CATECHESIS OF THE GOOD
Helping Child
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Each Atrium has an altar where children can reflect on the materials and pray.
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd allows children to develop their own individual spiritual lives and relationships with God.
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rom the youngest age, it’s never too early to start building a strong faith foundation in our children. Here at Saint Michael Parish, the Montessori-based Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) program gives children a hands-on approach to learning the building blocks of the faith and allows them to develop their own spiritual lives and relationships with God. “Catechesis of the Good Shepherd really focuses on the spirituality of the child — the assumption that children have their own spiritual life and connection with God,” says Elizabeth Lyons. “It uses a hands-on method that works well with children and allows them to share what is happening in their spiritual life. It also takes Doctrine and Scripture and presents it to the child in a way that they can grasp, so they can understand it and it becomes real to them. It uses all the methods that Maria Montessori observed that worked well for children and is rooted in sacraments, Scriptures, liturgy, prayer, and faith.” CGS takes place in a prepared environment called the Atrium, which includes furniture and materials at the child’s level, much like a Montessori classroom. The Atrium is designed to be a quiet place where children can work in an environment that allows them to pray and hear God’s voice. CGS catechists undergo 60 hours of training for qualification to teach each age level — ages 3-5, ages 6-8, and ages 9-12. “We are taught theology, as well as how to present these stories to the children, and the developmental process of the child at each stage,” Elizabeth says. “Our catechists have said that they have learned so much going through the training, and have grown in their own faith, so this has been a re-education for them, as well.” CGS sessions take place on Sunday through Thursday, and each age group has its own Atrium, designed for up to 12 children at a time. Each child will attend a CGS session once a week. Elizabeth, whose educational background is in theology with a concentration in catechesis, was drawn to CGS because it mirrors the incarnational way in which God passes the faith onto us. “One of the things we talked about when I was studying theology was how God passes on the faith to us in an incarnational way — the Mass itself is incarnational, we use our body to pray, and we use all the sensory modalities to communicate with God,” she
