Author: Deacon Nick

Nick Senger, founder and editor of Catholic School Chronicle, is an award-winning Catholic school teacher, vice principal and technology coordinator. He is a deacon for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane.
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Don’t Miss the Most Important Catholic Media Event of 2011

Fr. Robert Barron
Fr. Robert Barron

Mark your calendar for September 2011, for what promises to be one of the most beautiful and inspiring events in Catholic media next year: The Catholicism project. Fr. Robert Barron has been traveling the globe “to explore, through a global journey, the living culture of the Catholic Church.” It’s quite possibly the most ambitious catechetical project ever attempted, and looks to be an outstanding series.

If you haven’t yet seen the trailers for The Catholicism Project, please enjoy the following preview:

Needless to say, I’m extremely excited about the potential this series has to reignite the faith of Catholics everywhere. Just look at this lineup of episodes:

  • Amazed and Afraid: The Revelation of God Become Man
  • Happy Are We – The Teachings of Jesus
  • That Which Nothing Greater Can Be Thought – The Ineffable Mystery of God
  • Our Tainted Nature’s Solitary Boast – Mary, the Mother of God
  • To the Ends of the Earth – Peter, Paul, and the Missionary Adventure
  • A Body Both Suffering and Glorious – The Mystical Union of Christ and the Church
  • Word Made Flesh, True Bread of Heaven – The Mystery of the Church’s Sacrament and Worship
  • A Vast Company of Witnesses – The Communion of Saints
  • The Fire of His Love – Prayer and the Life of the Spirit
  • World Without End – The Last Things

According to the Catholicism website, there will be “a 300 page companion book, a thought-provoking study guide, and more.” I certainly hope someone thinks to make some study materials for Catholic schools.

If September seems too far away, you can catch Fr. Barron each Sunday morning on WGN.

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Book Review: Little Star by Anthony DeStefano

Little StarWith his new children’s book Little Star, Anthony DeStefano has created a story that successfully captures the true spirit of Christmas giving. Little Star is “the smallest, loneliest star in the sky,” but he is the only star to recognize the great king that is about to be born. The gift he gives to the king will take all his energy and effort, and will eventually require the ultimate sacrifice.

The book deals with two important themes that are very important for children to grasp: first, the idea that everyone is important, no matter how little; and second, the value of self-giving love. Little Star would be an excellent choice for sharing with students in a classroom or religious education program, and would lead naturally to a meaningful discussion about true generosity.

How good is Little Star? I read it to the two resident experts on children’s books in my house: a daughter in Kindergarten and a daughter in sixth grade. The kindergartner became enamored with Mark Elliot’s beautiful illustrations and immediately began drawing her own pictures of Little Star. The sixth grader loved the story so much she was inspired to spend the rest of the evening writing her own Christmas story.

I have a feeling that reading Little Star has just become a family Christmas tradition in our house.

Little Star, by Anthony DeStefano. Waterbrook Press. Amazon Price: $9.35

From the back cover:

A king is about to be born! The stars in the heavens are competing to shine the brightest to celebrate his birth. But when they see the poor family, the donkey, the shabby stable, the stars all think, That can’t possibly be a king. We’ve been fooled.

All except one. The smallest, loneliest star in the sky, Little Star, is the only one to understand what the king was about to bring to the world. But what can Little Star do for him?

Certain to become a Christmas classic, this delightful tale connects the star atop our Christmas trees to the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus, in the hearts and minds of young children.

Anthony DeStefano is the bestselling author of A Travel Guide to Heaven, Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To, This Little Prayer of Mine, and I Just Can’t Take it Anymore!

Mark Elliott’s brilliant illustrations have appeared in many picture books and novels for young readers, including Gail Carson Levine’s ever-popular Princess Tales series. His acclaimed artwork delivers inspiration, wonder, and timeless beauty on every page.

Here is the promotional video from Waterbrook Press:

Finally, in this excerpt from EWTN’s BookMark, Anthony DeStefano explains the role Frank McCourt played in the writing of Little Star:

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CSC Video News – Advent Bingo and Chicago Schools

If you’re looking for a fun way to engage your students in the weeks leading up to Christmas, Loyola Press has posted a free Advent Bingo activity for use in Catholic classrooms and religious education programs.

