Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Once a Teacher, Always a Teacher

For the first three years of my priesthood, one of my main ministries was as a high school theology teacher at Seton Catholic High School in Richmond, Indiana. With my assignment now as administrator at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, I am no longer in the classroom regularly as a teacher. But, as of this afternoon, I am teaching a class once again. At the request of our school principal, I am teaching a weekly elective to 13 junior high students on The Chronicles of Narnia. The junior high students in our parish school have the opportunity to take elective classes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons on a variety of topics - among the electives this spring are a World War II Study, Art, Native American Know-How, and Cadet Teaching. These are low-profile courses, with no real homework or tests and no grading, simply an opportunity to explore a variety of different subjects. Today was the first day of new electives for the spring semester.

My elective on The Chronicles of Narnia stems directly from the Introduction to Catholicism class I taught to high school freshmen, in which I used one of the Narnia books, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, as a creative way to understand some of the basic beliefs and practices of Catholicism. This spring is an especially timely opportunity to focus on Narnia because the second major motion picture based on the books, Prince Caspian, is set to be released in May. For the elective course, we will spend 50 minutes every Tuesday afternoon looking specifically at some of the Christian connections in the Narnia books and discussing how the books can help us understand the Christian view of the world.

Besides being a subject that I love, I am especially excited about this course because it gives me a chance to get back into the classroom. I always have a number of teaching opportunities in the parish - with RCIA, sacramental preparation, adult faith formation, and other settings - but being in the school classroom is especially energizing and rewarding. I hope it can be so for the students, as well!

1 comment:

carol said...

I think your decision to teach the kids in school is a great idea. Not only will they (hopefully) learn much, but it is an excellent way to mix with the young people as a role model for priesthood. I feel kids these days need the contact and interaction with someone who is vibrantly living the Faith and the priestly vocation in order to see that it IS a great option. People of 'my generation' have had Sisters and priests in the past who became 'real' to them as people, and whom they could relate to in a *friendly* setting, so that they could see another, perhaps more personal side. And so I will ask the Lord that your classroom be fruitful not only in the *learning*, but...in many ways as you share yourself with them.
(from a former teacher- ;)