Catholic Missions In Canada

Transcription

1 Lesson 2: Mission How To Build a Church Lesson Goal: Students will develop a basic understanding of what it means to build and sustain a community of Christ s disciples Lesson Objectives: 1) Students will list all the things they think they would need to build a new school community. 2) Students will hear about the promise of Jesus to be with us always and how the Church is meant to be the sign of Christ s constant presence in the world today. 3) Students will consider everything they would need to build a community of Christ s disciples and the practical problems and costs related to sustaining such a community. 4) Students will learn some details about the special problems Catholic Christian communities in Canada s remotest areas experience (transportation and associated costs, extreme cold, isolation/huge distances between communities, poverty, lack of access to basic needs, high costs of living, a shortage of pastoral personnel, both ordained and lay). 5) Students will think of things for which they are grateful in their lives and how they can take care of what they have been given, giving thanks to God for what they have received. A. How To Build a School Community Student Activity: Ask students to make a list of everything needed to build a school community. Divide the large task into smaller tasks if that is helpful, such as Preparation before building the school, Building and Opening the School, Sustaining the School Community. Another way to divide the large task is to ask students to consider the groups of people in the school and their needs: students and their needs, staff and their needs, parents and their needs. For younger students, a concrete approach could be to ask them to list everything they see at the school, in their classroom, in the halls, outside on the grounds. Elements on the list might include such things as the following: To build a school community, one needs at least: 1) students 2) parents who will bring or send their children to school 3) a variety of teachers to teach different subjects and/or grades 4) books, computers, screens, boards and other materials 5) land on which to build the school 6) architects, engineers, and other workers 7) money 8) advertizing so people know a new school is coming 9) research to know where the students who need a school live

2 Page 2 of 7 10) desks and chairs, and other furniture 11) administrative personnel 12) installation of a telephone and other utilities (heating, water, electricity for lights, internet) 13) a mission statement perhaps, or at least a common understanding of what will happen at the school and its purpose 14) a curriculum that will be taught There are many other possibilities. The purpose of this activity is to open students minds to the many things that are needed to build and sustain any community, and to root their understanding of the development of a Christian community in their experience of the school community. There are many things the two communities share in common. B. The Mission of the Church is to Make Christ Present Just as a school community has a main purpose, a Christian community has a main purpose: to be the means by which people can encounter Jesus Christ and share in the life of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit that Jesus offered to all human beings. The work of the Church since the death and resurrection of Jesus is based on the promises and the commands of Jesus Himself: 1) Jesus sent His disciples to tell everyone about Him: Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation (Mark 16.15). 2) Jesus told His disciples He truly was risen from the dead and was already Lord of heaven and earth. The Good News He had told them about the Kingdom of God was true, and He sent His disciples to make this message known to everyone, promising always to be with the community of disciples (Christ s Church): All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew ). 3) Jesus has promised to act through His disciples when they pray to Him and ask for things in His name: I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it (John ). Christians believe Jesus acts now through them, when they act out of love as His true followers. 4) Jesus has promised that the Holy Spirit will be a constant presence in the Church community, reminding Christ s followers about Jesus words of eternal life, what Jesus said and did, and what He taught His disciples, and enabling others in every generation to become believers: And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth (John a). [T]he Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you (John 14.26). The love of Jesus goes beyond every boundary of time and space. Although Jesus is no longer walking the earth as a human being, Jesus is always with us in the community of the Church through His Holy Spirit.

3 Page 3 of 7 5) Jesus promised to feed the community of the Church through His Body and Blood, made present in the celebration of the Eucharist: Then Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my Blood (Luke ). The Christian community believes that, in all the Sacraments, Jesus is present in His Church. When a person baptizes another, it is really Jesus Christ who baptizes (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 7). When a person receives Confirmation, it is really Christ who confirms. When a person is strengthened in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, it is Christ who heals. The Christian community, in introducing others to Christ in each new generation, and providing them with the pastoral care they need, is trying to do what Jesus first did for it. C. How to Build a Community of Christ s Disciples, a Church Community i. Student Activities (for younger elementary school age children): 1) Using the Compare the Needs of School and Church Communities (see attached) as a teacher resource, draw the most simple comparisons between School and Church communities, and ask students to draw pictures showing, for example, the school building and the church building; the school principal and the local parish priest; the classroom teacher and the parish catechist; students desks and pews in the church; one of the books they may have started to read as a class and the Bible. 2) Missionaries are people who tell others about who Jesus is and who serve others by helping them in their relationship with God. is a charitable organization in Canada that helps the missionaries do their work by giving them money. Read sample Thank-you letters (below) from missionaries in Canada s remotest regions and ask students to draw a picture of what the missionary is thankful for. These are things it is difficult or impossible for missionaries to provide on their own without assistance from others. Sample Thank-you letters from missionaries supported by : A) Your generous grant will help toward the day-to-day operational and repair costs of our parish. It will also cover the travel expenses of the priest who, twice a month, travels 200 km to celebrate Eucharist with us (St. Patrick s Parish, McBride, British Columbia, Diocese of Prince George). See magazine, Fall 2012). Draw the priest travelling from one parish to the next by car. B) I just want to thank for again granting us with funds to repair and upgrade our parish buildings...we used the last grant money you sent us for the upgrade of our roof. The work was done with volunteer labour from Edmonton and local parishioners (Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Southend, Saskatchewan, Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas). See magazine, Fall 2012). Draw the parish church with its new roof and the volunteer workers who helped complete the work.

