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Engaging Faith

Practical Lesson Ideas and Activities for Catholic Educators
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Word of Mouth: An Outside da Box video

Outside da Box has produced a video that deals with issues of bullying, meanness, kindness, and proper Christian living as commonly presented around a Catholic high school. The promotional material introduces the context of the five minute video: "Two girls are living on opposite ends of the social spectrum. One seems to have it all and one is reminded every day that she doesn’t. Then something happens that closes the gap between them." Play Word of Mouth for your students. You may wish to use these followup assignments after the students view the video: What is the message of the video? How do you identify with a central character in the story? What are strategies for refraining from gossip and bullying? Think about a person at your school who might need someone to reach out with him or her in friendship and support? Think about three ways you might do that. Implement your plan. Share a Gospel passage that addresses a proper course for behavior. Write a prayer for your peers in need.

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Making Disciples/Practicing Evangelization

The following information and assignment has been adapted from Jesus and the Church: One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic (Ave Maria Press, 2015). The Office for Formation of the Laity of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia identified several ideas for evangelization in a short summary, “Everyday Evangelizing for Everyday Catholics.” Here are some of the applications: Before You Can Evangelize (Pre-evangelization) Pray daily. Carry a cross in your pocket. Read the Bible. Receive the Sacraments. Communicate with those who inspire you. Evangelizing in All Situations Respond “thank God” when someone shares good news with you. Share a story of how God works in your life. Ask people to pray for your intentions. Make the Sign of the Cross when dining out. Invite someone who is not Catholic to Mass.  Assign students to develop a further list of ideas for sharing the faith with their peers; either Catholics who need a refresher in their faith or those who have no experience of Catholicism. With these groups specifically in mind, ask them to write up an evangelization plan that focuses on what they can personally do and what their peers can do as well this week this month this year For each part of the plan, include answers to the four W’s and H question: Who is to be evangelized? (Who is to do the evangelization?) What is the desired result? Where will this take place? When (during the week, month, year) will this happen? Why is this an important task? How will this take place? For reference, note ideas from the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis.

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Black History Month: Fr. Augustus Tolton

The child of slaves, Fr. Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) was the first African American priest ordained to serve the Church in the United States. Facing predjudice and discrimination in his hometown of Quincy, Illinois, Fr. Tolton was assigned to the Archdiocese of Chicago. There, Fr. Tolton first led a missionary effort to African American Catholics in the basement of St. Mary's Church. Later, he founded St. Monica's Catholic Church at the corner of 36th and Dearborn on Chicago's South Side. The Church grew to have 600 parishioners. Fr. Tolton's cause for canonization has been presented by the Archdiocese of Chicago. He has now been honored as a Servant of God. In the month of February, as the nation celebrations Black History, take some time to share the story of Fr. Augustus Tolton with your students. Several resources, including a detailed biography and videos on his life and the cause for sainthood, are available at a website devoted to his canonization. The video Father Augustus Tolton: The Cause for Canonization was prepared by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

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An Argument Against Abortion: Using the S.L.E.D. Acronym

The following material is reprinted from Foundations of Catholic Social Teaching: Living as a Disciple of Christ by Sarah Kisling (Ave Maria Press, 2015). Share this material with your students. You may consider role playing debates between pro- and anti-abortion points of view while allowing students to practice using incorporating the evvidence using natrual reasoning that follows in the material below. Most people would agree that killing an innocent human life is a moral wrong. A more tricky issue involves defining the meaning of human life. The Church teaches, and modern science agrees, that human life begins at the moment of conception. Would you be able to explain why this is true? Use the acronym S.L.E.D.—size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency—to help you make a good argument that an unborn baby (known scientifically as a zygote, blastocyst, embryo, and fetus) and a born baby are both human persons. The acronym can help you explain why. Size. A small child is no less human than an adult. An extremely tall NBA player is no more human than someone of average height. No one would argue that harming a small child is less of a crime than harming a larger one; in fact, most would argue the opposite. That an unborn child is smaller than a born child has no bearing on his or her personhood. Level of development. An unborn child is certainly much less developed than a born baby. However, one’s development does not determine one’s personhood. For example, small children do not have fully developed reproductive systems. And a high school student is intellectually less developed than a college student. Does that make any of them “less” human? Of course not. Therefore, being less developed does not make an unborn baby less of a person. Environment. An unborn child is in a different environment than a born child. Nevertheless, where one is should not be the determining factor in who one is. Did you stop being you when you came to school this morning? What about when you walked from your bedroom to the kitchen? Then how does a journey of a few inches down the birth canal suddenly make an unborn baby human? Obviously, it does not. Therefore, environment has no bearing on an unborn baby’s personhood. Degree of dependency. An unborn baby is undeniably dependent upon his or her mother. And yet, does being dependent upon someone or something make one less human? Even young children are completely dependent upon adults to survive.  What about adults who are dependent upon medication or caregivers to live? No one would argue they are less human. Therefore, merely being dependent upon another does not make the unborn baby less of a person. In short, the differences between an unborn infant and born one are not morally relevant; they do not make the unborn less worthy of living than any other human. Make a plan to share what you learned in the S.L.E.D. acronym the next time you are questioned about the rights of an unborn child or the morality of abortion.

