2023-24 Grade 8 Religious Education

Greetings everyone! Because of the Resurrection of Christ, we are now bound for the glory of Heaven, which is sung of so wonderfully in the song " Glory Bound ", and this song was our opening prayer in class. I also shared treats to celebrate the anniversaries of my baptism and my First Holy Communion. As we reached the end of the Religious Education year, we considered how we grow in faith and how we put it into action. Pope St. John Paul II promoted the idea of the New Evangelization, as have the two Popes, Benedict and Francis, after him.  We have experienced the Good News that Christ, once dead, is now alive forever and ever.  We are called to be people of this Good News and proclaim it by the way we live our lives, sharing joyfully our hope with others. Living the Good News is a way that we display how the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives.  And there are 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit. We concluded class with the Easter hymn " Jesus is Risen ". Together with t...

Greetings everyone! During this class, we started with the song " God's Not Dead " as our opening prayer.  One phrase in the song says, God is "roaring like a lion".  That image connects to St. Mark, whose feast is April 25, and his symbol is a lion. Then we considered the idea of our universal call to holiness.  In our books, we looked at two important Church councils, Vatican I in the 19th Century, and Vatican II in the 1960's.  The later council made a number of significant changes in the church, including the role of laypeople. The council emphasized that holiness is not just for priests and religious.  All people who are baptized are called to exhibit God's character, and to live like saints. There is a great piece of artwork in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception that illustrates the "Universal Call to Holiness", and you can read more about it here , and see a picture of it when not being worked on, as is the ...

Easter Greetings once again! At the 1964 Oscars ceremony, 60 years ago this month, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win an Oscar, which was for his role in the movie Lilies of the Field.  During that movie, he played the character Homer Smith, who sang a song about Christ's life. That song, " Amen ", was our opening prayer for class. Pope Benedict XVI was born on April 16, 1927, in Germany.  The end of the first episode of the Catholicism series, hosted by Bishop Barron and Word on Fire, tells a story about Cardinal George at Pope Benedict's election. You can watch it here and go to the 40:00 mark. We are part of a Church that has stood the test of time because God has made us to be His Holy people, and His Holy Spirit continues to guide us in upholding the Truth as we answer the call to live faithfully as His people. Mrs. Monaco stopped by class to encourage everyone to keep practicing their faith as part of Bishop Casey's challenge at Mass to...

Easter Greetings! We're now in the Easter Season.  While the principal day to celebrate teh Resurrection of Christ was on Easter Sunday, March 31, we have a full 50-day season to continue rejoicing in the most important event in human history. For our opening prayer to start our class, we watched the music video of the song " Alive " which looks at the Resurrection from the perspective of St. Mary Magdalene.  (You may remember I played this song last year in class.) After considering what Easter means to us, we looked at the four Gospel accounts of the Resurrection: Matthew 28:1-10 Mark 16:1-7 Luke 24:1-12 John 20:1-10 After Jesus rose from the dead, made several appearances, and then ascended to Heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit, the sign of His Risen Presence continuing with us, as St. Peter says in Acts 2:29-32, on the day of Pentecost after the Holy Spirit descended. At the end of class, our closing prayer was this Taize song, " Be Not Afraid ". As usual, plea...

Greetings everyone! During our class on March 19, in celebration of the Feast of St. Joseph, we started with the prayer at the end of the Litany of St. Joseph . God communicated important messages to him in dreams, and St. Joseph quietly obeyed--in fact, the Bible doesn't record a single word spoken by St. Joseph. St. Joseph side altar inside Ascension We also celebrated the Vernal Equinox and Cardinal Cupich's birthday, who turned 75 on March 19, just three days after my birthday. Cardinal Cupich attended St. Peter and Paul Church, shown here, when he was growing up in southern Omaha. Then we focused on the Triduum, the three-day period at the heart of the liturgical calendar in which we commemorate the central events of our faith, the saving Death and Resurrection of Christ. Here is a video I made a few years ago showcasing symbolism of Maundy Thursday, which is during Holy Week and at the start of the Triduum. On Good Friday of Holy Week, during the liturgy of that day, we ...

Greetings everyone! During class, everyone had the opportunity for the sacrament of reconciliation with Father Rex. To set the tone, we prayed Psalm 32 at the start of class. And after going to confession, you all had the chance to pray the Stations of the Cross. Then we considered what Church authority means with an audio clip from The Patrick Madrid Show on Relevant Radio as he talks about a time he used a napkin in apologetics.  Afterward, I summarized some pages in our class book that described what happened in the Protestant Reformation when certain people objected to Church teachings, and the Church's response, both by the bishops and those who established religious orders, including St. Ignatius of Loyola. As Roman Catholics, we believe God started the Church when Jesus Christ was on Earth and He has handed His authority to the leaders, guided by the Holy Spirit, to interpret Christ's teachings, including those in the Bible. Toward the end of class, we watched short tw...

