An increasingly popular approach to teaching young people the faith

Angela Hague has been forming children in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in Sydney since 2006. It's been revelatory, and not just for the children.

Angela Hague has been forming children in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in Sydney since 2006. It's been revelatory, and not just for the children.

Quotes, infographics, memes and more resources for the New Evangelization. Infographic: The Bible’s Periodic Table from Catholic-Link.org

In Advent we spend time exploring prophecies from Hebrew Scripture. It seems quite appropriate as we prepare for Christmas to listen to the...

I came up with this idea just the other day when Jessica mentioned to me that Amazon was sold out of the The Garden of the Good Shepherd Sticker Calendars. They are still available directly from LTP. But I wanted to find a way to allow anybody to participate in our Good Shepherd's Garden Parties even if they couldn't get their hands on one of these beautiful calendars. Now I am no Tomie dePaola, but I sat down the other day and drew out all of the symbols for the 50 days based on his originals. Unfortunately, to get them all done and on as few sheets of paper as possible, I wasn't able to spend a lot of time polishing them up or checking the proportions. My kids were laughing at how huge the wolf was compared to Mr. dePaola's original. Anyway, I thought getting them all done at once was most important as you never know what might come up in the future that could derail any "tomorrow is another day" plans. Here they are for your printing pleasure: Good Shepherd Garden Symbols For some reason, they aren't printing horizontally for me right now unless I download them first. I'll look into that but for now, just download then print. I would recommend printing them on card stock for extra stability. I know some of them are going to be kind of small to color, like the crowns, but I wanted to make sure they were in an easy to print B&W format. You will probably need a full size sheet of posterboard. Here is a quick little tutorial for the background. If you measure about 11 inches down from the top of a piece of posterboard turned vertically, your background will be the exact same size as the sticker calendar. About half way down your background piece, draw a little stream with a pool at the end. Above that stream, draw some lumpy shapes that look like these. You want them to be a about the same height so that you can draw a line across for the lake. I had to add some lumps to mine. That's what I get for not using a pencil! Place the fountain in the pool of water and the tree nearby. Color yours, of course. A blue line from one highest lump to the other creates the lake. Some more lumpy things make the hilltop for the city. Here is a look at what your background might look like when it's done before it's colored in. One of the symbols will be placed on top of the city so make sure there is enough background behind it to glue onto. If you choose this option, just remember to have fun and make it look the way you want it to!

