The week of 11/18/2012 in 10th Grade

November 18, 2012

by Colin Upham / Sister Reyna

Sunday, November 18, 2012

We started the class with prayer and talked a bit about the Pro-Life presentation we went to last Sunday night at St. Catherine’s. How it made them feel and what they thought about it.

After our initial discussion, we talked about the Blessed Mother. We discussed why we honor her and how other Christian denominations don’t understand this. They understand honoring other people in the world, but they can’t see honoring the Mother of God as appropriate. We talked about how Jesus gave Mary to us at the foot of the cross and how John represented the people of the church. We talked about how Mary is our advocate and mediatrix to her son. I asked them if their mother or grandmother asked them to do something wouldn’t they do it? Which is the same idea of Jesus and Mary. We read the wedding story at Cana from the bible and talked about how that was Jesus’ first miracle of his public ministry.

We also talked about the Annunciation. We also read from Luke 1:26 – 38. We talked about how difficult it must have been for her as a sixteen year old girl to say yes. We talked about the passage in the bible where Mary give her “yes” to the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:38), and how she is the perfect role model. We talked about the Immaculate Conception and how this is not he conception of Jesus, but the conception of Mary. How she was born without original sin. How we are baptized to wipe away original sin, but still have the inclination to sin throughout our lives. Something Mary never had to deal with. We had a discussion about Mary being immaculate, and why it is hard to believe that God wouldn’t create the perfect woman to be his mother. Would we expect anything less?

Then finally we discussed the Assumption of Mary. How she was assumed into heaven body and soul. We talked about how we have relics from holy people, how we have the body of sacred people. St. Peter and St. John are contemporaries of Mary, and their tombs are still intact, yet there is no “tomb” of Mary, because she was “assumed” body and soul into heaven

I want to take a moment also to thank everyone for bringing in non-perishable food and paper goods for St. Vincent De Paul.

I wish EVERYONE a blessed Thanksgiving, and also there are NO religious education classes next weekend.

God Bless,

Colin Upham

Sunday, November 11, 2012

I want to thank all the parents for having your young people attend the abortion presentation at St. Catherine’s last night. Catherine Adair was an amazing speaker and I hope your children shared some of what they heard from her with you. It was very interesting to hear her point of view seeing that she has experienced so many of the facets of the pro-choice and the pro-life movement. As her biography stated, Catherine was a college student who became pregnant and was encouraged by her mom (a Catholic) to get an abortion. Upon graduating, she went to work for Planned Parenthood. Several years after leaving there, she went through a complete conversion and shared this journey with us.

I will add that the brief excerpt from her biography above doesn’t do her justice or justice to her talk. She was very upfront with everyone, having firsthand experience. She helped the young formulate responses when confronted by people questioning pro-life. It was also wonderful to see the young people ask questions and provide their opinions. The Catholic faith is strong in these young people. Thank you for fostering it.

God Bless,

Colin Upham

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Today we went over one of the modules “Circles of Care” which is required by the Diocese. We talked about relationships. We started the class by reviewing hand outs on what healthy and unhealthy relationships look like. I drew out a few points to have some discussions:

Healthy – Appropriate expressions of affection? (What do you think they are?)
Healthy – Don’t feel guilty when the other person is unhappy (is it your fault? Why do you feel guilty?)
Unhealthy – Need for constant reassurance of the others affection (do you have friends like this? Do you think this is normal?)
Unhealthy – convince you to change your behavior (should friends or husbands / wives do this? – [change being bad],we talked about how people might want us to change)
Unhealthy – are they self-absorbed and think their needs are most important (we talked about examples and had discussion)

We then went over a handout on “skills for a healthy relationship. We asked them to pick one or two that they needed to work out. I asked if anyone would want to share what they felt they wanted to work on and a few did. I brought out as an example “I do not need power or prestige to feel important”. (Is this vanity? what are some examples of power or prestige)
We then talked about the relationship that Jesus had with various people in the bible. We read the following and had discussion about what the young people thought was being said, and to give their opinions:

Matthew 7:21-28 (end of the sermon on the mount – Jesus is asking us to walk the walk)
Mark 14:32-41 (agony in the garden)
John 13:3-20 (washing the disciples feet – what this means to them)
John 21:15-19 (Jesus talking with Peter)
Luke 19:1-9 (Zaccheus)
John 4:1-41 (The Samaritan woman)

We talked about how Jesus had relationships with many people in the bible and how he loved each person he met. In fact, he loved them to the point of giving up his life for their sake. Jesus calls us to treat each other with respect and equality, to communicate honestly in all our dealings and to work for justice and peace for all.

We closed with a reading from John’s Gospel (John 15:10-17) Vine and Branches

God Bless,

Colin Upham

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Today we had the 9th and 10th grade assemble together for their Saints' Projects. We are truly blessed to have such good and faithful young people in our class. As part of the preparation for confirmation we have asked them to choose a patron saint whose name they will take at Confirmation. Someone whose life they feel drawn to and would like to emulate. I was very touched by some of the Saints that were chosen and was educated by all of my students with their knowledge of the Saint and also the presentation that they created.

On Wednesday night their projects were hung in the back of the church in preparation for All Saints and All Souls day. They will be kept up over the next week so that the entire parish can enjoy their work. As a reminder, they need to be by their projects after the 930 AM mass on Sunday November 4. I’m sure this is not a surprise to any of them. They don’t have to give a speech, they just need to stand near their projects so the parishioners can see what GREAT young people we have and to answer any questions they might have about their chosen Saint.

