2021-22 Grade 8 Ascension Religious Education

Greetings everyone! Recap of our Last Class At the start of class, everyone had the chance to think about their Lenten plans using a planning sheet I gave everyone.  As a reminder, you won't need to turn anything in for your Lenten plans, but please use that sheet as a guide to help you get Lent started on the right note. February 22 is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, which commemorates when Christ acclaimed Simon Peter for his profession of faith and gave him a special leadership role in the Church as the first Pope, handing him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the teaching authority of the Popes and the Bishops. We looked at that day's Gospel reading in Matthew 16:13-19. This scene is depicted in a window in our church: As Christ asked His disciples Who He is, so He asks each of us, and we are called to let our profession of faith translate into actions for God's glory as we proclaim the Good News. We also watched two more videos in the series on the Mass,...

Greetings everyone! As we get closer to the dates of Confirmation, our focus in class has shifted toward the Holy Spirit and what it means to be confirmed. Recap of Last Class Our opening prayer was from Joel 3:1-2, a prophecy describing how God will pour out His Spirit upon all people. When we are confirmed, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be something amazing in the world, working to advance God's Kingdom--even more amazing than skydiving, like we saw Chris Stefanick do in a video at the start of class. We spent time with two different Scripture passages, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, David's anointing as King, and Acts 2:1-12, the first Christian Pentecost. Then we watched two more videos in the series on the Mass. In the final part of class, in keeping with a custom for those preparing for Confirmation, everyone wrote letters to their future selves, which I will mail a year from now, close to your first anniversary of Confirmation. To Do For this Week As a reminder, I asked you...

Greetings all! It was great to be back with you in class again, just as it was wonderful gathering with all of you on Thursday evening for the teaching Mass. Recap We offered our farewell and thanks to Francisco as he switches to help with the Kindergarten-3rd Grade class.  It was great having his assistance with our class. We then welcomed our new class aide for the remainder of the year, Kim Tanner, and we thank her for stepping up to volunteer for this role. We were in church for about half an hour where everyone participated in the sacrament of reconciliation as part of preparing for Confirmation. Back in class, I shared a couple of different stories, one about my visit to the birthplace of Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr. Then we watched the courtroom scene from Cars that I used to speak about the power of reconciliation, because even though sin wrecked humanity's relationship with God, He looks at each one of us and says we are "worth fixing". We also did a quick revi...

Greetings everyone! Thank you again for your adjustment to joining class virtually this week, which was very likely the last time we'll meet virtually during this RE year.  Hopefully, you've had some time to enjoy the snow of the past couple of days. We hearkened back to Christmas with our opening prayer, when I played " Songs of Thankfulness and Praise " on the piano. We spent time in class on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, celebrating when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to present Him in the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after His birth.  The story is recorded in Luke 2:22-40.  It's a customary day to bless candles, as we celebrate Christ our Savior, Who is a Light to the Gentiles and Glory to Israel, as Simeon proclaims when he sees Jesus in the Temple.  And it's the midpoint of winter, and so speaks to the custom of Groundhog Day. If you haven't yet lit the blessed tea candle you got in class on January 25, I invite you to do so this week.  Si...

Greetings everyone! It was so great to be back in class and see all of you this past Tuesday. To recap , we did some further follow-up to the Christmas Season and the Incarnation of God in Christ by thinking about how great gift Christ is to us, our very God becoming human to be close with us and be with us forever.  We read a commentary from a teen-geared Student Bible I got as a gift back in 7th grade.  And remember the baby pictures and seeing my teddy bear?  God continues to make Himself known to us, especially at Mass, as I shared with a two different stories. Then, we heard from our guest speaker, Ms. Baer , an Ascension parishioner and a special education teacher at OPRFHS.  She talked about her faith experiences in her life growing up and in college.  She also shared about her time at World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid and her trip to the Holy Land for the Christmas Season 2019-2020.  Thank you, Ms. Baer, for visiting and sharing so many wonderful insig...

Greetings everyone! Thank you again for your adjustment to meeting virtually in light of various circumstances.  (And thank you to my fellow middle school catechist Mariana Perepitchka for assisting with the three virtual classes we've had this year.) During our most recent class, we focused on baptism, which is a kind of follow-up to the Christmas Season. God revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the Baptism of Jesus, which is the Feast that ends the Christmas Season.  As people of faith, we join with Christ in Baptism, so that we are filled with God's life-giving presence.  We are named His beloved daughters and sons.  We are anointed by His Spirit, which enables us to participate in Christ's mission of making God known in the world, especially through loving deeds of service. We're anointed first at baptism, and then again at Confirmation, with blessed and scented olive oil.  (Remember how that connects with my participation in the 2005 Julian S...

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas one final time! In our most recent class, our guest speaker was Paige Krohn , Paul's fellow World Youth Day pilgrim.  She is a FOCUS missionary at Southeast Missouri State University, in Cape Girardeau, MO.  She shared about the importance of faith in her life, how she got involved with FOCUS, and her experiences as a missionary. If you're interested in knowing more about the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, FOCUS, here is their  website . At the start of class, we spent time learning more about the deeper meaning of Christmas.  We looked at the Prologue in John 1:1-18, which takes a more cosmic view of Christ's Birth.  He was with the Father from the beginning, and then entered into time and into our world as the Word Made Flesh revealing God to us. I also played some Christmas carols that speak to the meaning of Christmas Day and Season: "Joy to the World", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", and "Hark! the ...