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Engaging Faith

Practical Lesson Ideas and Activities for Catholic Educators
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Homeless Man’s Return of Money Can Spark Discussion

Commissioner Edward Davis recently honored Glen James for the character James displayed when returning $42,000 in cash to its rightful owner on Saturday, September 14. Check out the complete story before exploring some questions like those below with your students. Morality Would keeping money you found be considered stealing? What if it was a dollar bill or five dollar bill? Five hundred dollars without a person’s name with it? Five hundred dollars with a person’s name with it? More? Explain your reasoning for each case. Does Glen James’ status as homeless make his gesture more virtuous than the action of a person on the edge of poverty? A middle class person? A rich person? Explain. A man living in another state wants to raise $50,000 to honor and help Glen James out. Is “virtue its own reward” or does it warrant a monetary reward? Faith Glen James said that even if he was desperate for money, he would not have kept a penny of that money. He also said he is a religious man and that “God has always looked after him.” Though he did not say that he returned the money because of his faith, do you think that he did? Social Justice How do you think most employed Americans view homeless people? Do they perceive them to be virtuous? Why or why not? Do you think that Glen James’ actions may cause some people to perceive homeless people differently or will they just think that Glen James is the exception? Explain.

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Guided Meditation on Our Baptisms

I'll never forget the anger a Sophomore girl expressed in class one day about her own baptism. We were discussing infant baptism and somehow the class discussion turned into a teenage tirade on the infringement of personal freedom and right to choose your own faith. Sitting in the back of the room, one girl said with passionate anger, "It isn't fair. I didn't even get the choice!" I would bet you have some students who would like to renounce their baptism. Or, worse yet, could care less one way or the other if they were baptized or not. The purpose of this meditation is to help your students realize the effect that baptism has had within them. Our baptisms make no sense unless accompanied by the realization of the love that we unknowingly experienced as infants. Our parents and godparents loved and cared for us. They wanted what was best for us. More importantly, at Baptism we experienced for the first time a sacramental expression of God's infinite love for us as his children. Through Baptism we become God's adoptive sons and daughters. We become a part of the body of Christ, God's own Son. Help students imagine the love of God that will always prefigure the development and acceptance of faith with this meditation on baptism. A Meditation on Our Baptisms Reading: The Baptism of Jesus if the Jordan River Matthew 3:13-17 Guided Meditation: My Baptism Most of us experienced our baptism as infants. We have no memory of it ourselves and can only ask our parents to recount the experience for us. Nevertheless, imagine if you were there at your own baptism. What would you have seen and heard? Who do you think would have been there? What kinds of expressions would they have on their faces? What do you think they were feeling or thinking at that moment? Now consider the Baptism of Jesus in relation to your own baptism. In baptism, we become like Christ, God's sons and daughters. Picture the priest pouring water over your infant head or dunking you in the baptismal font. Then at that moment, look up and imagine these words being proclaimed in silence, "This is my beloved [son/daughter] with whom I am well pleased." Now, imagine these words being said to you, today, right now. God speaks directly and privately to you: "You are my beloved child with whom I am well pleased." Silently, respond to him. What would you say if you heard these words from God right now? Closing Prayer Close with an "Our Father," but before you begin remind the students of the words that they are saying. They are God's children. God is our Father. When we pray the Lord's Prayer, we are expressing our relationship with God as our loving Father. (photo credit: mark sebastian)

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Air Strikes on Syria and the Just War Doctrine

The unfortunate civil war in Syria provides an opportunity for students, as Catholics, to research and evaluate the arguments they hear about the United States making air strikes against the country. Their thoughtful reflection may lead them to contact their senators or representatives in the US Congress. You may want to use the Engaging Faith blog entry, The Catholic Just War Theory Lesson Plan for the criteria for a just war. Review or introduce the just war doctrine to the students. Ask them to look at a map of Syria, noting which countries surround it. Explain some basic things about the country. (The CIA has basic information and map about each country online Ask students to evaluate these articles suggested below (or others of your choosing) in pairs or small groups and be ready to talk about the perspectives they have read in light of the just war theory. The first reading is from the US Catholic bishops. The next three articles are from key North American newspapers, one Canadian. The last is a statement by the UN Secretary General. As the students read through their articles, ask them to look for the answers to these questions. What is the writer’s overall thesis? Does the writer use data to support the thesis? Do you find any contradictions in the article? Does the writer use past examples of US military intervention to make his or her point? If so, what do these examples suggest? Which elements of the just war doctrine does the article address? Does the article support these principles? What question might you want to ask the author? Suggested articles, letters, and statements: Most Reverend Bishop Richard E. Pates, “Letter to Secretary of State Kerry,” August 30, 2013, USCCB Media News Releases The Editorial Board, “Debating the Case for Force,” The New York Times, September 2, 2013 Robin Wright, “The Risk of Taking on Syria,” The Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2013 The World Factbook: Syria Syria Cyber Profile   Teacher Background Information Link

