At Religious Ed this past week we covered Chapter 11. Chapter 11 was mostly about Reconciliation. We learned that Reconciliation means Forgiveness for our sins. During our discussion, we remembered that Reconciliation is one of the 7 sacraments and someone found the page that listed all of the sacraments and we reviewed them.
Along with talking about Reconciliation, we talked about Conscience. Someone said, "It is like a little ant inside you that tells you what to do". Someone else said, "It is like a voice that tells you what is right and wrong". We compared it to the cartoons that have an angel on one shoulder telling you the right thing to do and a devil on the other shoulder telling you the wrong thing to do. We use our conscience to help us decide what is right and wrong. If we made the wrong decision and commit a sin, we need to ask for forgiveness.
Homework:
Chapter 11 Review (Pages 104, 105, 106)
Go to church and bring back a bulletin OR song sheet
This week we also had a special visitor! Father John (the pastor at Church of the Holy Spirit) joined us to talk about his job, being a priest and being Catholic. We had A LOT of questions for him and really enjoyed what we learned. We had some serious questions and some silly ones (we found out which Chicago teams he roots for!) There were a lot of thoughtful questions and you could tell everyone was processing and thinking hard about what they learned.
Father John talked to us about what we do at church. We learned that when we sing in church, we are praying too! We also learned about the 3 parts of the Bible that we read during Mass. We learned that when Father John was in Jr. High, he worked at the rectory at his parish and learned about what priests do. Then he went to the seminary. He had to study A LOT! In 1991 he was ordained. He started working at Church of the Holy Spirit in July. We learned that you have to go to college AND four years in the seminary to become a priest.
Here are some of the questions and answers from our discussion (some of the answers are summarized).
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: No.
Q: Where do you live?
A: Where I work! Right at the building next to the church.
Q: Why are you a priest?
A: God called me.
Q: What do you do all day?
A: I have Mass every day. I work in the office. I get ready for the weekend Homily. I prepare an article for the bulletin. Also, I visit sick people.
Q: Are you happy as a priest?
A: VERY happy
Q: Is it hard being a priest?
A: Sometimes. When people are sad or when someone dies it is hard. But there are also REALLY happy times like when people get married or babies are baptized.
Q: Do you have kids?
A: No. I made a promise not to get married when I became a priest.
Q: Do you spend a lot of time with your family?
A: My mom lives in the area so I get to see her about two times a month. My Dad is in Florida and my sister is in Thailand so I don't get to see them very often.
Q: Do you have friends?
A: Yes. Some are priests and some are not.
Q: What is your favorite music?
A: I am probably dating myself....but Journey.
Q: What is the difference between Catholic and Jewish?
A: Jewish people have been around a really long time. They are waiting for the messiah to come. And have been waiting a long time. We believe that Jesus is the messiah. They do not. They are still waiting for the messiah to come.
Q: Do you baptize babies?
A: A lot! At St. Gall I baptized thousands of babies. Here, the deacons mostly do it.
Q: When is your birthday?
A: November 2
Q: Do you bless a lot?
A: Yes. At Mass, when I visit people in the hospital with oil .....no not oil from your car, special oil for anointing sick people.
Q: Are you scared in front of everyone? Like stage fright?
A: I can get a little nervous sometimes.
Q: What do you do with your free time?
A: Play golf....not not miniature golf! I like hockey.
Q: Do you like the Cubs or the Sox?
A: Sox!
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Italian and Mexican. I don't like sauerkraut, liver, or lima beans!
Q: Do you know all about Jesus?
A: No. Not all. But a lot!
Q: What is your favorite thing to do in church?
A: Baptisms and weddings
Q: Do you get paid a lot?
A: Not as much as most people, but I get my house paid for.
Q: What is your favorite Gospel? (adult question)
A: The beatitudes, or anything about how blessed we are
Q: Did you go to Vacation Bible School?
A: Yes. But I went to the Lutheran Church because Catholics didn't have it back then.
Q: Why can't you get married?
A: Because I am dedicated to the church. If I was married, I would be worried about my kids and family and not as much about the church.
Q: What if you are sick on Sunday?
A: I would try to find someone else.
Thank you Father John for coming to talk to us and letting us ask you so many questions.
Parents, this is a great opportunity for you to review these questions and discuss them with your child to make sure he/she understands them and find out if your child has any other questions.
We talked about the importance of forgiving. We also said that Jesus didn't mean literally a specific number of times to forgive. Just like God will always forgive us, Jesus wants us to forgive as well.
Here are the notes from our discussion:
