Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sacramental Preparation for Kids

Over the last few months I have been re-formatting my "CRASH COURSE" for younger teenagers preparing for Confirmation.

When I was "a bush priest" in Ballarat Diocese, I was able to spend the best part of a calendar year with each group of Confirmation candidates. We went through many Bible stories and the life of Christ as well as growing into an experiential understanding of the Church and sacraments. We had outings, picnics, an evangelistic camp, and a visit to the bishop's house for prayers in his chapel and afternoon tea!

When I returned to city life - especially to the central business district of Brisbane where we drew parishioners from a much wider area - it was just not possible to gather children and school aged teenagers in the same way.

Thankfully we had a high level of commitment from our younger families, as well as a Sunday School that followed the Mass Readings. So I decided to have a flexible program of preparation that really just concentrated on the Church and the Sacraments. Sometimes it was taught in a group at church; other times with individual families in their homes.

Anyway, the result is the CRASH COURSE.

Like everything the clergy put together, it reflects a range of material I have used over the years, and ideas from many different sources have been incorporated. (The discerning Anglo-Catholic might even recognize a couple of snippets of the picture book on the sacraments by Enid Chadwick of Walsingham fame!)

If you are interested in this, click HERE and visit the FORWARD MINISTRY DOWNLOADS PAGE.

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