of led prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

Sacrificial Effort

Some days, I get a teeny-weeny glimpse of the efforts God makes in seeking us out and drawing us to himself. Some days, you feel like you’re chasing after people all day long. “Sorry you couldn’t make it!” “We missed you last week – such a shame you couldn’t be there!” when inside you’re thinking, “Where were you?!” Now amidst everything, I need to squeeze in an extra hour somewhere to catch up. To be honest, this often works out for the best: it usually means a good chance for a one-on-one which is often very fruitful.

One of the tricky things about initiation catechesis is people’s lives. We can prepare everything beautifully, but the most important thing that needs preparation is people’s hearts – to receive the catechesis. And it helps if they’re actually there in the first place.

This means that, almost as important as our catechetical work with people, is our pastoral support. The one-on-one time. Ensuring that people are neither overburdened, or need more input to spur them on. I try to keep good contact with each adult in our initiation process (believe me, we’re talking a wide range of stages… from very early enquirer to very-nearly-almost-there). Some of them long to become Catholic like they have never longed for anything before, while others are resistant, slightly cynical, unsure. Some need more help than you can give them, and that’s why it’s helpful to know some good Catholic counsellors.

The sponsors, too, are engaged in this mission of “sacrificial effort”. The best effort that we make for others are the prayers and sacrifice we offer for them without them knowing. I know some incredible sponsors and others in our parish who I am certain – simply by seeing the fruitfulness of their lives – pray and offer sacrifice for those they sponsor or befriend, for their conversion. And who knows who has done this for us?

I wanted to write this post following the previous one on “Fruitfulness”, simply because God wants to see our desire for others’ conversions, he wants to see our passion and zeal for souls, and we show him our desire through our prayer and sacrifice. This is essential to being a lay apostle, a co-redeemer with Christ. How much do we want it?

Fruitfulness…

One of the most amazing things to experience as a catechist is fruitfulness. It reminds me I am a co-redeemer with God, that I am a co-worker with none other than the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes the reminders of God’s fruitfulness come out of the blue, like the lady who showed up on the doorstep over a year ago, who said the only way she could explain how she got there was that God guided her. She did not know who Jesus was but she felt she wanted to become a Catholic. This Easter, she will be baptised. This is definitely an extraordinary instance of God’s fruitfulness. Mostly, though, God uses ‘ordinary’ ways of drawing people to himself, ways which usually involve other people.

The Catholicism course has been an example of one of these ‘ordinary’, but yet extraordinary, ways of God drawing people to himself. There has been a wonderful grace about this course, an infectious joy and enthusiasm which mean people do not want it to end, and people discovering – some for the first time – the joys of being a Catholic. We have one person who will be received into the Church and another who will be confirmed as a result of this course. We have other cradle Catholics who are more determined to live seriously their Catholic faith. And this kind of joy and enthusiasm does spread. The people who have received a lot are among the first to be signed up to the School of Prayer we have starting after Easter. They are becoming more involved in Church life and telling their friends. Fruitfulness means ever increasing circles of people, more and more connections, and friends of friends drawn into the communion of the Church. It is beautiful to witness it.

It is true to say that working for the Church is often hard, for a variety of different reasons. But this fruitfulness is the main thing that makes it beyond worthwhile. This makes it the job I would do for free if it was practical. What other reason can there be to do a job like this?

The Highs and Lows of Lent

Lent is truly a remarkable time for those preparing for Baptism or to be received into the Church. Every week, from the first weekend when, in the Rite of Election, they experience the call of being “chosen” by God, there are new graces heaped upon them. Last Sunday, after our celebration of the First Scrutiny and the Presentation of the Creed, one catechumen said to me, “I keep thinking it can’t get any better! How can it get any better than this?!” She was overwhelmed by an enormous experience of God’s love, through the liturgy and the community. From the deacon’s chanting of the intercessions for the catechumens as they knelt on the sanctuary step, to all the promises of prayers they received from parishioners after the Mass, she is already feeling embraced in God’s love.

Each week, we pore over the words of the Rite for the following Sunday, examining their theological and spiritual meaning for the lives of the elect. We encourage them to pray with the words of the Rite at home to savour its full meaning for their spiritual life. A priest gives them a Meditation on the Year A Sunday Gospel each week, which they also pray with during the week. The themes of darkness and light, blindness and sight, the awakening of spiritual senses, repentance from sin, run powerfully both through these Gospels and the Rites of each Lenten Sunday. The laying on of hands in the exorcism, the handing over of the Creed and later, the Our Father, all speak powerfully of the Church’s scrupulous care and love of her elect.