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Pray for World Peace

Pope Francis has announced a day of prayer and fasting for peace in the Middle East, especially around the multiplying violence in Syria. The following prayer experience is intended to help students understand the need for peace in all levels of their relationships, including world-wide peace. Directions Give each person a blank sheet of paper and a marker or pen. Ask them to draw a small circle in the middle of the paper and to print the name of a family member or a word for a family situation that needs God's peace brought to it. Next, ask them to draw a larger circle around the first circle. In this circle tell them to write the names of people or situations in their local school, parish, or city that needs God's peace brought to them. Finally, have them draw a third, larger circle and list names of people or situations in the world at large that need God's peace brought to them. After some time for reflection, have the students sit in a large circle. Pass a lighted candle around the circle. As each person is holding the candle, ask them to pray aloud for one of the people or situations they wrote on their papers. Conclude by reciting the World Peace Prayer below. World Peace Prayer Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth, from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe. Amen.

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: Breaking the Silence

With the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech" and the brutality of the ongoing civil wars in Syria and Egypt, recall Dr. King's words in a speech he gave at Riverside Church in New York on April 4, 1967, almost exactly one year prior to his murder. A full text and recording of the speech can be found here. In discussions focusing around war, peace, and Dr. King, share the following portion of the speech with your students. Assign the questions for journal writing or discussion. A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men [sic] do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing as they often do in the case of dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty. But we must move on. Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. For we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, for those it calls ‘enemy,’ for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers. I think of them, too, because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, ‘This way of settling differences is not just.’ A nation that continues year and year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all humankind. We can no longer afford to worship the God of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. Questions What were your feelings as you listened to Dr. King’s urging you to speak out against war? Why did Dr. King oppose the war in Vietnam and modern war in general? What do agree with in his speech and why? And what do you disagree with and why? Do you think you have been participating in the “silence of betrayal”? Betrayal of what? Given your understanding of Catholic Church teaching on war, what do you think needs to be said and done at this point in the war on terrorism? This activity is taken from Activities for Catholic Social Teaching* by James McGinnis.

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Mary: Queen of Heaven

Pope Pius closed a year-long Marian year in October of 1954 with the encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam recognizing the Queenship of Mary. The encyclical was unique too because it was the first time a pope had spoken on Mary's role in sharing in the work of Redemption. He wrote, "The most Blessed Virgin Mary is to be called Queen not only because of her Divine Motherhood, but also because she, by the will of God, had an outstanding part in the work of our eternal salvation." Without saying Mary was a "co-redemptress," Pope Pius XII taught that she was associated with Christ "in a way parallel to the way in which Eve was associated with Adam....So just as the human raced was committed to death through a virgin, it is saved by means of a virgin." The feast day to celebrate the Queenship of Mary is August 22, following by a week the Feast of the Assumption. September 8 will mark the birth of Mary. As assignments to mark the day with your students, you may wish to have them create an image using the art medium of their choice of Mary as Queen. Also, assign the entire enyclical for reading. Have the students create a graphic organizer to outline its main points. Finally, pray this prayer as a class. The Queenship of Mary Mary, Queen of the Universe, you are a Queen in that you are the Mother of the Word Incarnate. Christ is universal King in that he rules all his creatures by his personal union with the Father and the Spirit. He is King and you are Queen of all hearts. Rule over us by the queenly power of your love that the Kingdom of your Son— the Kingdom of truth and life, holiness and grace, justice, love, and peace— may come upon the earth. Grant your grace to all people, the Holy Spirit for the whole Church, and peace for the entire earth. Amen.

