Our heart is restless...

Tonight was the first night of CRE at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish so a big day for me and the fellow ladies in the office. The kids were a lot smaller than I remember being when I was in 8th grade. Anyway, I introduced myself and then asked them what school they went to, what their favorite movie/TV show/music/food was, and what issue interested them the most. here are some of the responses

Movie: I Am Legend, The Devil Wears Prada ( a guy said this; i was shocked), Moonstruck
TV shows: The Hills
Food: Pizza, crabs
Issues: "I don't know." was the most popular response followed by "Politics"

So we went over the syllabus which I spent weeks on and they will probably lose tonight and when they saw how many movie clips that were on there; they got stoked. Some of the movies I am using are Anchorman, Superman Returns, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mean Girls (many screams of joy from the girls on this one), and Big Fish. One girl asked how did Harry Potter relate to Problem of Evil or Capital Punishment. Oh is she in for a treat. I told them I expected participation and for thinking reflectively and that they were smarter and knew more than they probably thought they did.

I mistakenly let them go outside for the break which I didnt know we werent supposed to do. But hey now the kids think I am "cool" haha.

I started the real lesson by asking them if they knew anything about St. Augustine (of course). Little did I know that I would learn some things like

1) Ah-gus-teen sounds prettier than A-gust-tin
2) Kids love trivia: they wanted to remind them who the Church Fathers were, what Theology means (Study of God), and what A.D. stood for

*Memorable Moment of the Night #1: One of the kids asked if Pope Gregory the Great was the guy who thought of Gregorian Chant. I thought I died and went to haven.

I had them read the opening paragraph of The Confessions which they responded with "it's complicated." true that. i just wanted to emphasize that "our heart is restless until it rests in thee" which was the theme of the day: journeying with God. I drew the circle of life with arrows going in multiple directions which represented sin.

*Memorable Moment of the Night #2: The same kid analyzed the quote really well to mean that sin makes us restless until we can finally reach God. I have a future Augustinian scholar on my hands

*Memorable Moment of the Night #3: One of the kids asked if we could ever come back from going off in a different direction which prompted a discussion of hell. I told them it wasn't a place where God sends you but a place that one chooses by separating from God (thank you C.S. Lewis and Professor Cavadini)

Back to class, I asked them to write about what they wanted their life stories to be like, what they wanted their jobs to be, or what their life story was like now. I emphasized that our lives are journeys with God as my companion. This led to ...

*Memorable Moment of the Night #4: One guy said that he wanted to be someone who taught people how to be nice. That alone probably made me signing up for ECHO worth it.

Finally, we prayed together in thanks and that God would grant us wisdom and knowledge. Overall, I thought it was a successful first class. The kids talked out of turn somewhat and the parent in the class commented on that. In fact, it was the only thing she really commented on. But hey, I figure kids will be kids and ruling with an iron fist isn't always the best. Hopefully it just keeps getting better and the kids get more into it.

P.S. There was a guy from the Catholic newspaper who came to take pictures of me in class while teaching. I hope there's some of me doing my best Cavadini-like poses.