Topics: What It is Like to Serve on the Altar: Priests Prayers While Vesting...What It is Like to Serve on the Altar: Laying Out Vestments @@@@@@@@@@@@@ +I attended the Ordinary Form of Mass this morning and it was nice to sleep in till 7:30 a.m. I was wondering...remember all the doom and gloom from some quarters about the new translation being "hard" for the pew sitters and a burden in general? There was even a web page Why Can't We Just Wait?. From what I heard this morning a lot of folks have the responses already memorized and have adapted quite well. Our local Pastor preached on sacred silence and quiet reverence in the church...which was immediately followed by loud conversation, laughter and general socializing as soon as Father left the sanctuary. Sigh. +What do you think of the new header? The middle image is kinda bothering me cuz it sort of hints that it is the interior of St. Anthony, which it clearly is not. I'm kinda bummed because my version of Photoshop will not load on my machine anymore so I cannot edit images now! To post a comment, ask a question, or submit an article contact me, Mark, at [email protected]. ..and now for the necessaries. Please note: St. Anthony Catholic Church is one of only two churches celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass (EFLR) in the Wichita area. Though this blog is loosely centered around this parish and it's members, Venite Missa Est! is by no means, in any way an official voice of, or for, St. Anthony Parish or the Diocese of Wichita. Venite Missa Est! is strictly a private layman's endeavor. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Priests Prayers While Vesting What It is Like to Serve on the Altar You might have noticed that, after the prayers at the foot of the altar, the priest moves to the sedilia to remove his cope and vest in his chasuble. If you look carefully he will read from a card the corresponding prayer for that particular vestment. Each article of clothing, which is donned in a predefined manner, has attached to it a certain prayer which Father recites back in the Sacristy. The Amice: "Place, O Lord on my head the helmet of salvation, that I my overcome the assaults of the devil". The Alb: "Purify me, O Lord, from all stain and cleanse my heart, that washed in the Blood of the Lamb, I may enjoy eternal delights." The Cincture: "Gird me, O Lord, with the cincture of purity, and quench in my heart the fire of concupiscence, that the virtue of continence and chastity may remain in me." The Maniple: "Let me deserve, O Lord, to bear the maniple of tears and sorrow, so that one day I may come with joy into the reward of my labors." The Stole: "Restore to me O Lord, the state of immortality which was lost to me by my first parents, and although unworthy to approach Thy sacred mysteries, grant me nevertheless eternal joy." The Chasuble: "O Lord, Who hast said "My yoke is sweet and my burden light", grant that I may carry it so as to obtain Thy grace". Priest's Vestments Click Here for Larger View, @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Laying Out Vestments What It is Like to Serve on the Altar So many details, so little time. There are alot of details that have to be covered when the altar servers come in early to get ready for mass and I thought it might interest you to know some of these details specifically in how the Priest's vestments are laid out. Each item that the priest wears is laid out in a certain and specific manner and each piece has it's own prayer that the priests recites when he dons it. The vestments are laid out "in reverse" meaning of course that the first thing the priests puts on is the last thing we lay out, each piece being laid on top of the other. For Low Mass The Chasuble - Is the uppermost vestment worn by the celebrant at Mass. It is laid front down and folded up over the table for easy vesting. Stole - A liturgical vestment composed of a strip of material from two to four inches wide and about eighty inches long. It has either a uniform width throughout, or is somewhat narrower towards the middle, widening at the ends in the shape of a trapezium or spade. A small cross is generally sewed or embroidered on the stole at both ends and in the middle; the cross, however, is prescribed only for the middle, where the priest kisses the stole before putting it on. It is laid in the form of an "H" laying the ends upright on the table straight and then folded back up to where the center neck portion is on the middle "x' axis and this forms the crossbar of the H. Maniple - The maniple is an ornamental vestment in the form of a band, a little over a yard long and from somewhat over two to almost four inches wide, which is placed on the left arm in such manner that it falls in equal length on both sides of the arm. It is worn only during Mass. The Maniple is placed in the center over the stole, straight up and down to form the "I". Cincture - The cincture is a long, rope-like cord with tassled or knotted ends, tied around the waist outside the alb. The colour may be white, or may vary according to the colour of the liturgical season. In the form of an "S" the cincture is laid over the stole and maniple and with the stole and maniple forms an IHS which is a monogram of Jesus' name. Alb - The alb is the large plain garment made of white linen that is worn over the priest's clothes or cassock. Adopted from the long linen tunics that the ancient Romans wore, it is said to be the oldest liturgical vestment used by the early Christians. It is layed on the table face down with the arms folded across each other. As it hangs off the edge of the vesting table the center of the bottom of the alb is folded up to allow slipping on easily. Amice - The amice consists of a white cloth connected to two long ribbon-like attachments, by which it is fastened around the shoulders of the priest. It is the first vestment the priest puts on and thus the last that we lay out. When putting it on the priest rests it for a moment on his head, then lets it rest on his shoulders. It is placed flat over everything else with the string corners at the top...the strings are folded to form a sort of "butterfly" shape. The card with the vesting prayers is set out for Father to read. For High Mass The Maniple is not included in the layout because is laid out at the sedilia. Also the Chasuble is on the sedilia since the Cope will be worn into the church in the procession. Everything else goes is donned by the priest in the same order except in the layout the cincture makes a P shape and the stole makes an X And these are some of the very small details that we see to in the Sacristy every Sunday! @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

COMMENTARY: Bishop Strickland’s recent pastoral letter gets to the root of a major issue.

NOTE: Today we continue our weekly series of essays by Dr. Stacy Trasancos on the "stillbirths" of science. They're based on Fr. Stanley L. Jaki's research into the theological history of science in the ancient cultures of Egypt, China, India, Babylon, Greece, and Arabia. See past articles here.

These charts show the progression of themes experiences throughout the three levels of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Sources: This image represents our three main sources. The two key sources highlighted the most often are the Bible and the Liturgy, remembering that the new universal Catechism of the Catholic Church is recent. Level 1 - ages 3-6 At this age, everything centers around the experience of Jesus Christ in the world. Level 2 - ages 6-9 Level 2 condenses and deepens level 1 while adding in some components, including history. Creation - purple here represents the Old Testament (preparing for Jesus to come); gold for the time of Christ; "gray" (to off-set the white background) for the current time or the blank page, including the way that we see Jesus today - on the altar; and gold again for the time we are awaiting: Parousia, when God will be all in all. The colors used in the atrium have tan for the "Old Testament" time period, but we have already introduced the children to purple for preparation with the prophecies in level 1 and learning the colors of the liturgical season, thus I chose purple for my purposes on this chart. Level 3 - ages 9-12+ (appropriate for teens and adults too!) And at this level we really highlight the "golden thread" that connects all of Salvation History. This post gives something of a quick overview of each level as well: Beginning of the Chronicles Interested in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd formation courses ("training") - or interested in knowing what the catechists study in their 90-120 hours courses to be a catechist at any given level? UPDATED January 2020