Lenten Greetings everyone! During our most recent class, we started with the song " Purified " by Michael W. Smith. I connected it with my experience in a Native American Sweat Lodge ceremony during a service trip to northeastern Nebraska 11 years ago this month. St. Augustine Mission in Winnebago, NE Lent is a time when God seeks to purify us so that we can turn away from sin and enter more deeply into relationship with God. The sacraments are also an important part of our relationship with God, bringing us in contact with the life of God.  We nourish that life through the Eucharist. Adoration chapel in the Immaculata Monastery in Norfolk, NE I shared three Relevant Radio Eucharistic Encounter videos. This video focuses on how highways are built around churches in major cities. This video tells a story of a priest who was so intent on making the sacraments available to the people, even when he was aging and his health was declining. This video tells about how poor people ...

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...

Greetings everyone! December 12 is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, she was our focus during this class session. As our opening prayer, I played a traditional song for this Feast, Las Apariciones de Guadalupana.  This video plays the song in Spanish with an English translation included. I shared some Mexican pan dulce as a treat. We viewed this St. Paul Center video that tells the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. And we watched this Knight of Columbus mini-documentary that connects Our Lady of Guadalupe with the Eucharist. San Juan Diego was the first person to encounter her aparitions, and he proclaimed the message she shared. Another important herald of Christ was St. John the Baptist.  We looked at these passages from the Gospels: Matthew 3:1-12 Mark 1:1-8 Luke 3:1-20 John 1:15-28 For our class on December 19, we are going to have a special Advent/Christmas Prayer liturgy, and parents, you're welcome to join us.  All 8th grade families are asked to bring a pack of ju...

Advent Greetings! We began a new liturgical year with the start of Advent on Sunday, December 3. Advent Wreath lit for the First Sunday of Advent at the Guardian Angel Cathedral in Las Vegas, NV During this class, we focused more on what Advent is about: We wait for the celebration of Christ's first coming at His birth in Bethlehem, for His second coming at the End of Time, and to welcome Him into our hearts each day. We began class with the song " Even So, Come ". We did two activities during class to explore themes of Advent. There are four candles on the Advent wreath, one for each of the four Sundays before Christmas/Nativity Day.  One interpretation is that the first candle represents hope, the second candle represents peace, the third candle represents joy, and the fourth candle represents love. We spent time pondering how Christ can bring us hope, peace, joy, and love. Our second activity was focused on the Jesse Tree, which uses Bible passages and images that tel...

Greetings everyone! The end of November and the beginning of December bring so many important occasions. The final Sunday of November was the last Sunday of the liturgical year, when we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Christ the King Parish in Las Vegas, NV There is a rose window in the back of Ascension Church depicting Christ the King. While many assert earthly power, Christ possesses the true Kingly power because He came to Earth and is our Savior, Whose Kingdom will be fully established at the End of Time. The End of Time is an important theme of Advent, which begins on Sunday, December 3, 2023.  Here's a link to the Busted Halo video that summarized Advent in 2 minutes. The Eucharist comes from a Greek word that means Thanksgiving, and it was only appropriate just days after our Thanksgiving Day holiday to focus on the Eucharist in class. We watched this video narrated by Bishop Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix, AZ. Presidents Washingt...

Greetings everyone! Our most recent class was on November 14, the day after St. Augustine's birthday. For our opening prayer, we viewed this video of " A Rightful Place ", by Steve Angrisano, and its refrain has words based on a St. Augustine quotation: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." Then, we all created hand turkeys as a way to think about what we're grateful for as we approach Thanksgiving Day. In our textbook, we looked at Pope St. Gregory I.  He established many important doctrines and the format of liturgy, including the Mass, for how we worship God. Then, we listened to the following two songs and wrote words from them that stood out to us: " O God You Search me and You Know me ", based on Psalm 139, and also " In Christ Alone ". And then we learned more about St. Benedict, who established monastic communities and a Rule for them, a set of principles for how the members are to live in them. We finished class wit...

