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Mother Church of
the Diocese of the Missouri Valley
Anglican Church in
America
Traditional Anglican
Communion
3728 Payson Road Quincy, IL 62301 phone: (217) 222-3241 fax: (217) 222-3435 web: www.stjohnscathedralquincy.org Proclaiming the Catholic Faith in Anglican Tradition |
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Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
Are you seeking a Church that provides your children more than a “canned” Christian Education Ministry and at a deeper level than the intellect? If so, then St. John’s Cathedral in Quincy is where you need to be. At St. John’s your children will encounter a ministry that presents the most important realities of the Christian Faith to even the youngest member of the Body of Christ. More than a “Sunday School program”, The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is the foundational ministry for spiritual formation of children at St. John’s. This Montessori based Christian education ministry assumes that young children, as early as two years of age have spiritual and religious potential. That is, since God is already present to them in their deepest being, they are capable of developing both a conscious and intimate relationship with God. They only need the guidance and vocabulary to enable them to become aware of their relationship with God and give expression to it. How is this spiritual and religious formation accomplished? Simply stated, this is accomplished by God our Father, through His Son Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit in a prepared environment, called an atrium, with a trained catechist whose sources are Holy Scripture and Liturgy. The prepared environment contains materials that are models of things used in the Church's worship such as an Altar, Bibles, sacramental vessels and adornments in the various liturgical colors, etc. The environment also contains materials relating to the proclamation of the faith such as parables, prophecies, geography of Israel, and the life of Christ. You may wonder how these materials help in the Christian formation of our children and youth. Consider this, if an adult hears a beautiful passage from the Holy Bible, the adult might take the Bible, find the passage, and read it slowly again and again. He or she might think deeply about the words and perhaps speak to God in prayer of thanksgiving and hope. But a little child, too young to read, needs another way. In the atrium the child can ponder a biblical passage or a prayer from the liturgy of the Church by taking the material for that text and working with it – placing figures of sheep in the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd, setting figures of the Apostles around a Last Supper table, or preparing a small altar with the furnishings used at the Eucharist. Older children who do read often copy parables from the Holy Bible, lay in order written prayers from the rite of Holy Baptism, or label a long line showing the history of the Kingdom of God. The trained catechist makes presentations to the child using these materials. The presentations are chosen to convey the essentials of the faith in a manner appropriate to the child's development. The child is then invited to internalize and respond to the presentation by working with the materials themselves. The catechist does not give answers or impart information. The catechist presents the reality, and asks questions. The catechist assists in the child's own discovery of the meaning. The motto of The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is "Help me fall in love with God by myself." It is our mission to allow our children to do just that. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is divided into three levels. Level I is age 3-6, Level II is age 6-9, and Level III is age 9-12. In Level I the controlling image is Christ the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep and gives everything he is for them. The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and calls them by their name. The child comes to discover who the Shepherd is (Jesus) and who the sheep are (us). What stands behind all this is the first moment of the covenant, the moment of gift. Level I remains focused on this moment of gift with the aim of children coming to a deep enjoyment of it. The enjoyment of the gift of God's own self to the child is the foundation of further religious insight and moral development.
Level III carries the human response further. The controlling image is the Plan of God as worked out in the Bible and human history. The child begins to deal with the advance of the Kingdom and people's opposition to it. The paradigm of Creation-Redemption-Return of Christ guides a more thorough exploration of Scripture, particularly the Old Testament. Prior to beginning Level I, children two years of age participate in a Primary Level where they are exposed to the fine and gross motor skills needed in Level I as well as beginning exposure to Bible stories. Throughout all levels, the child encounters the essentials of the Christian Faith. Levels I, II, and III include presentations on the Sacraments, the Bible, Geography, Infancy and Passion Narratives, Prophecies, Parables, Maxims in a manner developmentally appropriate. The presentations increase in detail and sophistication as the child matures. However, the role of the catechist as facilitator of the child's own discovery of the meaning of these things for themselves remains throughout. Both the child and the catechist find their faith nourished in this process. An interpersonal relationship is always a mystery, and all the more so when that relationship is between God and the Child. We believe that there is a deep bond between God and the child which produces in the child the desire to draw near to God. The catechist's role is to prepare the environment and to make presentations that "call forth" the child's response rather than "pour in" information. They listen with the child and together ask, "God, who are you? How do you love us?" The adult is a co-wonderer with the child as they together enjoy meditating on the questions generated by the Scriptures with the prepared environment as a developmental aid. In the words of Dr. Sofia Cavaletti, who developed the program,
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St.
John's Cathedral