As I was reflecting on my last post, I thought about another way to use a lapbook to teach our children and students about how the Church dedicates each month of the year to a different devotion. …

These charts show the progression of themes experiences throughout the three levels of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Sources: This image represents our three main sources. The two key sources highlighted the most often are the Bible and the Liturgy, remembering that the new universal Catechism of the Catholic Church is recent. Level 1 - ages 3-6 At this age, everything centers around the experience of Jesus Christ in the world. Level 2 - ages 6-9 Level 2 condenses and deepens level 1 while adding in some components, including history. Creation - purple here represents the Old Testament (preparing for Jesus to come); gold for the time of Christ; "gray" (to off-set the white background) for the current time or the blank page, including the way that we see Jesus today - on the altar; and gold again for the time we are awaiting: Parousia, when God will be all in all. The colors used in the atrium have tan for the "Old Testament" time period, but we have already introduced the children to purple for preparation with the prophecies in level 1 and learning the colors of the liturgical season, thus I chose purple for my purposes on this chart. Level 3 - ages 9-12+ (appropriate for teens and adults too!) And at this level we really highlight the "golden thread" that connects all of Salvation History. This post gives something of a quick overview of each level as well: Beginning of the Chronicles Interested in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd formation courses ("training") - or interested in knowing what the catechists study in their 90-120 hours courses to be a catechist at any given level? UPDATED January 2020

Their technique of guarding the heart bears some similarities with today's use of meditation.

“On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, seven swans a-swimming ...” + + + Allowing for corruptions evolving the text as described earlier, the "seven swans a-swimming" completes the first seven days being represented by birds, in honor of the seven sacraments. The song is just more than half over, and we can already see that someone obviously put a great deal of thought into it. What do birds and sacraments have in common? We may never know, but we already know this much ... Today is the Feast of Saint Sylvester, who was Pope from January 31, 314, until his death on this day in 335. He was the first bishop of Rome to refer to himself as "Pope," or more specifically, "Father (Papa)." His reign would have occurred during that of Emperor Constantine, as well as the First Council of Nicea in 325, which composed the Nicene Creed proclaimed at Mass on Sunday. (Sylvester did not attend this council, but sent a delegation.) He is also one of the ten longest-reigning popes in history. In present-day Germany, this day of New Year's Eve is known as "Silvester." Beverly Stevens of Regina Magazine tells us: "Okay, this is TRADITIONAL in Germany to play this clip on 'Sylvester' -- that is, New Year's Eve." The English comedian Freddie Frinton (1909-1968) is a butler in his famous "Dinner for One" scene, from the 1948 British short comedy "Trouble in the Air." Other countries know the day better by the saints name as well (such as "la Saint-Sylvestre" in France). As for the year of our Lord, two thousand and nineteen, the clock is running out. Brace yourselves.

Tomie and Monique Cheret, of Paris, married in 1959 in Chester, Vermont. (They divorced in 1961.) Tomie's sisters and I couldn't determine what year they married, so I reached out to Tomie's Pratt Institute friend, Delli. Delli knew because the years were in black-and-white in Barbara Elleman's book about Tomie. I had come to the conclusion that most happenings in life had connections to Broadway and film songs. So, often, I would tell Tomie that something reminded me of a lyric and he would, with his amazing memory, eventually guess what I was trying to remember. Which reminds me of a song often played by his friend Christine Pedi on her Sirius/XM radio program "On Broadway": "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well," from "Gigi." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQxM5rJ-uiY (Bob)