Greetings everyone! In our most recent class, we looked at ways that we can find our identity in faith and continue growing in it. For our opening prayer, we viewed this video of the song "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", sung by Josh Groban, which is often played at weddings. The first part of our class focused on the Eucharist.  We watched this video on the Breaking in Habit YouTube Channel.  Father Casey has a conversation about the Eucharist with five people of different backgrounds and ages about what it means to them.  It was a great opportunity to not just hear someone talk at us about the Eucharist, but learn from a variety of perspectives. In the second part of class, we focused on the Creed, our statement of beliefs, which is a basis for our identity as they help us know Who God is, Who Jesus is, and Who the Holy Spirit is, along with some statements about the Church.  The statements in the creed, along with other important beliefs, resulted from various co...

Greetings everyone! During our most recent class, the vast majority of our time was spent viewing the documentary Enduring Faith .  It was produced by the Knights of Columbus and focuses on Native American Roman Catholics in North America, mostly in the USA. Our opening prayer was an extended quotation attributed to St. Teresa of Avila, " Christ has no body now but yours ". The closing prayer was from the 1st reading for All Saints' Day Mass, from Revelation 7:9-12.  As we learned about the practice of Roman Catholicism among Native Americans, we see that the Church has expanded to include people from many ethnicities, as this passage of Scripture describes. We are off from class on October 31.  However, we have the opportunity to attend Mass on November 1, which is a Holy Day of Obligation.  Masses at Ascension are at 8:15 AM and 7 PM.  We celebrate the many holy people who have lived lives of faith before us, and remind us of our call to holiness. The activity...

Greetings everyone! During our most recent class, we focused on the three initiation sacraments, Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation.  While in the early church, those who joined received all three at once, many Roman Catholics today receive them staggered over the course of several years in their young lives. I was glad to share the celebration of the 18th anniversary of my Confirmation with you in class, and it seems that you enjoyed the carrot/strawberry bread. For our opening prayer, I played the 2008 World Youth Day theme song, " Receive the Power ". In our class book, we reflected on the meaning of our baptismal promises and then we all dipped our fingers into a small jar of Holy Water to bless ourselves.  A similar reflection is available from Creighton University at this link . Confirmation includes an anointing by oil to seal us in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  And it includes the laying on of hands, an ancient gesture that calls upon the Holy Spirit, as we see...

Greetings everyone! To start class, in the spirit of St. Francis, whose feast day is October 4, we listened to the song "All Creatures of Our God and King", with words inspired by the writings of St. Francis of Assisi. We welcomed Marissa Munoz as our class aide.  She has two sons in the RE program.  Thank you, Marrisa, for joining us. Then, we briefly reviewed Ordinary Time, the current liturgical season.  "Ordinary" comes from the word "Ordinal", referring to how the Sundays are counted in the time between the seasons for the major feasts of Christmas and Easter. During Ordinary Time, we reflect on how to live out our faith and proclaim the Gospel message. In our class book, we looked at examples of martyrs who gave their lives for their faith. The first disciple, Mary, also gives us a great example of how to live our faith and proclaim God.  We look at the words of the Magnificat.  Then, each person wrote a phrase from the Magnificat that stands out. T...

Greetings everyone! In our most recent class, during our opening prayer time, we listened to the song, " To Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King ", which is part of an album of music compiled for Pope Francis's 2015 apostolic journey to the USA. Toward the beginning of class, we spent time looking more closely at the words of the Lord's Prayer, by writing out all the words. For this week's activity at home, please display your writing of the Lord's Prayer in a place where you'll see it frequently throughout the week. To follow up from last week, we looked in our textbook at the roles that Saints Peter and Paul played in upholding the faith.  St. Peter was one of the original 12 apostles.  Upon professing faith in Christ, He bestowed on Him the authority to hand on His teachings, which is what the magisterium is, the Church's teaching authority.  The magisterium has been handed down through the centuries via the Pope and the Bishops, the successors of the a...

Greetings everyone! In our most recent class, we joined with the 7th grade class, and learned about two foundational figures of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul. In Ascension Church, this window shows Christ handing His authority to St. Peter, as shown by the keys. To the left of me is a statue of St. Paul in the Cathedral of St. Paul in Minnesota. At the start of class, everyone got an index card and wrote out a prayer intention and one thing for which they're grateful. I asked everyone to take that card home, keep it in a visible spot, and pray for that intention throughout the week. As a backdrop to our class learning, for our opening prayer, I played the English version of the 2023 World Youth Day song, " Feel the Rush in the Air ". WYD is an annual faith-focused youth/young adult event, with an international gathering in a different city that happens about every 3 years.  The 2023 event was in Lisbon, Portugal.  It was started by Pope St. John Paul II in the 1980s a...