AUCKLAND DIOCESAN CATHOLIC TEACHERS’ INSTITUTE

New Zealand Tablet, 31 May 1917, Page 45

AUCKLAND DIOCESAN CATHOLIC TEACHERS’ INSTITUTE

REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS. (Continued.)

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN THE SCHOOL. By Rev. W. Murphy, Adm. Teaching Prayers. —All are agreed that children ought to be word perfect in the recitation of prayers, but perhaps there is one thing more important and that is clear enunciation. If this is not insisted on it will be more than difficult to correct the defects of speech in after life, the young mind being as the poet reminds us “wax to receive and marble to retain” ; faults unchecked become habits and careless recitation of prayers the result. Listen, if you will, to the prayers whilst they are being said aloud. You will distinguish here and there words which belong to no language, or if they do pervert the sense and form ridiculous significations. If you are not sure of this ask the class to write the Creed or the Hail Holy Queen, possibly their manuscripts will reveal ignorance and misunderstanding that will make you almost despair. Attention to teaching prayers is never without profit. Listen to a congregation in church saying the Rosary and you may be surprised and shocked to learn that there are grown up men and women who do not know their prayers. In a way perhaps they do know them but they bite off the syllables or change to the verge of nonsense not one but many of the expressions so full of unction and consecrated by the tradition of centuries. In many we would say that these bad habits were contracted in the junior classes of our primary schools. Get little children to repeat the prayers after you, unconsciously they will imitate your correct pronunciation, your intelligent phrasing, your reverent love and devout attitude. A good plan for the primer classes is to sing the prayers, then the words and phrasing will be more correctly learned and faulty enunciation more readily noticed. Some teachers use a large chart with the prayers printed on it, even though the children cannot read they quickly begin to recognise the words. The little children even ought to be taught to discriminate between prayers as a lesson and prayers as an act. Make them understand that in the lesson they axe learning hou> to speak to God , but in the act of prayer they are speaking to .Him. Make the time of learning prayers short, the children may endure them but never enjoy them if long. It is questionable if the schoolroom is the proper place for prayers, apart from learning them. Certainly morning and evening prayers should not be said in the schoolroom, when said there the children too often look upon them as part of the school routine, to be laid aside when school days are over. Finally let no prayer class conclude without a few minutes’ explanation and a story. Regarding the teaching of prayers there is one don't that ought to be writ large on every teacher’s desk; “Don’t depend on senior boys and girls to teach the primer prayers.” Do it yourself. Catechism. The religious teacher makes the catechism the most prominent lesson of the day. There is a danger that Bible history, etc., being more * attractive subjects, may gain undue prominence over the catechism. Cardinal Vaughan calls the catechism “the Summa of the people— the most profound, the most logical, the most valuable book in the English language.” Every child must commit it to memory; nothing can supply its place, hence nothing should usurp its place. Pius X., writing to a well-known Roman ecclesiastical, said; “Show your young men How to teach the catechism, above all the catechism. To teach it well is a difficult work and one in which there are consequently all too few experts.” As it is - in itself dry, it becomes the teacher’s duty ] to illuminate it with the historical lives of God and man; in other words, showing.the events of sacred history as flashlights on the truths expressed in the

catechism. Deal it out in small morsels and its assimiliation will be wholesome and fruitful. Make the catechism pleasant. Seek every means to give the same matter in new forms, use illustration, incident, or story'so that the catechism class will be the brightest of the day. Before beginning the class see what stories, drawings, or pictures can be used as helps. Keep a note of all that' you hear or see that will tend to this end. Some teachers interleave the class catechism and jot down questions, reference comparison, etc. This is a great memory aid. First, and before all, the child must get a memory grasp of the catechism, it does not matter how parrot-like this is. A verbatim knowledge is the beginning of all after knowledge, and without it there is a danger of inaccuracy of statement which is worse than ignorance. A verbatim knowledge is the foundation without which any superstructure, no matter how fair to look at, -is almost absolutely impossible. It is better not to know the teaching of the Church than to misstate it. Erroneous representation of the Church's teaching has kept many outside the true fold. Therefore let us have the exact text of the catechism. Have revision frequently, written if possible, if for nothing else but to find out the strange verbal errors children often make, and learn, also, how foreign often to the truth is their mental conception of what they have studied. Don’ts. —Never assign a Catechism lesson as a punishment. Make children understand that the catechism lesson is a privilege rather than a task. Bible History.—Let this be your motto for this class: “ One thing done is better than many heard of.” Use simple black-board sketches; let the children copy them, outlines of Palestine, routes, towns, rivers, etc. With little ones use the sand board, and pictures, otherwise it will be more than difficult to memorise the lesson and connect it with what has gone before. If Bible history is to be of any practical use, it must be taught objectively, and then it will be for the children for their whole life a spiritual treasure. For instance, objective teaching will give the children a general sequence of the life of Christ so that at will they can reproduce the Gospel story in a rich and suggestive setting. Towns and lakes, wilderness and wells, palms and bushes and fields of corn will then recall the most sacred memories. Correlate with catechism. For instance, in teaching on sin, lead the children to see when and where and by whom sin was first committed : in heaven and on earth. Apply the Commandments to Cain’s sin. Judas and his sin, etc. In this class especially, revise frequently and get children to retell incident and story. Link up epochs, and summarise periods. Instruction.—Unless the teacher prepares well, by prayer, meditation, and study, his catechetical instruction will be at best merely mediocre, and regarding this important subject, mediocrity is hardly less tolerable than failure. Who can size up the responsibility of that teacher at whose door may be laid the accusation of omission or remissness in this important matter of religious instruction.