These charts show the progression of themes experiences throughout the three levels of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Sources: This image represents our three main sources. The two key sources highlighted the most often are the Bible and the Liturgy, remembering that the new universal Catechism of the Catholic Church is recent. Level 1 - ages 3-6 At this age, everything centers around the experience of Jesus Christ in the world. Level 2 - ages 6-9 Level 2 condenses and deepens level 1 while adding in some components, including history. Creation - purple here represents the Old Testament (preparing for Jesus to come); gold for the time of Christ; "gray" (to off-set the white background) for the current time or the blank page, including the way that we see Jesus today - on the altar; and gold again for the time we are awaiting: Parousia, when God will be all in all. The colors used in the atrium have tan for the "Old Testament" time period, but we have already introduced the children to purple for preparation with the prophecies in level 1 and learning the colors of the liturgical season, thus I chose purple for my purposes on this chart. Level 3 - ages 9-12+ (appropriate for teens and adults too!) And at this level we really highlight the "golden thread" that connects all of Salvation History. This post gives something of a quick overview of each level as well: Beginning of the Chronicles Interested in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd formation courses ("training") - or interested in knowing what the catechists study in their 90-120 hours courses to be a catechist at any given level? UPDATED January 2020

Virtue: A Habit to do the good, give the best of yourself, and be more like God in what you say and do. To tie in with our study of sainthood and the universal call to holiness, I decided to do a little more intentional instruction about the virtues. Cue this graphic organizer to add to our notebooks to start things off. Forthcoming posts will have an individual info sheet for each of the seven Cardinal and Theological Virtues, as well as some ideas for making them real in the day of a kid. Click here for the bank notes that can be filled in: Or click here for the copy that is already filled in:

Bishops Worldwide Call Pope Francis to Crown Mary against Coronavirus To His Holiness, Pope Francis Easter Sunday 2020

These are taken from the wonderful Catechism by Bishop Louis LaRavoire Morrow Divine Revelation comes down to us by two means: through Holy Scripture, written down under divine inspiration, and thr…

"During a Holy Hour we grow more and more into His likeness." ~Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Christ asked us if we "could not wait one hour with Him?". A Holy Hour is a dedicated response of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. I have been to lots of Holy Hours hosted by many different parishes that are set up for kids or advertised as family-friendly. Taking kids to Adoration can be intimidating for parents and teachers- the silence, the ritual, the importance- but I am a huge advocate of getting kids there in the Presence of our Lord. Here are some of my favorite things to see at a Holy Hour that is welcoming to children: Reverence- the beauty and truth of the Sacrament is not lost. We can bring children to this without watering it down. Proximity- kids are able to draw close to the Sanctuary and even pray on the floor in front of the steps or invited to sit in the very front pews. Breaking up the Silence- kids make noise, and that noise is ok. They also are not trained contemplatives, so expecting mental prayer for an hour isn't an option. Great Holy Hours for kids DO have silence, but also have appropriate Scripture readings, reflections from Saints,a decade or more of the Rosary, etc. Music- having a musician lead the songs for Exposition and Benediction is awesome, and then even better is to have them pepper the silence with a few songs that kids can sing along with. Singing is a powerful form of prayer. Teaching- having a priest that is comfortable with kids and their developmentally appropriate learning styles is awesome. I love when a priest talks to kids at their level and teaches them with words meant just for them, always pointing back to the True Presence of Jesus. I also like for kids to have resources available to help foster their prayer as appropriate. Children's Bibles, a journal, a Rosary devotional with images to meditate on, a book about a favorite Saint, children's books of prayer, etc. can enhance and not detract from this time of prayer. So on that note, I put together a few resources that I think could help kids both with the logistics of Adoration, as well as help them enter into prayer. First up, an 8-page Adoration booklet that could be taken into a Holy Hour. (We had this available at the Fulton Sheen Family Day last weekend). There is a page with some explanations/definitions: And a page with the words to Adoration Prayers/Songs: And a page with some Adoration info/questions: Then there is room for kids to actually use the book by writing or drawing what they would like to pray about. Matching the other ACTS prayer activities that I have created (see them here and here), the prayer prompts and Scripture verses lead the kids through four kinds of prayer: adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication: It's a great little printable that would be an asset for prayer time with your own kiddos or a Holy Hour with a classroom or CCD Program. Click on the image below for the link: And, always one to want options, I have a couple of other printables too! This page could be perfect for repeat visits to Adoration (instead of printing a booklet for each time) and would be a great addition to a notebooking project or prayer journal. And adding to the collection of Fulton Sheen Coloring Pages, here is the matching art from the prayer pages with a favorite quote: I'd love to hear how you make Adoration fruitful (with one kid or thirty!) and what your favorite resources for fostering prayer are! Linking up with Blessed Is She's theme on the Power of Prayer. Check out the other posts by clicking on the image below:

Tracing the route of the popular Vivid Sydney light festival, participants were suprised with a special moment as they approached the Sydney Harbour foreshore.