4 Page 4 of 7 C) On behalf of the people in our missions, I thank for your very generous donations to our missions in our native reserves. I thank all the generous people in Canada who donate money to...travel between my four missions in 2011 cost [more than $14, dollars]. There are no year-round roads into these four missions. I have to fly into each mission on small commercial planes. It costs [more than $1, dollars] for one return-flight from Sandy Lake, Ontario, to God s Lake Narrows, Manitoba. Other expenses include books and other supplies for religious education for young students and adults. It costs a lot to heat our churches during the cold winter months. There is always repair work for our church buildings... A very important part of our work is training our lay leaders. It is very expensive sending them out for workshop meetings because they also have to pay the expensive airfare. But this is necessary (Sandy Lake, Ontario and God s Lake Narrows and God s River, Manitoba, Archdiocese of Keewatin-Le Pas). See magazine, Fall 2012). Draw Fr. Bart in a plane, or the elementary students with their new religious education books, or the people keeping warm inside the church, or the lay leaders on their way to a workshop by plane. D) We would like to thank for your support of our seminarians...with four men [studying to be priests for our diocese], it can get quite hard to cover the cost of their studies and lodging. Your support allows us to do just that. We are happy to say we just had an ordination (Archdiocese of St. John s, Newfoundland and Labrador). See magazine, Fall 2012). Draw one or more of the young men studying to be priests. 3) Decorate for your classroom a Give thanks basket and place it in a prominent place in the classroom. Write down on a small piece of paper and/or share with the class one or more of the things for which you are thankful and place these pieces of paper in the basket. (If students are as yet unable to print or write, use small plain pieces of coloured paper and ask students to put one piece in the basket for every thing for which they are grateful.) Ask students to make a special effort this week, at school and at home, to give thanks to God for everything we have. 4) Ask students to think of ways they can care for the things they have received from others (for example, being careful with them, not wasting things, remembering the people who gave them those things, etc.). Take some time to take care of the classroom by making things tidy and clean. 5) Take time this week to remember and pray for all those communities in the remotest places in Canada which need help to sustain their Catholic Christian communities (the class could remember all those communities that have sent thank-you letters, as well as the many others served by Catholic Missions In Canada). ii. Student Activities (for older elementary school age children): 1) Review the Compare the Needs of School and Church Communities sheet (see attached). What is common to both communities? What is different?

5 Page 5 of 7 2) In small groups, or as individuals, research one or more of the following special problems of Christian communities in the remotest regions of Canada, and report your findings to the class: a) On transportation, see eng.htm#a4. For a Nunavut Fact Sheet in PDF, see and look for Nunavut Facts at the bottom of the Nunavut Government home page. Compare salaries to cost of living, unemployment percentages, and food prices (such as the cost of milk). For CBC coverage of a protest against high food prices in Nunavut, see: b) On the great distances between parishes/missions and how bishops try to make the celebration of the Eucharist as well as other Sacraments and pastoral care available to parishioners, see the website for the Diocese of Whitehorse, YT at: On the Home Page, see the map of the Diocese and a description of the staff doing pastoral care within the parishes. Under Parishes & Missions, click on each parish or mission to find out who, if anyone, is on staff to provide for the needs of local Catholic Christians. Can you find anyone who has more than one parish or mission? Find the places that person serves on the map of the Diocese and research the distances that person must travel to reach each place. c) On what permafrost is and what its effects are on life in the North, see a Wikipedia article on the subject at: For a Canadian Encyclopedia article on the same subject, see: This article also includes a map of Canada with permafrost locations, and pictures of permafrost polygons as well as pingos near Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories (one of the locations of a mission assisted by ). d) On the use of ice roads in Canada s Northern communities, see a brief article at When do Northern communities have the best access to supplies coming by truck? e) On the use of the ferry system in the Northwest Territories, including information on ferry locations, scheduling, and openings and closures, consult: How does the availability of ferries affect the lives of people living in Northern communities (allows them to travel, but under a restricted schedule; plans are made around the ferry schedule; when the rivers are too high, the ferries do not run; when the ferries are not running, there is limited access to and exiting from Northern communities, especially important in emergency situations) f) On daylight hours in the North, consult the Wikipedia article on the Midnight Sun at and explore the website at this address: How does the presence or absence of sunlight affect northern communities?

6 Page 6 of 7 g) Find the website for the Catholic Diocese of Churchill-Hudson Bay at and make a list of all the characteristics of this Christian community that the website reveals. In what ways does this Catholic Christian community show the love of Jesus present within it? 3) Ask students to think of the things they are grateful for in their lives and to brainstorm ways to remind themselves to be grateful to others and to God for all they have (make a poster, give a special quality to a day like Thanksgiving Day or designate a new day to give thanks, make a wrist bracelet, create slogans, compose tweets, etc.). Come up with a set of class rules to help students and teachers care for what they have been given. Take time each day to thank God for life, the things we have, and our family and friends. 4) Ask students to consider why the Christian communities of Canada s remotest regions need the special help of Christians in the more southern regions of Canada. Compare the Needs of School and Church Communities: School has/needs: students parents who will bring their children to school teachers books, computers, and other materials land on which to build the school architects, engineers, and other workers money advertising about the new school research to know where the students live desks and chairs, and other furniture administrative personnel telephone, heating, water, electricity, internet A Church has/needs: those who want to learn about Jesus Christians who will help those who want to learn teachers (catechists) bibles, catechisms, and other materials land on which to build the church architects, engineers, and other workers money advertising about the new church research to find those who want to learn altar, pews, ambo/lectern, and other furnishings administrative personnel telephone, heating, water, electricity, internet

7 Page 7 of 7 a mission statement and/or common purpose a curriculum that will be taught a principal to lead the community homes for teachers/principal to live salaries transportation other a mission statement and/or common purpose a curriculum that will be taught a bishop and others to lead the community homes for bishop/priests/other ministers to live salaries transportation other