April 26, 2022, Class Update: The Continuing Celebration

Greetings Students and Parents!

We had such a wonderful end to the 2021-2022 Religious Education year last week Tuesday, April 26.

After our opening prayer, Nathan Johnson, the youth minister at St. Giles, extended the invitation to participate in high school youth ministry offerings as the next step after middle school, to participate in joyful community gathered in the name of faith.  More information about the Chaos group based at St. Giles is below my signature and the photos.

We then took some time to reflect on what we experienced this year, and how to live out faith.  You all had some great insights to share in our final "snowball" toss.  Everyone then created an acrostic poem for her/his Confirmation saint name, before we concluded class with a special time of prayer.

You all got a number of gifts, and below my signature is a list of what you got as a reminder.

Thanks to those of you, parents, who joined us.  It was a blast to end class with Party Hard with Jesus Christ, and you all did it with such enthusiasm.

So much happened during this year: We learned about God's plan of salvation, toured our Church, explored different types of prayer, learned about Sacred Tradition, studied Scripture, learned about Theology of the Body; explored the Mass in-depth, which included a video series from the Archdiocese of Brisbane; explored the deeper meaning of the liturgical seasons, and learned about the meaning of baptism and Confirmation, along with other interesting tidbits like stories of saints.  We also watched the documentary Champions of Faith: Baseball Edition.

I have to say that I had a good time reading your exit slips after each class.  (I was also intrigued to see how enthralled you all were looking at my Julian yearbooks.)

From an unscientific poll about your favorite parts of class from the exit slips, most of you mentioned P-A-R-T-Y, and others mentioned the Mass video series, the guest speakers, and the snowball tosses.  

Father Kevin, who taught me so much about faith during my college years, and also P-A-R-T-Y, would be so pleased to see how the faith has been handed on to you, and to see you P-A-R-T-Y with enthusiasm.

From the bottom of my heart, I say that it has been a tremendous blessing to be your Religious Education teacher for 8th grade this year, especially in accompanying you to Confirmation and then in formation beyond it.

I am very glad for the student, who, during the second to last class, posed the question about what Mrs. Tanner and I enjoyed most about teaching/helping the class.

Here's a message from Mrs. Tanner:

As our 8th graders "graduate" from Religious Education class, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed helping Paul with your kids this year.  One of the exit slips from the [second to] last class posed the question "What did you enjoy most from class?".  The first part of my answer was a bit more light-hearted and fun but it was an easy answer...the P.A.R.T.Y. cheer!  Those parents who joined us for the last class experienced this memorable, fun, choreographed cheer that Paul had the kids do each class.  I doubt any of your kids will forget doing this cheer each week.  The second part of my answer to what I enjoyed most was refreshing my own knowledge of our Catholic rituals and practices.  As I told the kids, we learn the parts of the Mass and other rituals when we are young and although much of it sticks with us, a refresher isn't such a bad idea!  I hope you all have a healthy, fun and full summer and another thank you to Paul for volunteering his time to help guide our kids on their spiritual path!

As for me, Paul, it was an incredible opportunity for me to go back to middle school, especially to reconnect with my time as a student at Julian, and be reminded of how those years of my life truly defined me, especially by fostering in me a deep appreciation for faith.  It was indeed a great gift I received, in large part because of so many faithful people in my life, and it's been a profound experience to put it into action by handing it on to you during this RE year.  I furthermore discovered who I am called to be through how I gave of myself this year.

I enjoyed spending time with such a wonderful and awesome group of students, and getting to know you all.  I'm certainly going to miss being in class with you, and, at the same time, I'm always going to remember you, including your unique contributions to class.  Thank you for your contributions to our charitable projects, including the Christmas Angel gift and the Mothers' Day card supply collection.  Thank you for the submissions you made for class activities, which were great to read.

Above all, thank you all for a great year, which has been an awesome journey encountering our God together.  And thank you all for the great surprise gifts in the closing minutes of our last class, which truly touched me.

I also thank a number of others who had some part in class this year, whose names I mention in the acknowledgments below.

In honor of our time together this year, a donation has been made to Feed My Starving Children.

The bulletin in the near future will feature your names to recognize your completion of Religious Education, so be on the look-out for it.

This website will remain in place indefinitely, so you're welcome to visit it at any time to refer back to anything we did in class this year, like songs we listened to, videos we watched, or other resources.

I will be praying for you regularly, as you transition from middle school to high school, and beyond.  Please feel free to reach out at any time if there's a specific prayer request, or if you ever have questions about faith.