“I believe it is a consequence of Original Sin. This is the work of Satan.” Satan, he said, has no compassion.

My students are no stranger to Mary. She is present in our classroom, school, and church. She is part of our prayers, and we learned a lot about her as we studied our classroom Saint Maximilian Kolbe. However, we started studying Mary a little more through the lens of Fulton Sheen's Life. You can read about the beginning of that journey here. I have spent quite a lot of time talking with my kids about intercessory prayer- that we can ask the Saints and Mary to pray for us as they are present before the throne of God in heaven. We ask our friends on earth to pray for us, so why can we not ask our friends in heaven? Of course, if you want to get into a deeper apologetic discussion, there are many Scripture references, and documents of the Church Fathers, and types in the Bible that I could talk about, but that is not the goal of this post. (However, if you are curious, here is a quick answer, a video, and an article) I just want to show you the awesome Marian shrine that we made. So you can go and "visit" Mary in a church, right? And ask for her intercession, and light a candle to leave your prayer "burning"... why not give kids the chance to create that environment in a way that they can take it with them anywhere. We created this pop up Marian shrine complete with a statue of Mary, candles to light, roses to leave, and new prayers to use, all on a two page spread of a notebook. Ok, steps, lots of steps. It really wasn't that complicated to make, but pictures helped, so bear with me for the long post to scroll through. Step 1: Find, print, and color a statue of Mary about 8" high. You could use any picture of Mary, or appeal to a certain devotion, like to Our Lady of Guadalupe. This Mary statue was found here. Step 2: Cut out Mary in a shape that looks something like the one above. You need about 2-3 inches on each side of Mary toward the bottom of the paper for this to work. Step 3: Fold 1 inch tabs on each side toward the middle of the picture like above. Then, fold Mary in half vertically with the picture on the inside. Then fold each edge of the paper toward the middle. When you unfold Mary and lay the picture face down, it should look like this. Step 4: Flip Mary over, and center her over the spine of your notebook. Hold so that she is level and the folded sides are perpendicular to the pages of the notebook. Tape down the tabs on either side, which should look something like this: If you slightly close the notebook, like to prop it open, she pops out even more. Next, you need to "coach" the statue so that it will fold in on itself when the notebook closes, and not just get squished. As you slowly close the notebook, use your hand to make sure that it folds in the middle and lays flat in between the notebook pages. It should pop right back out when the notebook is opened. Step 5: Color the candles and roses page and cut out. (FYI- don't have the kids cut on the lines around the roses. Just cut out in rough ovals like below.) Step 6: Create the instructions and storage envelope for the candles and roses. The envelope is a "coin" envelope from a box of donated supplies a friend gave me. Give me donated office supplies, and I promise you they will be put to use. Here is the link to the printable for the candles and roses: Step 7: Make a flip book for some favorite Marian Prayers to have handy. Start with two sheets of 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" paper, two colors if you have it. Fold one in half short end to short end ("bathtub" or "hamburger" style), but leave 1/2-3/4 of an inch between the edges. Lay the next piece of paper over top, giving the same amount of space between the edges. Fold it around the back. And you end up with a four page flip book with evenly spaced flaps. You can either tape the pieces together or add a couple of staples along the edge. Step 8: Print and cut out the favorite Marian prayers. Link to printable here: The tiny strips go on the outside tabs so that you can find the prayers. Order doesn't matter so much, except some are wider than others, so make sure to test for fit before gluing down. There is even a spot for a self composed prayer to Mary. Step 9: Glue the flip book on the opposite side of the candles envelope. Step 10: Prop open your Marian Shrine and add candles and roses as you ask Mary to intercede for you!

I want to share a wonderful, free resource with you that I found last year through another blog. On our nature table, we have the Stations of the Cross as 3-part Montessori cards, so that the kids can use them anytime they want. You can download them at a blog called The Bookworm here. My son has especially enjoyed them, since he can already read. Here are some photos of him putting them in order and matching the captions with the pictures after breakfast on a leisurely Saturday morning. The same site has the Stations of the Resurrection, also known as "The Way of Light", as well. You can download them here. Stations of the Resurrection After Easter we use the Stations of the Resurrection in our devotional times. I let the children use them to pick a story that they want to hear, and we either read it in the Bible or I simply tell them the story. I am so thankful for bloggers like The Bookworm who share their wonderful resources!