By Anna Weaver
In the June 28 issue of the Hawaii Catholic Herald, I reported on a hands-on, Montessori-based, faith formation program for children called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, which is done in conjunction with the Diocese of Honolulu. The program is slowly growing here in Hawaii and there are “atriums,” in several places on the island like Mary, Star of the Sea Early Learning Center.
I’d first heard of CGS a few years ago in Seattle when a co-worker mentioned she led an atrium at her parish.
So when we moved back to Hawaii, I was excited to find out that St. John Vianney Parish in Kailua offered an atrium to 3-6-year-olds and enrolled my own preschooler in it.
Parents of CGS students have had the chance to sit in on a few sessions this past school year, and I love just how gentle and approachable CGS is. Along with group activities, children get to pick from the materials they’d like to “work” with during atrium time.
Joan Hiel, Owen’s catechist and a CGS formation leader herself, emailed me after one session to share a sweet photo she’d captured of my son. “He asked my daughter Ondina to read the Good Shepherd story to him today,” she wrote. “After he listened to her, he set up the figures and ‘read’ the story himself. It was a precious moment.”
As a young 4-year-old, my son can’t “read” yet but the presentation of this story of Jesus guiding the lost sheep back so captivated him that he wanted to “read” it himself.
As much as we reinforce taking our children to Mass each Sunday, I think sometimes my son, in his squirmy preschool age, gets much more out of his atrium time than he does during Mass.
The CGS kids’ celebrated the upcoming feast of Pentecost on their last day of religious ed for the school year. Each child lit a small candle with their name on it and laid it in front of different words representing the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
My son has since pulled out his little red candle at home to play with. While he may have recently tried to “sell” it to his dad while playing with his cash register, I am also reminding him of the word in front of which he placed his candle and who the Holy Spirit is.
I’m looking forward to seeing how he grows in his faith next year in the atrium.
Hawaii Catholic Herald Blog 