Always remember the Holy Spirit will guide you, reminding you of all you've learned about faith, and teaching you even more so that through greater knowledge, you will grow in relationship with God and so live a rich, abundant Life, as you swim on the Ocean of God.

And it is the Holy Spirit that will always bind us together as the One Body of Christ transcending time and space, or in the words of the Native American phrase: 

All my relations.

Enjoy the summer.

I pray God's richest blessings as you continue growing in relationship with Him.

Remain in the Joy of the Risen Christ, Whose Life is in us.  Alleluia!

And Keep up the P-A-R-T-Y as you did so wonderfully in class all this year.  It's one celebration that will keep on going all the way into Eternity.

I pray that your journey to Heaven will be a foretaste of Heaven itself.  Being your teacher for RE class has certainly been a foretaste of Heaven for me.

Praying the Grace of God be with you always,

Paul

Thank you, Mrs. Tanner, for this fun shirt that encapsulates so much of the fun we have in class this year.

Here's the floating device I regularly held up at the start of class.  It appears on one of the bookmarks you got, either in a book, or in the envelope.

Thank you, Mrs. Tanner, for these wonderful socks for Christ the Good Shepherd.

Here are the Holy Spirit socks I wore regularly to class, and to the Confirmation Masses.

Hooray to the 8th Graders!!!

P.S. Here's the song we listened to during our opening prayer time, "Glory Bound" by Matt Maher.

Here's the website for more info about the Chaos youth ministry group, including contact info for Nathan Johnson, the youth minister, and a link to the Instagram page.

Here's a link to the video we watched in which Father Burke Masters shares his story.  He is a priest in the Diocese of Joliet and is the chaplain for the Chicago Cubs.  The whole video is about 5 minutes long, but generally ends by about the 4:30 mark.

The Scripture passage in our closing was John 14:27-31.

As a reminder, you all received multiple gifts from Mrs. Tanner and Paul:  

-a personal note 

-a sheet with suggestions for spiritual practices to continue growing in faith 

-an all-class photo (taken back in January by Ms. Baer when she visited us)

-a sheet with the image of the living stones drawing we did as a class back in November

-a Roman Catholic "ID card" that you can carry with you in your wallet, purse, or Smartphone pocket

-a photo from Paul of the cherry blossoms in March 2022 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

-a devotional book with daily readings

-a Dynamic Catholic daily reading book with quotations from Venerable Fulton Sheen (a gift from the Ascension Knights of Columbus Council)

-two different bookmarks, one of which features the flotation device I used at the start of each class photographed at the Atlantic Ocean at Pompano Beach, FL, about a year ago.

While the daily devotional books start on January 1, you can certainly start reading for today's date, and the bookmarks were put in place for April 26.

We also offer you this YouTube playlist, which includes songs we listened to in class, and other uplifting songs.

I have a few acknowledgments to offer:

Thank you to our guest speakers for sharing their perspectives on faith in class whether visiting in-person or coming to us via Zoom: Ed. Rubio (Paul's Dad), Will Haeni, Paige Krohn, Ms. Baer, Bob Pence, Father Rex, and Elle Tanner.

Thank you to Marian Perepitchka for assisting with our 4 virtual classes, and thank you class, and parents, for your adjustment to meeting virtually those 4 times.

Thank you to Roy Miller (Paul's friend) for technical assistance with Zoom when we met virtually on October 5, and to the Oak Park Public Library for technical assistance when we met via Zoom in the wintertime.

Thank you to the Sunday 8th grade RE teacher, Nelson Sinchi, for helping orient Paul to use the Smartscreen in our classroom.

Thank you to Mrs. Lippi, the Ascension School teacher, whose classroom we used this year.

Thank you to Francisco Vilchis for assisting as an aide during the first half of the year, and Kim Tanner for the second half--and for her son Wilson for his willingness to have his mom tag along for our adventures in faith.

Thank you to Tim Smyth for his leadership in RE for the first year, and Christi Walkup for handling supplies, paperwork, and other tasks that gave us what we needed for class.

And holiness is not a question of age; it is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit

We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.

From the homily of Pope St. John Paul II at the Closing Mass of World Youth Day 2002

"...you young people are the now of God."

"Dear young friends, do you want to live out your love in a practical way? May your “yes” continue to be the gateway for the Holy Spirit to give us a new Pentecost for the Church and for the world."

From the homily of Pope Francis at the Closing Mass of World Youth Day 2019

“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NABRE