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| The CGS material for the Infancy Narrative of the Annunciation. They keep it simple: even a jug on the table would distract children from the essentials of the narrative. |
I wrote this in March, but forgot to post it. More to come soon:
Earlier this month was the first of 8 weekends which will constitute Level One (ages 3-6) training in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS). What a blessing and a privilege the weekend was. The sole Episcopalian there, I sat with 10 Roman Catholics (mostly moms and several auditing who had done the training before) on my right and 10 Eastern Orthodox students (one EO priest, and one dad, yeay!) on my left.
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| The prep/clean up area of a CGS Atrium in a Catholic church |
The two trainers (formation leaders) were Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox women respectively. They patiently led us through the background and essentials of the program, along with initial, core presentations like Altar I (there are 3 presentations of the model altar, for each age group: 3-6, 6-9 and 9-12), liturgical colors, signing the cross, and practical skills like "pouring" and "wood polishing."
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| Always familiar figures to greet you in any Atrium |
Initial observations:
1. I learned that Maria Montessori, a strong Roman Catholic, envisioned her education style being brought ultimately "to the altar." Sofia Cavaletti and Gianna Gobbi achieved that with CGS. Upon returning home, I reread Berryman's Complete Guide to Godly Play, Volume 1, rediscovering how very well he shows the "lineage" of Montessori-based relig ed for children, including how Godly Play fits into the family tree. A mustard seed story indeed.
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| The materials for the presentation on liturgical colors - tiny chasubles hang over the crosses as they are presented (folded underneath) |
2. How beautifully the child brings our Christian traditions together! There were only two presentations (altar, liturgical colors, signing the cross) where it made sense to divide our group up into east and west. I decided to go with the west, but kept an eye on what the EO leader was sharing. They have 6 liturgical colors (adding gold for feasts of the incarnation, and blue for Marian feasts).
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A southwest Austin home transformed years ago into a Montessori school,
with CGS Atrium just behind the right wall, above - sublime! |
3. My role as catechist/storyteller has to start with my spiritual disposition. If I am not in a spiritually healthy, quiet place myself, then I will have greater challenges in the Atrium on a given day.
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| The Atrium includes Montessori materials, which point to the care of a sanctuary, its holy vessels and vestments |
4. I am impatient but still drawn to the slow, to the methodic, to order. The child I was, is still in there. Children are even more so drawn to order and language, esp at 3-6 years of age. The language we catechists/storytellers use is not about
how many words, but
which words. And how we deliver them. I can afford to use less words. A Montessorism:
Let your words be counted.
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| CGS presentation of the Mustard Seed parable - "Would you like to see some mustard seeds?" |
