“Life to Faith and Faith to Life” (Thomas Groome)

The Year of Faith was the principal focus of the Catechetical programme in the Primary Schools of Killaloe Diocese for the academic year 2012 -2013. I feel that it has made a significant impact on the lives of pupils, teachers, parents, boards of management and priests. It has validated and given life to the above quote from Thomas Groome.

I am confident that two aspects of the Year of Faith will remain in my memory. They are:

The power of symbols as effective tools of catechesis
The personal faith testimonies of teachers and parents

Father and Son

The decision to make The Year of Faith our focus for the School Year arose from the positive response to and the success of the previous year’s focus on the Eucharistic Congress. Teachers in particular felt that the Eucharistic Congress fitted well with the “Alive O” programme; it also enriched their own appreciation of the Sacraments. This positive response encouraged us at National Advisors level to espouse The Year of Faith wholeheartedly with the schools.

Subsequently at an initial NAPDA meeting last September we ritualized the Year of Faith by walking through the “door” of faith. We were also given mustard seeds to sow in order to reflect on the similarities between our faith and that of Saint Peter – sometimes rock solid, sometimes full of doubts. It was this encounter with these symbols of door and mustard seed that directed us to the focal point we needed for the school year just beginning.

Our Year of Faith journey then took the diocesan Catechetical Advisors team to a meeting with Bishop Kieran O’Reilly where we set out our goal for the year ahead.
• This year it would be suggested that the Creed be taught with a new emphasis  not just “learning off (rote)” but genuinely “learning it by heart” as developed in the Alive-O programme.
• Have a gathering of teachers during Catholic Schools week in 2013 that would be based on the Year of Faith.
• Use the usual pre-sacramental meetings to engage with parents and community on the same theme of Faith.

Bishop Kieran wrote a letter to the teachers to actively encourage them in the Year of Faith throughout the school year.

The agenda was set and all that remained to be done was to visit schools, meet the teachers and pupils and set up parents’ meetings.

I admit to feeling a certain trepidation when setting off to our first meeting with parents. How would they feel about being asked to engage with their own faith and share their experiences? So I began by naming well known people who had spoken about how much their own faith meant to them and how it helped them throughout their lives. My worries evaporated as the parents responded to this by quite readily sharing their own faith experiences.

They were equally moved by the logo for the year as they were by the celebrities. Somehow the adults (and it was constantly proven to be true of the children in the class setting too) found a connection with the logo’s boat and sails and the discussion gave rise to words and phrases such as “bumpy, overboard, rough waters of life, the struggle to remain on board and the ups and downs of life”. The symbolism of the logo spoke volumes to people and facilitated them in sharing many personal experiences. I found the parents’ responses to be both inspiring and humbling.

Boat from Killeen

The planned gatherings of teachers took place in two venues – Dunkerrin and New Market On Fergus. Bishop Kieran attended both and it was clear from later feedback that the teachers appreciated seeing the bishop there and his giving time to engage with them about their own faith and their role in handing on the faith in the classrooms of the diocese. A liturgy was held highlighting faith and the symbols of faith were emphasised in the liturgy. Again some of the symbols that meant most to the teachers were the boat, cross, creed (given prominence on a poster), bread/grapes, B.O.M. booklet, figurine indicating circle of friends, National Catechetical Directory, bible and rosary beads. The response of the teachers was very positive as the diocesan catechetical team already experienced when visiting the schools.

Sacred Space Dunkerrin

And so I come to the schools themselves. My experience of visiting the seventy schools in my care was as usual demanding, time-consuming and hard work, but very rewarding. It was clear to me how the year of Faith focus was working the moment I entered a classroom and met the children. The majority of teachers had begun by teaching the creed by heart and so opened up to the children its richness. They used the Alive O programme to enhance the learning of the creed and made use of the many symbols in posters, hand-outs and music. Pupils who engaged with the Creed on this heart level were surprised at how they could relate to it within the context of Sunday Mass and surprised many near them by how vocal they were in reciting it!

Some schools held gatherings for grandparents who were honoured for the steadfastness of their Faith. These meetings though few were very meaningful to both the children and their grandparents and gave both a sense of the Faith being alive and handed on from one generation to another. There is now a multi-faith presence in almost all schools and it was a lovely aspect of the Year of Faith focus to find the children of other Faiths respond by pointing out the similarities between their Faith and that of their Catholic school friends.

Confirmation student

It would be foolish to think that everything is rosy in the garden of Faith and in the garden of Primary School Catechetics. Each year shows us new as well as recurring problems. There still needs to be a stronger awareness cultivated at parish level of the Primary Schools’ role in handing on the Faith to children and for the parish to work in conjunction with schools. Priests and Pastoral Councils should consider ways in which they might better integrate the work of teachers and the needs of children into the life of the parish.

Catechetical advisors regularly find that there is a need to address the very real issue of some teachers who feel that they are not able to teach religion. Likewise, we need to provide all our teachers with a basic language and vocabulary that is relevant to faith and makes it easier to speak about it.

I began by speaking of the impact of the symbols and the testimonies of parents and teachers. Many teachers told me that the Year of Faith initiative in their schools opened them to rediscovering their own faith. Parents too said that they found the Year of Faith even more meaningful for them than it was for their children.  I am always delighted when I hear parents acknowledge that the catechetical programme resonates with them as much as with their children. Once more it speaks to me of the “life” that Groome talks of in his words “Life to Faith and Faith to Life” I have certainly found the Year of Faith as shared with children, parents, teachers and the entire school communities of Killaloe Diocese to be life-giving. I consider myself privileged to be the recipient of such a gift.

Essie (Esther) Hayes rsm
Diocesan Advisor: Killaloe Diocese
South Central Province