Sister Mary Brendon Zajac teaches a course on Principles of Christian Education at Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Wickliffe, Ohio. The course aims to form the Second Year Theology Seminarians to be priest-catechists and to prepare them for their Education Practicum in the Spring Semester when they will teach weekly religion classes in several Catholic Schools. The seminarians delve into the Church’s catechetical documents especially as these relate to the pedagogy of God — how God teaches — as a model for all catechesis. The course includes a three-week seminar on the challenges, culture, and charism of the Catholic School, and topics related to educational theory that apply to their catechetical ministry as future priests of the Cleveland Diocese.
As part of the course, the seminarians are taught catechetical methods and introduced to resources such as the Christ Our Life textbook series. Sister Regina Alfonso was a guest presenter on catechetical methods for younger children. Sister Mary Kathleen Glavich presented intermediate and junior high methods. Mrs. Jodi Johnston, Principal of Julie Billiart School in Lyndhurst, helped the seminarians with methods for special needs children, and Father Andrew Turner, Director of Field Education for Saint Mary Seminary, focused on the high school level.
At the conclusion of the course, the seven seminarians in this year’s class were ritually commissioned as catechists and given their teaching assignments at All Saints School, Mater Dei Academy, and Lake Catholic High School. Please continue to pray for the seminarians that they may be deeply imbued with God’s Word and the mission of the New Evangelization as priest-catechists.
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