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Considering Catholics in the News

Last week on the Late Show with Steven Colbert, the host and his guest, actress Patricia Heaton, had a "debate" about their knowledge of Catholicism and their Catholic identity. This is an appropriate video to play in your class. You might then use the clip as an intro to have the students research other contemporary celebrities (actors, athletes, politicians, journalists, etc.) who identify themselves as Catholic.There are several articles with lists of Catholic celebrities, often breaking them down by entertainment, athletics, and politics. Here's a more general list of famous Catholics You might have the students do a brief report or share some information about a famous Catholic in the news. Have them include some quotes from the person that refer to their Catholic faith.

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How Do You "Love One Another"?

In the Last Supper discourse recorded in the Gospel of John, Jesus says: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (15:12-13). In dying on the Cross, Jesus gave the greatest gift of love to all people and for all times. How can your students emulate this gift of love in their everyday lives? Ask them to think, first, of stories of people who have exhibited this type of love to them. Have them write a one-page essay that recounts this example. Here is one such example told by a graduating high-school senior: My Story We came at each other from opposite directions: I from the door leading to the girls’ locker room, he from the outer foyer leading to the gymnasium parking lot. He was late again as he had been for so many of my special events growing up. But at least he was here. I thought about the piano recital I played in at the local college when I was eight years old. He was delivering magazines to all the airport newsstands that day. I remembered the state championship gymnastic meet when I won two gold medals. I searched for him from the victory stand. His boss had called him to work that Saturday because the quarterly reports were due. My thoughts shifted as I neared the podium set up at the center of the basketball court. I wasn’t nervous. I moved comfortably to the microphone. “Thank you for honoring me as valedictorian of this year’s senior class,” I began. Everyone settled back in their seats to hear my speech. That’s when I saw them. Finally. My father, sitting in the first row of the bleachers, stretched out his legs and propped his shoes up on his heels. I stared out at him hoping to catch his eye but all I could see was the holes in the soles of each shoe. That’s when I really grasped all that my father had done. And that he had done it all for me.

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New Year's Personal Inventory

The start of a new year or a new semester is a great time for your students to take inventory on their lives, looking back to the past, critiquing their present, and anticipating their future. You might use the following exercise to supplement a lesson in the early part of the semester. Share the passage from 1 Corinthians 13:11: "When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became an adult I put aside childish things." Say: “You, too, have put childish things aside. You are no longer the person you were in grade school or even last semester. In a sense, that person has “died” and a new person has “risen.” With that in mind, write some of your reflections to the following questions. Assign these questions for writing or discussion: Think back to grade school. Describe the way you used to be, act, think, etc. (For example, an activity you no longer do, a habit you outgrew, something you are no longer afraid of.) Describe the “new you” that has appeared since you started the new year or new semester. How do you think your life in the coming months will be different than it was in the preceding months? (For example, what is something new that you will try out or what is a new attitude you want to take on?) As you look at your life now, what part of you do you need to outgrow (allow to die) so that you can mature even further? (For example, another attitude you need to change, a habit you need to develop, a relationship you need to improve.)

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Recognizing Jesus

The Christmas season continues, even as you return to school. Have your students meditate on the humanity of Jesus and his mission. Share these words of Pope Benedict XVI. Have them complete the assignment that follows. The real novelty of the New Testament lies not so much in new ideas as in the figure of Christ himself, who gives flesh and blood to those concepts—an unprecedented realism. In the Old Testament, the novelty of the Bible did not consist merely in abstract notions but in God’s unpredictable and in some sense unprecedented activity.  This divine activity now takes on dramatic form when, in Jesus Christ, it is God himself who goes in search of the “stray sheep,” a suffering and lost humanity. When Jesus speaks in his parables of the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep, of the woman who looks for the lost coin, of the father who goes to meet and embrace his prodigal son, these are no mere words: They constitute an explanation of his very being and activity.                                                                              —Pope Benedict XVI (Deus Caritas Est, 12) Do the following: Research the meaning of the term anawim. How are the anawim another way to describe the poor in spirit? Who are anawim in your community? How can you serve them? Write a one-page essay that describes them.

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