Session 3 Delivering a catechetical session: things to consider

Planning Implies a purpose and Strategies for getting somewhere Immediate and long-term And may also help with ‘who does what’ Supports evaluation

Your ‘client group’ ? What sort of people are you addressing? Age/gender/housing/current life problems/etc Catholics for how long/modes of prayer/image of God Experience of Church? Familiar with adult formation? Experience of faith-sharing? Happy to work with non-ordained members?

Environment Where is this happening? Is it comfortable? Warm? Welcoming? When is it happening? Suitable time for that group? Where do refreshments fit in? Or is this online? What then?

Who wants this session to happen? Was this session imposed from outside or suggested by someone within the group? Why would they want to come? Is it voluntary? What threats/challenges might exist? Are participants involved with your planning? Could they be? Possible motivation for coming?

Recruiting an audience Publicity? Where and to whom? How? Language? [both jargon and EFL]

Be clear about your theme You may be responding to a specified need You may have suggested something to the PP or to others General or specific? Articulate your theme as clearly as possible Any subsidiary themes within this?

Aims for the session Sounds very bureaucratic but actually helpful Write them down – tells you what you are aiming at Broad aims: giving confidence or deepening spirituality Narrower aims: eg making them familiar with the audience Mark wrote for Will you tell attenders what you are aiming at?

Your image of church Firstly, what is this? Will your target group share this? If they don't, will it cause problems?

Your spirituality Shared by other people ? How might they respond to your form of prayer? What differences might there be?

Before you begin..... Have you prayed about this?

Planning the session Overall aim Balance for those participants Time factor Resources Choice of elements: implicit or explicit Ground rules for participants?

Scripture Where will this fit in? What form will it take? How will you present the passage(s)? How will you ‘break the word’? Does it require informed commentary? Who will do this? ‘Liturgical catechesis’ – may be the best way

Church tradition / Teaching CCC may be a good place to start Check out the references it gives Ask people ‘in the know’ Make this as rich as possible – don’t look for one answer only Are you ‘defending’ a particular perspective?

Experience / Witness / Story Where does the experience of those present fit in? How will it be contributed? How will you respect privacy, confidentiality etc? Can you use stories from elsewhere? The past? Discussion like this will raise questions and possibly critique/criticism– how will you deal with this?

Celebration / Liturgy Social: ? Prayerful:? Eucharistic? What are the possibilities?

Conversion / Mission Does the discussion imply change of any sort? Personal? Communal? Structural?

Faith sharing Not always easy - people are not always part of a believing / evangelised community! Takes time Requires freedom and good facilitation Mid point often good: some small group discussion Not just chat – make people focus

Can we teach? Sometimes teaching is the right tool Teaching as ‘didactic’ – from ‘expert’ to the ‘ignorant’ Extends knowledge and understanding But often passive and may become pious entertainment

Symbols Think carefully about using symbols Often more communicative than words! Helps create atmosphere

Resources Ie teaching resources Do you need them? Do they contribute directly to people’s understanding? Or do they get in the way?

Music Background What are the participants used to? Most useful as part of the liturgy?

Evaluation Go back to your aims Think about what happened and where you think you got Ask participants how they felt Achievement may be broad rather than narrow What, overall, would be the assessment? Are you able to feed this into the next time?

Next week: No more than 10 mins In pairs A topic/ theme A plan A focus group Tell us why you chose this plan etc