2023-24 Grade 8 Religious Education

Greetings everyone! During our most recent class, we spent our time watching the documentary God is Alive , produced by the Diocese of Springfield, IL.  It has many great stories about how God is at work in the lives of people, is available to watch for free on YouTube, with some ads embedded. The activity for this week is to look at the Litany of the Passion. It contains many statements about the Passion of Christ. Please go to this website to view it. Then, at this link , submit a reflection on one of those statements. This activity is due by class time on March 5. Looking ahead, we'll continue to explore Lenten themes and the meaning of Confirmation, since the retreat will be the following weekend on March 9. Thanks to those of you who submitted your money for the collection.  If you haven't yet, please bring it to class on March 5.  You must use money from allowance or helping with household tasks, not asking your parents directly. As usual, please feel free to conta...

Greetings everyone! In our most recent class, we started with the song " Lift Every Voice and Sing " as our opening prayer.  It's the Black national anthem, written by James Weldon Johnson. Then we took time to consider what it means to be in a relationship with God, which is a significant part of what Lent is about.  We focus on growing in our relationship with God by turning from things that keep us away from Him and taking up practices that lead us closer, most especially prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. At the start of class, everyone had the chance to fill out a sheet to start thinking about how to observe Lent.  It will not be collected, but please keep it in a spot where you'll see it frequently and remind yourself of your plan.  You can make adjustments as needed. Ultimately, when we get to Easter Sunday, we celebrate the New Life of Christ, and the Life we have in Him through baptism, and we will renew our baptismal promises. In baptism, we receive an anoint...

Greetings everyone! After an extended break period, it was so good to be back in class as we neared the end of the first month of 2024. There's an ancient custom of celebrating Christmas for 40 days from December 25 to February 2. So, we started class by watching this trilingual video of "Joy to the World", which was originally written with a focus on the second coming of Christ. Nativity scene at St. Gregory the Great Parish on the North Side of Chicago We then took a look at Christmas from a more cosmic perspective, as described in Revelation 12, showing how God made a decisive advance in the battle between good and evil when Christ was born. After reading the chapter, I shared a commentary from a Bible I got as a gift 20 years ago in 7th grade. One person who strove valiantly in the struggle between good and evil was Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr., who responded to hate with love and nonviolence. The home in eastern Atlanta where Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr., was bo...