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Helping College Freshmen Say Good-bye to Mom and Dad

There is a good chance that some of your former students are off to college within the next week or so, a first time living away from home. While the situation will have some emotional stress for the teens, perhaps more of the stress will weigh on the shoulders of mom and dad as they witness their child heading off to the world of freedom and independence. If you have a chance to confer with teens you know, offer some general advice on how to handle the last good-byes around the dorm room. These six tips are taken from Ready for College: Everything You Need to Know by Michael Pennock. Tips for College Freshmen Be patient with your parents and yourself. Here are six general tips on how to handle those last good-byes. Let your mom (or dad) make your bed, organize your clothing in your drawers, or hand up one of your posters. This will help them feel like they put their own stamp on your living space. You can always rearrange your room the way you'd like after they leave for home! Also, you might want to ask your mom or dad some advice on where to put your desk or help with setting up or dismantling a bunk or loft. You might have a younger brother or sister who "adores" you and has come along on the trip. If so, lucky you! But know that it may be very tough for them to say good- bye to their hero. Let them help set up your room too. Show them frequent signs of affection. Promise you will text or email them often. Formally introduce your parents to your roommate and your resident advisor (RA). This will help you to establish the tone that accompanies a more mature child/parent relationship. If possible, to to dinner with your folks if this is something they really want to do. This would be a good time to: Thank them for everything. Reassure them that you will call, Skype, text, or email regularly. (Make sure to follow through with your promise.) If your college has orientation during move-in week, let them know about any interesting activities that you have experienced so far. Invite them to Parents' Weekend (usually six to eight weeks into the first semester). Tell them you genuinely want them (and your siblings) to be there. Walk your parents to the car when they are ready to go home. Leave your roommate and new friends back in the dorm. Share some hugs and kisses and tears—all of which are easier to exchange if strangers are not around. Say what your heart tells you to say. If you find it difficult to do so, write out a letter ahead of time and give it to your folks to read on the way home. They will love your thoughtfulness. But keep it light too. This not the permanent farewell known as death; you will see them again. As you return, alone, to your dorm, say a prayer for your parents' safe return home and for the strength to live by the values they have taught you.

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Welcome to World Youth Day 2016!

World Youth Day 2013 has finished but it's not too soon to prepare teens to begin planning a pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland. An official website has already been launched. The occasion will likely be one of immense celebration of the life of Bl. Pope John Paull II . . . who by that time will be St. John Paul II. To get in the spirit of Krakow, here's a short quiz for your students on the city. Answers are included in the parenthesis. Quiz Where is Krakow situated in Poland? (In the south of Poland, next to the Vistula River) What is the city’s current population? (756,000) What is the city’s size? (126 square miles) What language(s) do most people understand in Krakow? (Polish) When was the city founded? (There have been settlements since 20,000 BC but first mention was in the seventh century AD) What are the city’s major types of businesses or products? (tourism, technology, finances, steel, pharmaceuticals and tobacco) What role did this city play for the Nazis during their occupation of the area? (After the Nazi invasion, the city became the capital of a region known to the Germans as the General Government.) Under what form of government was Poland from 1952 until 1989? (Communist) What role did this city play in the life of Blessed John Paul II? (Blessed John Paul II attended university in Krakow, taught at the same university, was auxiliary bishop of the city, and then cardinal of Krakow prior to being chosen as Pope) What is the name of the Gothic Church in Krakow that has two towers and dates to the seventeenth century? (Church of the Virgin Mary – Kosciol Mariacki) What is the name of the square in Krakow that is the largest square in any of Europe’s medieval cities? (Main Market Square) What is the “world’s oldest shopping mall?” (Cloth Hall – Sukiennice) What museum tells the story of a Nazi businessman’s effort to save over a thousand Jewish people during World War II? (Oskar Schindler’s Factory) What are two places you can find in Krakow’s Historic Center? (market square, historical houses, palaces, churches, fortifications, ancient synagogues, a university, and the Gothic Cathedral where the kings were buried) What is the name of the concentration camp built by the Nazis in Krakow in 1942? (Plaszow) Where did Poland’s rulers live and rule their country from the eleventh through the sixteenth century? (Wawel Royal Castle – Zamek Krolewski) What was the main cultural center for Polish Jews for centuries? (Jewish District) Why is there a place named the Dragon’s Den? (This was the lengendary home of the dragon slain by the prince who founded Krakow)

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