TEACHERS’ GUIDE September – October 2008

Dear Teachers,

The first semester is drawing to a close and a frenzy of activity surrounds us and our students.  Alongside examinations and the passing of projects, necessary tasks for finishing a semester, it is good to remind ourselves and our students to take stock of what the past months have revealed to us about God and about ourselves.

This current issue holds stories of men and women whose choices made a difference in their lives and in the lives that they encountered.  Most lived their lives in ordinary ways but attribute to God the extraordinary fruits they bore.  May we help our students assess as well, how God has been able to use their ordinary lives to make a difference.

Our Cover
‘Whoever claims to abide in him ought to live just as he lived’ (1 Jn 2: 6 NAB)

Our cover shows Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza, the new auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Jaro.  The verse quoted above inspired his motto, SICUT CHRISTUS VIVIT, the Latin for, ‘As Christ lives’. His coat-of-arms is pictured at the back of our issue, together with an explanation of its elements. 

You may ask your students to write a short essay about a person they believe tries to live out the advice St John gives in his first letter.  They may cite a particular event in this person’s life which helped them see more concretely how Jesus himself would have lived.  Ask your students to exchange work with their seatmates. Have their classmate then write down his/her comment about the story at the bottom.  Collect the essays. You may choose to compile a list of attributes/behaviors/actions that were commonly cited in the essays as ways by which they believed the other person was living the way Jesus would have lived. Using this list you may use the list to start up discussions on any of the following topics: prophetic and priestly mission of each baptized Catholic, the importance of works in Faith, and what the Church teaches regarding Discipleship.


Students’ Workshop

  
World Mission Sunday is on 19 October 2008.  To properly celebrate and help raise awareness and support for the missionary efforts of the Church, you may use the slides of the stories indicated above to jumpstart a discussion on the following questions:

  1. Describe the situation the local people are facing in the different mission areas shared to us by the authors.
  2. What concrete actions did the missionaries take in responding to the situations faced by the local people?
  3. How did these actions affect the local people?
  4. Why did the missionaries decide to respond to their current situations this way? 
  5. Did their actions help bring the Gospel to the people? How and what ways?

You may also choose to further drive home the point by inviting any missionary congregation in your area to come to your class and speak of their missionary efforts in other countries.  These speakers may invite your students to help support the missionaries in cash or in kind.

Another alternative activity after the showing of the slides above would be to group your students into groups of three or four members. Have each group draw from a pile a name of a country and a missionary congregation doing mission work in there. [(You may find a list of different religious congregations at: www.catholic-hierarchy.org/country/xrel.html#icl ). Ask your students to research on the congregation they picked – its roots, mission and vision.  They may creatively report their research in class.  Also arrange to have a small prayer service done during your class time where you may lead your students in interceding for the needs and the issues faced by these missionary congregations.  The slides above may also be used to start off discussions on: The People of God, The Body of Christ, Inter-Religious Dialogue, Missionary aspect of the Church.

Additional resources: check out www.catholicmission.org.au/structure.asp for some videos that speak of the need to help and take part in mission work. Also check out the different websites by the Missionary Society of St Columban (links are found in Misyon’s website www.misyononline.com). You may also check current news regarding mission efforts by the Philippine church through www.cbcpnews.com/

Faith Sharing

Faith is to be lived out concretely.  You may show the slide, A Japanese Gentleman to start off a discussion on how the Gospel was spread by ordinary people and how this takes place in the context of Church history, the Holy Spirit, and the role of the clergy and the laity. 

September 8 is when the Church celebrates the birthday of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Show the slides for the story, The Lady Smiled at Me and have a discussion on the role of Mary in the life of the Church. You may also discuss the importance of Mary to Catholics and why we give her honor.  You may also choose have students research on the different Marian apparitions and have them report their research in creative ways – drawing, skit, dance, create a song for Mary or make a poem about Mary to be read in class.

The story, A Different World shows how one incident can cause great discussion on the implications of one’s faith.  Divide your students into four groups. Let two groups research how Islam views women, while the other two, researches how the Catholic Faith views women.  Have each group draw lots to determine who gets to debate with which team. You may choose to team up with the English department when you hold the mini-debates and to determine the thesis statement you wish to present.

The slides for the story, Wrestling with Death to Give Life may also be shown and further discussed in-depth through a mini-debate or a discussion on the validity of the Church’s Pro-life stand. Two excellent pro-life resources are www.prolife.org.ph and www.priestsforlife.org . You may also encourage your students to write a letter of gratitude to their parents for giving them life.

Since the month of October is traditionally a month set aside for the Rosary, it would be good to pray the Rosary for the cause of Pro-life. Check out www.priestsforlife.org/prayers/Rosary.html for meditation guides.

Vocation Stories
 
 

 
Show any of the slides indicated above.  Ask your students to either write an essay, a poem or a short speech honoring a particular person in their life who like the sister of the author of That Sister of Mine encouraged them and helped them become better persons or reach their dreams. 

It is also ironic how most students are unaware of the beginnings of their own parishes.  Ask them to interview their parish priest about their parish and write a short essay about the lessons they gleaned while doing the interview.  This activity may be used to further discuss: Church Hierarchy, the People of God, the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the Rise of Religious Congregations in the Church.

Practical Faith

Show the slides for any of the articles above. For the slides on To Search is to Find show them the slide with the question first. Then, ask your students’ opinions as to what would be a good answer to the person’s dilemma. If they were to answer the question, what would be their response?  They may write their answers on pieces of paper or just discuss openly what they believe would be an appropriate answer.  After getting feedback from a number of students, you may show the slides containing Father’s answer. Then you may discuss in class points that are unclear or need further explanation for your students. 

Encourage your students to also write down other questions about the Faith they may have. Collect these questions and send them via email to Fr Seán Coyle at editor@misyononline.com.

For the slides regarding Peace by Peace and Misyonview, you may choose any slide which would serve as a good springboard or conclusion to whatever topic you may be tackling at the moment.

Youth Corner

     Hideaway

The youth are the hope of the Church as the recently concluded World Youth Day in Sydney proves.  The first three stories above are by young people who have tried to make a difference in other people’s lives.  Ask your students to volunteer to help out at their parishes for a certain time period (you will decide the length and the types of activities you may wish them to participate in).  They may write a reflection paper afterwards sharing their own experiences as they volunteered, the challenges and the rewards they had while serving others.

Please encourage them to write to us their own insights as well regarding any articles we have featured in the past and also in this issue. They may also visit our forum at www.misyononline.com/forum to post their sentiments on any of the forums we have available. Or they may visit our blog, The Pilgrims’ Inn by clicking on the icon on the left of the home page or by going directly to http://misyononline.com/blog/ . Who knows, their stories may inspire other members of our forum.

Father Joeker’s are simple stories but filled with humor.  You may use any of the slides as part of your class discussion to lighten the mood for a while or to drive home a certain point in your current topics.

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