St. Alphonsus religion teachers use Clarion as teaching tool

When Anna Dominique noticed her students were balling up their on-campus copies of the Clarion Herald before even putting them into their backpacks to take home, she knew she had to find a creative way to reverse this trend.

“One of my kids told me, ‘Ms. Dominique, my mother puts our crawfish on (the Clarion Herald).’ I told them, ‘Before you put your crawfish on it, you will read it!’” said Dominique, who has been using the Clarion Herald as a teaching tool in her St. Alphonsus religion classroom since 2010, along with colleague Geraldine Smith.

“The Clarion Herald is like a religion book because it talks about things that are happening right now within our archdiocese,” Dominique said, noting that the majority of her students are not Catholic.

“So I explain to the kids, if you want to know about what’s going on in the Catholic faith, if you or your family have any questions about what we’re doing as a Catholic community, pick up the Clarion Herald and read it!” Dominique said.

Because St. Alphonsus School receives the Clarion every Friday, Dominique and Smith take it home with them over the weekend to select articles to be read by their students in class the following Monday.

For example, articles detailing the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ response to the recent flooding in surrounding dioceses challenged students to identify actual spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Archbishop Gregory Aymond’s column was also dissected, informing St. Alphonsus students about how – and why – the Catholic church responds to a disaster.

Students begin their “Clarion Herald Monday” by reading articles in pairs before having the larger group discussion.

“I’ll remind them that Pope Francis has said this is the Year of Mercy – I plug all that in with these articles,” Dominique said. “I thank the Clarion Herald, because it shows us that we are doing exactly what Pope Francis has asked us to do,” Dominique added. “If anyone has any questions about if our church is (showing mercy) or not, they can see it in the Clarion, plain and simple.”

The Clarion also acquaints youngsters with thefacesof church leaders – so they will know who they are when they see them on the news or in person.

“Now, when the kids pick it up they say, ‘Oh, here’s a message from Dr. Jan Lancaster or Archbishop Gregory Aymond. Here’s what the pope talked about in Rome!’”

After they are finished discussing the main articles, students are given time to skim through the Clarion to pick out stories of interest on their own. Dominique said the sports section is popular with her boys, while girls love the “Holy Smoke” section of Lenten recipes. Both genders enjoy Teen Faith, the calendar, Kids’ Clarion and the High School Information section, she said.

“They need to see what other kids are doing in the archdiocese,” Dominique notes. “Or maybe they have someone in their neighborhood who is looking for a nice place to put an elderly person. Well, here is information on Wynhoven and the PACE program!” she said.

“One of the things that touches my heart is when kids come up to me and say they read the articles with their grandparents!”