The bingo activity is available as a free download on Loyola’s website, and includes three leader guides and thirty Bingo Carddifferent bingo cards.

Great news out of Chicago this week as The Soul of a Nation reports increased enrollment for the archdiocese for the first time in 60 years. The article attributes this growth to, among other things, strong leadership and an experimental model of governance for 16 of its schools.

Read more about this amazing achievement at The Soul of a Nation.

Finally, this month we’re asking the question, How willing are you to make Advent more meaningful? Would you be wiling to refrain from Christmas carols or putting up a Christmas tree until the Christmas season actually begins? Let us know by visiting CatholicSchoolChronicle.com to take our poll or leave a comment.

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The 3 Functions of a Catholic School

ClassroomWhy do Catholic schools exist? What’s really the difference between a public school and a Catholic school? Is a Catholic school simply a public school with an added course called Religion? Is a Catholic school’s purpose to be a haven from the world, an island where no bad things come?

According to the Declaration on Christian Education, a document of the Second Vatican Council, a Catholic school has three functions:

No less than other schools does the Catholic school pursue cultural goals and the human formation of youth. But its proper function is to create for the school community a special atmosphere animated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity, to help youth grow according to the new creatures they were made through baptism as they develop their own personalities, and finally to order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation so that the knowledge the students gradually acquire of the world, life and man is illumined by faith. So indeed the Catholic school, while it is open, as it must be, to the situation of the contemporary world, leads its students to promote efficaciously the good of the earthly city and also prepares them for service in the spread of the Kingdom of God, so that by leading an exemplary apostolic life they become, as it were, a saving leaven in the human community. (Gravissimum Educationis, 8)

Looking at our own Catholic schools–whether as a pastor, administrator, or teacher–how do they measure up? Are they functioning as intended? Looking closer at each of the following points may help us reflect on those questions.

1. “To create for the school community a special atmosphere animated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and charity”:

  • Is my school’s atmosphere “special”–that is, uniquely enlivened by the freedom and charity of the Gospel?
  • How much autonomy do the students have? Are they free to pursue their individual gifts and God-given talents?
  • Charity: “a divinely infused habit, inclining the human will to cherish God for his own sake above all things, and man for the sake of God” (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910). How does my school foster the virtue of charity?

2. “To help youth grow according to the new creatures they were made through baptism as they develop their own personalities”:

  • We are called to help our students grow not as the “old creatures” they were before their baptism, but as “new creatures.” How should our approach be different than if we were teaching the unbaptized?
  • What do baptized young people need in order to grow in their new life in Christ?
  • Am I helping students to develop their own personalities, or am I unintentionally squelching their individuality?

3. “To order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation so that the knowledge the students gradually acquire of the world, life and man is illumined by faith”:

  • How does the world look different when “illumined by faith”?
  • Catholic schools are called to look at “the whole of human culture” through the lens of faith. How does that lens affect our lesson plans and subject area objectives?
  • In areas like science, social studies, mathematics, language arts, and music, does the content and organization of my school’s curriculum look very different than a public school? If so, how? If not, why not?
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Poll: How Willing Are You to Make Advent More Meaningful?

Tree of Jesse
Tree of Jesse, 16th Century Athens

Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City and Deacon Greg Kandra of Brooklyn have recently challenged us to not lose sight of the importance of the Advent season. Bishop Wester even went so far as to make it the subject of his first pastoral letter to the people of Salt Lake City. Titled “Waiting in Joyful Hope,” Bishop Wester suggests several ways to celebrate Advent more fully:

  • “Schools should not decorate for Christmas, but can decorate with simple wreaths and greenery.”
  • “I encourage each home to display and bless an Advent wreath…”
  • “I urge you to hold-off on displaying a decorated Christmas tree until the season of Christmas begins.”
  • “You may want to incorporate a Jesse tree in your family’s observance of the season.”

What do you think? Can we as Catholics be counter-cultural, the way some denominations are counter-cultural? Jehovah’s Witnesses do not participate in Halloween. Seventh Day Adventists rest on Saturday rather than Sunday. Can we reclaim Advent from secular culture? Is it possible for Catholics to resist the pull of our society and wait until Christmas Eve to celebrate, and then to extend that celebration until the Epiphany?

How far would you be willing to go? Take the poll below and/or leave a comment.

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