Of course, Lent can be a trialling, even gruelling, time for us in the thick of spiritual battle, and particularly, perhaps for catechumens. Some may experience dryness in prayer, more difficulties than usual at home or at work, and even an absence of God’s presence where they felt it closely before. This can be a bewildering experience for those new in the Faith, and it reminds us of the need to be vigilant in our pastoral care and prayer for them.

What we can be sure of, though – and let’s transmit this assurance to the catechumens – even if you’re experiencing Lent joyfully: yes, it does get better than this – much, much better! Because there is nothing like being a son or daughter of God the Father, entirely redeemed from sin, set apart to spend eternity with Him. We know that Easter will come, and we know that we will overflow with new joy!

The Ecclesial Method, Part 4

Here we are, after a very long gap, for which I apologise… The fourth step of the ecclesial method. The first three steps of the ecclesial method for catechesis (Mgr Francis D Kelly, The Mystery We Proclaim) are the preparation, the proclamation, and the explanation. Catechesis occurs through stages: it first involves preparing the ground without which nothing can really be heard or received, it then moves on to the central moment of the proclamation, the announcement of the kerygma, followed by a clear explanation adapted to the needs of those catechised. Next, comes the fourth step:

Application

This is a vital moment that can easily become overlooked. Only when doctrine and real life come together does the lightbulb come on, so to speak. We all know what it is like: we allot 30 minutes for proclamation and explanation. We have key objectives for understanding we need to cover. One activity takes longer than planned, a particular point sparks imagination and the questions are endless. You don’t get through everything you wanted to. Before you know it, the explanation step has not only encroached into, but totally gazumped the application step. Here are a few points I’ve found helpful:

•  You can’t cover everything! Hopefully you have a realistic number of learning objectives for your session (I’ve found that around three or four are realistic for an hour and a half session), but even then, even with the best will and catechetical skills in the world, it may be that you don’t get through everything. This is fine. Thankfully we’re giving catechesis, not teaching a GCSE syllabus.
• I remember Professor James Pauley say at the Bosco conference at Steubenville last summer: every baptised Catholic has the right to be taught the full Deposit of Faith – just not in 30 minutes!
• Because the Catholic Faith, and therefore catechesis too, are organic, the foundational truths and other central doctrines should come up again and again. Those receiving catechesis should be able to view them from many different angles. It is a bit like being on a tour of a cathedral or basilica and viewing the altar from every angle, including from above. We shouldn’t aim to exhaust any one teaching in one session.

So, what is the point of this step?

When we speak of the preparation step, we speak about “calculated disengagement” – helping those being catechised to step back from the busyness of the lives they have come from, to be ready to hear God’s Word. Now we come to the application step, we want to achieve “calculated re-engagement“. Now we have heard God’s Word and understood what this means, have thought it through and grasped it a little bit, we need to consider the reality of our lives in the light of this Word.

What does this teaching mean in our lives? Naturally, we seem to think straight away about the difficult moral implications it may mean for our lives. This is important, but even before we get there, there are simpler responses: If a teaching on God the Father is effective and powerful to those being catechised, their response may be: ‘Wow! Why do I worry so much if God is my Father?!’ If a teaching on Baptism hits home for the baptised, it may result in a response of: ‘The Three Persons of the Trinity have actually made their home in me! Which means I am never alone…’ Or an effective teaching on Grace may help a person realise, ‘I have been struggling so much with this sin. But God always gives grace, so I will ask for his help.’

I really believe that God’s Word transforms our attitudes, before it transforms our actions and behaviour. A woman who is afraid to come off the Pill needs to know the love of God for her, that her life is in safe hands, before the teaching about natural family planning can be truly received in her life.

How do we help this stage to happen? In our Catechumenate sessions, the Application stage happens in small discussion groups (answering questions for understanding and application to life) as well as afterwards during silent prayer in the church where they pray with and consider the questions further, and also at home, in between sessions. In our Confirmation sessions, the application stage happens in different ways: individual reflection in their spiritual journal, small group discussion, one-on-one chat with their mentor, or a spiritual questionnaire during the time of prayer.

This stage is so vital, because it means Christianity is real. It is not just something I assent to. This has meaning for every area of my life. If this step is squeezed out of our catechesis, the seed of the word lies on the surface of the soil without taking root. It is definitely more difficult than the explanation step, and it therefore requires us to give more time to planning and prayer: effort which is undoubtedly well-spent.

Leave a comment   |  tags: application, Application to life, authentic catechesis, ecclesial method, Franciscan university Steubenville, methodology, Mgr Francis D Kelly, structure of catechetical session, The Mystery We Proclaim | posted in Catechist Training, Children's Catechesis, Methodology, Sacramental Preparation

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