Where are the children to receive catechetical instruction if not in our schools. This momentous fact must be faced. “Let me make a country’s songs and I care not who makes its laws,” is a saying with a semblance of truth far truer, however, is the saying, Teach the child his catechism and there will be no dangerous environments for the Church, the family, and the State.”

The material with which the teacher has to work, the raw stuff out of which are fashioned the citizens of heaven is prepared for him by nature and grace. Here are baptised souls, yielding and plastic under every influence of their faith and its teachings, ready -to accept without hesitation every doctrine and tradition of their Church. Their hearts, their minds, their natures gladly embrace every dogma of faith. That teacher who neglects to prepare himself well; neglects to use every means and method which earnestness and ingenuity can equip him with, is incurring in the sight of heaven the woes and anger of the Redeemer, Who

spoke so strongly His love for little ones, that teacher is a faithless watchman on the towers of Israel. Instruction should be generally catechetical. There will be no dearth of material, and it is here especially that objective teaching can be most used. In advocating the use of objects it must be kept in mind that everything depends on the individual teacher, what proves a success with one may be an utter failure with another. A little ingenuity and thought will lead the teacher to utilise even the simplest and commonest material intelligently and reverently to great purpose in making catechetical instruction easy. - Take, for instance, the enthusiastic nun, that one often meets with in our schools; give her a few handfuls of sea sand, a few trays and blocks, and other odds and ends which she picks up among the children, and listen to her as she tells the story of the first Christmas night. It is not merely a word description; she visualises it, and that so thoroughly that her class of little people have their interest aroused to an extraordinary degree and the lesson will never be lost’ on them. No doubt some will consider this puerile, but when one sees the tears in the eyes of the children--and indeed of grown people also, —as scenes divine arc-re-enacted and idealised with the simplest objects, conviction will come that objective teaching is the ideal. The use of the blackboard as an adjunct in religious instruction can scarcely be exaggerated, for 't makes visible the ideas one wishes to convey. The teacher who uses it continually will become an adept in illustrating, classifying, and summarising ready-made methods of teaching. Now, every teacher is not an artist at the blackboard, but this is not at all necessary; success will come from merely the habit of making marks on the blackboard while one talks. Professor Kenyon says “ Chalk talk is not exclusively for those who draw well, but for every teacher who has courage enough or ambition enough to make a chalk mark or. the blackboard.” It is not necessary to go into details regarding the use which can be made of maps and pictures as teaching aids. Just get the Stations of the Cross'and pin one at a time on the blackboard and excogitate a lesson on the Passion. This brings us to the use of stories in teaching religion. Remember that there are no stories like those of the Bible. Apart from these, if you want a varied stock, consult an approved author, say Spirago; but beware of legends and some of the far-fetched tales that one sometimes reads in spiritual works. Possibly these stories may be true, but they will scarcely conduce to strengthening the faith if in after life they will not stand the test of reasonable probability. Some day let us hope the pruning knife of the censor will cut clean away much of the story rubbish that we now find in works which apparently have the hall-mark of authority. Do not give too many stories to the children or the lesson taught will become confused. Embellish your story well, make it live, and get the little ones to re-tell it and point the moral. Hymns.—lt is not enough, merely to teach a hymn correctly from the musical point of view, to have them mean anything to the children there must be a clear and concise explanation given of the meaning of the verse and the spirit of the hymn. In connection with the teaching of hymns, opportunity might be taken to tell the children something regarding the liturgy of the Church and its beauties. Practices of Religion. From time to time there should be short classes in the practices of our religion for the upper standards, how to prepare a person and

place for Holy Viaticum and Extreme Unction; meaning of Masses for the dear; Devotion of the Forty Hours; how to approach the Sacraments ; the Symbolism of Sacred Vestments and Vessels; the Sacramentals; Seasons of the Church. Teach the younger children how to assist at Mass, to prepare for confession, and how to act in the confessional. This latter is most important, as children very often do and say extra ordinary things whilst in the tribunal of Penance. The great need of simplicity, sincerity, and absolute truthfulness must be constantly impressed on the children. Show them how to approach Holy Communion, how to receive, how to return to their place in the church and enlarge on the necessity of making thanksgiving after Holy Communion in a reverent manner and for a reasonable time. No doubt this will tax human patience more than human tongue can tell or pen can write, but Christ is appealing to our feelings as He appealed to the Disciples of old not to be hard on the children but to be patient and suffer them to come to Him, Criticism and Discussion. Regarding prayers, all are agreed that morning and evening prayers should not be said in school. Any prayers said there ought to be short. The knowledge of the catechism ought to be word-perfect so as to ensure a good foundation for explanation. T-he question of having an expert deliver lectures to the teachers on religious knowledge was discussed, and many seemed to favor the idea. The advisability of having the same hymns taught in the schools came under discussion, also the teaching of at least one Mass to the children, so as to make congregational singing more popular.