Bringing Jesus Down To Size Has Grown The Faith

By Amanda Schneidau, GUEST COLUMN
File Photos By Beth Donze | CLARION HERALD

God had a bigger plan than anyone realized in 2011 when he put a yearning in the hearts of a few mothers of children at St. Margaret Mary School (SMM) in Slidell.

As every other subject seemed to be advancing to meet the developmental and sensitive needs of children through hands-on materials and differentiated learning, they desired so much more than a textbook to pass on the fullness of the Catholic faith to their children.

This program – called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS), begun in Rome in 1954 by a Catholic Scripture scholar who truly knew Catholic theology, and a Montessori expert who knew children and how to reach them – was the answer to their prayer.

Right-sizing religious ed

In 2011, Ginny Saxton, who was trained in the program and had taught Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to a few children at Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Mandeville, came to St. Margaret Mary School to pitch the program to several religion teachers and administrators. That summer, SMM hosted its first training in CGS and began the program in the school for pre-K through second grade.

In its beginnings, SMM had one atrium – or classroom – dedicated as a sacred space for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Now we have three atria, as the program has grown to serve every student from the 3-year-olds all the way through the seventh graders.

Each atrium is filled with different materials to fit the needs of the children it serves. In the pre-K atrium, one will find a model-sized altar and sacristy cabinet for the children to learn the articles used in the Mass, such as the chalice, paten and corporal, as well as dioramas of key events in Scripture, including clay figures of the Blessed Mother and the Angel Gabriel, which the students work with when listening to and pondering the Scripture of the Annunciation.

Step-by-step process

In the kindergarten through third-grade atrium, the materials advance with the development of the child and include wooden 3-D depictions of conscience-formation parables, such as the Good Samaritan and the Found Coin. By third grade, students learn how to navigate their way through sacred Scripture.

In the fourth- through seventh-grade atrium, a large timeline of the history of the Jewish people hangs in the space, as students discover Jesus’ human heritage and how Christianity spread from among the Jewish people who first believed in Christ. There is also a large wooden representation of the Roman missal, so that students can break apart every prayer of the Mass and study its meaning.

All these wonderful materials did not come about overnight. It has been a labor of love by so many, including Sister Joanne Ladwig, a Sister of Christian Charity who not only trained many of SMM’s teachers in CGS, but who also selflessly donated many of her materials to SMM.

SMM’s Parent Teacher Organization also donates toward the trainings every year, and many parents and grandparents have generously given monetary donations, as well as their time and talents, to help make the materials needed for each atrium, as all materials are handmade.

SMM has had the blessing of hosting 10  trainings since that first one in 2011, and through these, 25 catechists have been trained in CGS from SMM’s faculty alone, as well as many more catechists who have come from as far as Washington, Illinois, Tennessee, Mississippi, Jennings, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and from our neighbors in Metairie, New Orleans, Mandeville, Covington and Our Lady of Lourdes in Slidell.

St. Margaret Mary School has several visitors every year who come to observe what is happening in these atria and then take what they learn back to their own schools and parishes. Visitors leave amazed by the knowledge that the children have in their faith and by their ability to “make silence” and truly listen to God in prayer.

But the best summary of the fruits of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd comes from the mouths of the children.
When one of our 4-year-olds was asked, “What is special about the light of Jesus Christ?” his response was, “If we didn’t have it, the whole world would be dark.”

When SMM’s first graders were reflecting on Psalm 100, they were asked, “Why do you think the people are so happy and joyful in the Lord?” Their responses included, “Because he gives us life!” and “Because he is coming again!”

One of the most memorable comments was heard after a recent presentation on “The Structure of the Mass.”

During the follow-up class discussion, one of our fourth graders expressed, with great sincerity, “I’m in the mood for Mass!”

How much we have to learn from the faith of our children!

Amanda Schneidau is coordinator of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at St. Margaret Mary School in Slidell.