By Christina Leslie | Correspondent

In the world of religious education, sometimes something new is really something old, or a combination of both. While the doctrine of the Catholic Church never changes, the methodologies for delivering the message may be as varied as the parish communities they serve.

This month, as thousands of families entrust their child’s faith formation to their parish religious education programs, catechists are employing some innovations in their quest for effective catechesis that will impart the ancient tenets of the Catholic faith to a new generation.

Programs honor the old, embrace the new

Kathryn M. Besheer, director of religious education for St. Katharine Drexel Parish, is excited about the new direction her program has taken over the past three years.

“Our new series of books is really faithful to the doctrines of the Church,” Besheer said. “It presents it in a beautiful and palatable way.” About 37 teachers and 12 aides in the Burlington parish are charged with instilling knowledge of their faith to 450 children in grades kindergarten through high school.

“We have been bringing more traditions of the Church to the program,” she recounted. “We have instituted Adoration and [the Sacrament of] Confession during Advent and Lent. The parents come and enjoy the traditions, and are benefitting from it.”

Basheer noted the children enjoy praying the Rosary and novena prayers. “The children are yearning for the deep traditions of the Church and don’t even know it,” she marveled. “You don’t have to be the most innovative program in the world. The Church is so beautiful, the program runs itself.”

This summer, the catechesis program assisted with the training of new altar servers, and Basheer was pleased with the results.

“You can really see that it has impacted how they serve on the altar, there’s more reverence,” she said. Also new this year is the program’s Agnus Dei Society, a ministry for high school students which will meet twice a month for Bible study and social activities.

“At the end of everything, we just want to bring kids back to the Eucharist,” the director summarized.

Faith traditions span generations

St. Benedict Parish in Holmdel utilizes the faith-based skills of roughly 70 teachers, aides and teen helpers to support the 550 children in grades one through eight who attend the religious education program.

Denise Contino, the program’s coordinator, is a strong proponent of blending the triedand- true with newer ideas.

“We are trying to approach family catechesis,” Contino noted. “This past January, we took grades five through eight and their families to a movie theatre to see ‘The Nativity’ [see “A Flick of Faith, The Monitor, Jan. 7, 2013 issue]. “The whole program also prays the Rosary in church with [St.

Benedict Parish pastor] Father Dan [Swift].” A children’s Mass for students in grades one through four and their families, retreats for those students preparing to receive the Sacraments of Eucharist or Confirmation, and other age-specific activities assure the students can make the most of their opportunities to learn about their faith.

The parish sponsors a Philadelphiaarea- based group of young adults known as “Generation Life” who speak on chastity and pro-life issues to seventh and eighth grade students. In addition, the curriculum for the eighth grade is based upon Blessed John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body,” which helps youth understand the authentic meaning of human life and love in a culture that offers many challenges to young people.

“The children need to believe in something, they need faith traditions,” Contino asserted.

It’s all about the families

Adversity often draws Catholics back to God for consolation and enrichment. L. Jacqueline Callahan, director of religious education in St. Catherine Parish, North Middleton, noticed an uptick in registrations after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

“Our Parish has over 500 children in our program,” she noted. “Hurricane Sandy… devastated so many of our families, some of which are still not back into their homes. What we have noticed is that we are gaining many families back and we are even getting families that have drifted away over the years.”

Callahan and her staff of dedicated catechists are planning many family catechetical events this fall to address the needs of both children and their parents, including a blessing of children and families at a Vigil Mass by pastor Father Daniel Hesko.

“We try to be very family inclusive with our many programs,” Callahan noted. Programs that include Sunday Mass and instruction during coffee sessions run throughout Lent, and older children, too, attend Mass and receive instruction alongside their parents.

The program director views catechesis as a process of change and enrichment for all ages. “Praying skills, listening skills, caring for one another, mercy and forgiveness help us to start anew when we fail. They unite us as a people. They merit us the grace to love and serve one another,” Callahan stressed. “The Sacraments give us a guide and continuously draw us into the compassion, love and mercy of God’s unconditional love for us. How will our young know this unless we are willing to teach it to them, sharing our skills and the love of Jesus?”

Learning faith from the beginning

In St. Anselm Parish, Wayside, where there is a vision to grow authentic, consistent and irresistible disciples of Jesus Christ, the faith formation process now begins at an earlier age.

A new ministry, Kidzone, has been added to the religious education program this year which encourages parents of children ages six months to two years to participate in the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass monthly while their little ones are introduced to their faith.

About 10 years ago, Janice Santanello, director of religious education for St. Anselm, realized the older models of instruction weren’t working in the Wayside parish. “The problem with the traditional system is that it is offered at inconvenient times at night or after school,” she explained. “Kids are exhausted from school,” Santanello noted, adding that the time frame was often in conflict with extracurricular activities. Santanello examined the programs detailed in the book “Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost” by Father Michael White and Tom Corcoran, which anchors a parish vision in the Eucharist as the center of Catholic faith.

Santanello set about to restructure the program, changing class times during the school year to coincide with the parish Mass schedule. Roughly 300 children and 30 adults participate in familycentered classes which are now offered to those as young as six months through high school. “Our program is pretty amazing,” she declared. “It is the wave of the future.”

For the youngest children in the Kidzone program “there are Bible stories and song. It is not a babysitting program,” Santanello stressed.

“All Stars” take children ages 3 to 5, and engages youngsters in a worship service with Bible stories, music and activities.

Children in the first grade leave Mass at the Liturgy of the Word, and gather together to listen to age-appropriate Bible stories and participate in activities. Third through sixth-graders participate in the GIFT program, Growing in Faith Together, with a monthly topic such as “life apps,” modeled on the screen apps on popular smartphones, in addition to regular participation in the Faith and Life online religious education program from Ignatius Press which can be accessed through the parish website.

Santanello expressed gratitude about her team of teachers, aides and concerned parents; “in every parish, there are these people out there with lots of talent,” she said.

Santanello has also been pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm and knowledge reflected by the child participants. “It has really blown me away how much more they have absorbed. If you give them something enjoyable and pleasant that applies to their own lives, they love it. It really does have an impact.”