Sunday School
Beginning Sept. 11 - For Everyone!
Sunday mornings @ 9:30 am

Adults meet with Charles Smith in the Parish Hall.
Children 3-12 will meet in the basement for catechesis.  Teachers are Sissy Curtis, Jan Ragsdale and Deacon Suzie Wilkinson.
Jr. and Sr. High teens will meet in the Rector's office.  Leaders for this group are Karen Smith and And'e Ragsdale, and Rev. Linda Kelly.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

Since 1994 we have been using a program named Catechesis of the Good Shepherd as the cirricula for our Sunday school young people ages 3 through 12. This approach to Christian education was developed in Rome in 1954 by Sophia Caveletti, a Bible and Hebrew scholar and her colleague Gianna Gobbi, an associate of Maria Montessori, the innovator of self teaching with manual materials. Today this program is being used by many denominations in over 21 countries all over the world in urban, rural, and even nomadic cultures and spanning all socio-economic situations. The universal appeal and success of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is that it is based on the conviction that God and the child are in a unique relationship with one another, and through the presentations the child is allowed to come closer to God by himself. The adult catechist calls forth the child's response rather than pouring in information, and so is a co-wonderer with the child as they meditate on the questions generated by the presentations, believing these times to be conversations with God.
 
Caveletti chose the name of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd after observing that children of all cultures and ages, particularly the young child age 3-6, were drawn most often to the parable of the Good Shepherd, treasuring the message that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows each of his sheep (which the children identify as themselves) by name, watches over them and claims them as his own. This relationship of personal love is most meaningful to them.
 
We call the room where we meet an atrium, the name of the room where early Christians met to prepare for their baptism. Our rooms (atria) are specially prepared for the children in which every object is a help to knowing God. They are places of simplicity, order, prayer, work and community. Everything has its special place and is sized to each child's age group (in particular child sizes altars and related articles of the Eucharist plus miniature environments and figures). Lessons center on the important places and events in the life of Jesus, his teachings through the parables, salvation history as revealed in both the Old and New Testaments, and study of the liturgy in the Episcopal tradition. Above all the atria have a sense of solemnity. We show the children how to walk slowly and talk softly, learning that it is often in silence that we can hear God speaking to us.
 
We have three atria: Level 1 for ages 3-5; Level 2 for ages 6-8; and Level 3 for ages 9-12. Lessons in each level are repeated in a three year cycle. One might think that using the same curriculum year after year would get tiresome as is often the case with other programs. However this is the beauty of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd; because it is directed by the responses and needs of the children, each presentation is fresh and we discover something new through observations with the children. Many tears of joy and wonder are shed over the wise insights expressed by these little ones as they learn to verbalize their deep inborn knowledge of God and His loving relationship with all His creation.