Engaging Faith

The annual feast of St. Joseph on March 19 brings to mind some interesting things we know and don’t know about the foster father of Jesus.In the genealogy of Jesus found in the opening of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus’ lineage is traced from Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish people, through the generations, including King David, all the way through Joseph, not Mary his natural mother.Interesting because Joseph was not Jesus’ biological father. Yet, the tracing of Jesus’ family tree through Joseph and not his mother tells us two things: First, Joseph was known to be of the line of King David, a crucial element to Matthew’s Jewish audience who were awaiting the Messiah called for in the Hebrew Scriptures. Second, the evangelist and the early Church held Joseph in great esteem as Jesus’ adopted father. Jewish parents were known for accepting and treating adopted children exactly the same as their natural children.This information may be a nice segue for students to trace their own family histories. Ask them to pinpoint how and when individual or national ancestors became Catholic.Also, look into the history and practice of devotion to St. Joseph, which did not officially take off until the fifteenth century when Pope Sixtus IV established the annual feast. St. Teresa of Avila had a special devotion to St. Joseph and established nineteen convents under his patronage.You might also have your students note that while Matthew tells of the angel announcing Jesus’ birth to Joseph (Mt 1:20–21), Luke’s Gospel reports the Annunciation to Mary (Lk 1:26–28) in preparation for that particular feast day on March 25.

Once again the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is upon us—commonly known as March Madness for the fact that one loss brings the end for each of the entries causing a madness to pull out a victory. You may have also noticed a “madness” among your students who are engaged in filling out brackets and picking circling winners for games leading up to the championship game on April 2.Of the sixty-five teams that began the tournament, nine were Catholic colleges. If you aren’t ready to pull your hair out with all the talk of basketball, you could build on this current event and build a lesson around it. To start off simply, ask the students to circle the Catholic colleges on a bracket sheet. The teams are:Midwest RegionalNotre DameWest RegionalVillanovaHoly CrossGonzagaEast RegionalMarquetteBoston CollegeGeorgetownSouth RegionalXavierCreightonYou could then have them do a rating of the Catholic teams (based on the seedings). It might look something like this:1. Georgetown (2)2. Notre Dame (6)3. Boston College (7)4. Marquette (8)5. Villanova (9)/Xavier (9)6. Creighton (10)/Gonzaga (10)7. Holy Cross (13)After the games are played, see how the ratings check out.Also, hand out a blank map of the United States. See how many students can correctly place the Catholic college in the correct locations by state:IndianaNotre DamePennsylvaniaVillanovaMassachusettsHoly CrossBoston CollegeWashingtonGonzagaWisconsinMarquetteDistrict of ColumbiaGeorgetownOhioXavierNebraskaCreightonEnough of the fun and games. You can also use the Catholic tournament teams as a starting point for several questions of interest or even for further research (now, that’s real madness!). Use the following trivial questions as discussion starters. Have your students develop some more:1. Which of the Catholic colleges in the tournament are named after saints? (St. Thomas of Villanova, St. Francis Xavier, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Mary, Notre Dame)2. Which college was founded by and named for the family that helped to bring the telegraph to the west? (Creighton)3. Which was the first Catholic college founded in America? (Georgetown)4. Which are Jesuit colleges? (Holy Cross, Boston College, Gonzaga, Marquette, Georgetown, Xavier, and Creighton)5. Which college is founded by the Augustinian fathers? (Villanova)Enjoy March Madness! No doubt your students will.

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