God Bless,

Colin Upham

Sunday, October 21, 2012

This week we continue our discussion on God. We talked about “through suffering and hardship we can grow” We had a long discussion on this and had a few group activities. We also talked about how suffering and hardship can increase our trust in God. Everything that happens in life is part of God’s plan. We talked about how even bad things are part of Gods plan. I brought up the example of baking a cake. Try the ingredients separately, and they are not very good, but when you put it all together (just like our life’s journey toward Christ) it can taste AMAZING. We talked about when people turn to God for his help, to talk to him. Many felt that everyone turns to God in the bad times, but not as often in the good times. Is this a good thing to happen? My comment was that at least they were turning to God at some point (smile).

Finally, I asked the students to look at the four statues in the sanctuary. Each has a shield, one with a human face, one with an ox, one with a lion, and one with an eagle. I asked them to find out what each shield represented and who the statues are for November 4.

God Bless,

Colin Upham

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Everyone was refreshed from their holiday (Columbus Day) last week. This week we talked about the Saint project again, which is due on October 28. We also talked about volunteer hours that are needed. Many of the varied options were discussed. The Lady’s of St. Anne Christmas fair (Nov. 2, 3, and 4) is an option. We also talked about helping decorate the church for feast days, collecting during the offertory at mass, etc. We also talked about the March for Life march in January in Washington and had some students talk about their experience there.

I also posed a few questions that the leader of our men’s group posed to us this week, and I asked your son / daughter to think about it and discuss it to find what they thought. The question follows (try not to read ahead):

A woman has a flat time on the highway. You, being a good Catholic, stop and help her change the tire and she goes on her way. Is this a Christian Act?
This lady is having a horrible time and gets another flat tire, but she is very prepared and has another spare. This time however an atheist stops, changes her tire and gets her on her way. Is this a Christian Act?
This lady is not having a good day. She has a third flat, and again has a spare time to use. This time a devil worshiper stops to help her change her tire and gets her on her way. Is this a Christian Act?

This week from the text we talked about God. How we need to take time for him, that he is God the Father. We discussed how God is “Almighty”. From here we branched into the question “Why is it hard for some people to believe that nothing is impossible with God?” We talked about suffering, and the intense suffering that Jesus endured for us on the cross. I asked the young people if their love for God is strong enough to weather such a storm. We also talked about unconditional love. We talked about examples of it, how parents have unconditional love for their children. Many brought up that a parent would “die for” their children. We talked about the crosses that we (men and woman) carry here on Earth. I asked the students what crosses they bear, and what crosses they see other people bear. We talked about how it can make you stronger, and how some of the crosses that we see people carry are unfair.

Next week we will talk about how we can grow through hardship, and continue to move through the book. We will also begin reading from the Bible each week. Each class is a pleasure and we have great discussions on the Catholic faith and the faith these young people have.

God Bless,

Colin Upham

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Today we finished up the chapter on Faith. How Faith and the Church fit together. I asked how they were currently involved in the Catholic community, and we also talked about how they could be involved further once they are confirmed. There was one passage in the text that was very moving and we went over it several times. “Setting a daily example of love can convert more people around us to God than any discussion on religion. People will unknowingly be drawn to your virtues. When they find out that God is at the center of your life, they will begin to understand and hopefully want to develop a relationship with Him as well.”

God Bless,

Colin Upham

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Today I started right into the material to see if anyone would notice that we didn’t begin with an opening prayer. Nice to say that they did notice and I told them how proud I was that they remembered. This week we continued our conversation about faith. We talked about believing in God and what benefit there is there. Also we talked about why some people might not believe in God. We looked at Luke 12:16-21 and also Matthew 6:19-29. We talked about what they were saying and what was trying to be said. We talked about how we serve the church. How they serve the church now and how they can serve the church in fuller ways once they are confirmed. We talked about how we should pray and ask for Gods assistance in what he would like us to do, to help us discern our talents and treasures.

Also we talked about what I asked them to think about last week. “Can someone who is a horrible, mean, and cruel person go to heaven?” It was a very good conversation and they truly understand being sorry for what is done, also about forgiveness and what Christ teaches us.

Also, today we did a faith inventory (grades 9 & 10) which takes about 30 minutes. The religious education program uses this as a gauge to see what the young people know about the Catholic Faith. This also allows us to see what pieces are missing and address it in the program.

As part of the Diocese “Protecting God’s Children”, and in keeping with the diocesan mandate that we teach "Circles of Care", I will begin working this into the lesson plan next week.

God Bless,

Colin Upham

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Today we had a very good class. They received their book (listed below) and also received their schedule for the year (also found on the parish website)

The book we will be using is “Know, Love, and Live Our Catholic Faith – A Preparation for Confirmation.".

Our first topic of discussion in the text is Faith.

What is Faith?
What are some examples of Faith?
How do personal beliefs impact our Faith?
“Life is full of choices. Christ teaches us that God’s ways are not the same as the ways of the world. To choose God often means going against popular opinion”
We looked at scripture (Matthew 5:43) how God’s message goes against what society might practice.
Faith and Science – Can they exist together?
What does it mean to be an eternal creature? How everything we do in this life counts.

We also took detours during the class as the young men and woman had questions. Purgatory was one topic that came up. I will always try to stay on topic, but if my students have questions relevant to the class, I will always either answer or find out the answer, and many times we have discussions on the topics which allows them to be better Catholics in the long run and then be able to defend the Catholic faith when challenged.

One of these side topics is part of their HOMEWORK this week “Can someone who is a horrible, mean, and cruel person go to heaven?”

This coming week we will continue our discussion on Faith, and look at a few passages in the bible. We will read and discuss Luke 12:16-21 and also Matthew 6:19-29. We will also read James 2:26 and discuss how Faith without works is dead.

God Bless,

Colin Upham / Sister Reyna