Ask an expert

26 RTJ’S CREATIVE CATECHIST ▲ October 2011

S u s a n K a y

My students know all about popular cultural icons and

amazing professional athletes. �ey want to be like them. How can I help them know the saints in the same way?

One of the best ways to help children learn about the rich

history of our Church is to relate real stories of the saints’ lives and their relevance today. For instance, many children could probably tell us that pop singer Taylor Swift was bullied in school; you could tell them about St. Bernadette and how she was of-ten ridiculed for her piety. Children may enjoy talking about their favor-ite sports teams and the athletes

they admire; we can tell them about St. Sebastian, who is the patron of athletes. Children may know that Harry Potter lived a sad life of an or-phan until he discovered his special powers; we could share stories about St. Frances Cabrini, who is the pa-tron of orphans.

We can enrich our understand-ing of the saints by �nding good resources that will entice children to learn more about these holy men and women of God. Religion textbook se-ries o�er information on the saints in the texts and websites. Daily feeds about the saints can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and email post-ings on the “Saint of the Day.” (Our sister publication Catholic Digest publishes stories in every issue tell-ing the legends of our holy saints.) If we can proclaim the fame and beauty of the lives of God’s holy ones,

then children, too, will look at these people as heroes.

�ere is an annual National Catholic Schools’ Week cele-

bration. Is there anything like that for parish religious education?

�e religious education year begins across the nation with

parish celebrations on Catechetical Sunday, the third Sunday of Sep-tember. Blessing, celebrating, and acknowledging our catechists, our catechetical endeavors, and the cat-echetical year during Sunday Mass is a wonderful beginning.

In order to further the celebration, the New England Conference of Dioc-esan Directors of Religious Education (necddre.org) instituted Religious Education Month. November, the month of remembrance, celebration of the communion of saints, and our national �anksgiving Day is the des-ignated month.

Parishes and diocesan o�ces are encouraged to celebrate their religious education programs in as many ways as imagination allows. For example: Tell the good news in diocesan news-papers, parish bulletins, e-letters, and Facebook postings; invite re�ections by members of the religious education sta� at Mass; post a history of the religious education program, a chro-nology of parish DREs, a listing of all catechists; o�er co�ee after Mass one weekend in the religious education fa-cilities; brainstorm with the catechists on your team about how you can make your parish aware of your ministry.

Religious education is something to celebrate. How will you celebrate your program? ▼

Susan Kay is assistant director of religious education and catechetical leadership for the Archdiocese of Boston. Please email your questions to susan_kay@rcab.org.

Real ways to share the faith

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