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Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd
A religious formation program that helps children not only know about Jesus, but to know Him as their shepherd and friend.
For children ages three and up, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church offers Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is an approach to the religious formation of children. It is rooted in the Bible, the liturgy of the church, and the educational principles of Maria Montessori. Sofia Cavaletti, who developed Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in Rome in 1954, believed that children are born with a relationship with Jesus. The Catechist’s role is to help the child deeply experience his or her relationship with Jesus. Children gather in an "atrium," a room scientifically prepared for them, which contains simple yet beautiful materials that they use.
You may be wondering how these materials help the religious life of children? If an adult hears a beautiful passage from the Bible, he or she might take a Bible, find the passage, and read it slowly again and again. He or she may think deeply about the words and perhaps speak to God in a thankful or hopeful prayer. But a little child, too young to read, needs another way. In an atrium the child can ponder a biblical passage or a prayer from the liturgy by taking the material for that text and working with it - placing wood figures of sheep in a sheepfold of the Good Shepherd, setting sculpted apostles around a Last Supper table, or preparing a small altar with the furnishings used for the Eucharist. Older children who do read often copy parables from the Bible, lay in order written prayers from the rite of baptism, or label a long time line showing the history of the kingdom of God. (From www.cgsusa.org.)