The Three Hindering Habits in Catechesis

The longer I serve as a religious educator, the more I realize I fall into the same bad habits year after year. I know that I my #1 goal should be to cultivate encounters with Christ in class, yet I fall into the same familiar traps.

I know that I'm not alone. These habits are all so tempting as teachers.

The three habits that hinder our students from encountering Christ in class are:

1. Teaching Too Fast: There's too much to teach so we teach too fast.

2. Shiny Activity Syndrome: We find fun crafts, but miss opportunities to to make a lesson personal and prayerful.

3. Responding with Rage and Resentment: When kids act out in class, we lose patience and yell or hold grudges against misbehaving students.

Watch out for these bad habits. Choose to teach as Jesus did instead.

As St. Paul wrote:

"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor 11:1).

If we truly want our students to encounter Christ in class, then we must imitate Christ. We must look to Jesus as our example for how to teach and serve the young people in our care.

Remember those old bracelets from the 1990's with the letters WWJD?

What Would Jesus Do? It's worth asking as we become the example of faith to the young people we serve.

One thing is for certain, Jesus encountered people along the way. He slowed down and served those in the greatest need. He personalized his encounters with them. He was patient when his disciples were anxious or angry.

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