Catechist Training Master 1 - Pflaum Home

● Do you have storytellers who
might do Gospel storytelling
at the Seeds prereading
level or who might use their
storytelling abilities to enhance
the children’s stories found
in all of the Pflaum Gospel
Weeklies editions?
● Do you have puppeteers who
can help children tell the
Gospel with puppets?
● Can you draw on someone who
knows birds and flowers and
might lead children on a nature
walk?
● What videos and music does
your parish have that you can
incorporate in the religious
education program? What
videos can you rent?
Training Calendar
Catechists are not born. They
develop through training and
experience. The Pflaum Gospel
Weeklies provide online Resource
Manuals for each edition. These
manuals are every catechist’s
primary training tool. They provide
background for catechists in the
faith development of children, and
the design and flow of each lesson
in the Weeklies.
This chapter of the Handbook
suggests three inservice training
sessions with catechists each
year and a concluding evaluation/
celebration session.
Catechist Inservice Session 1:
Orientation
Catechist Inservice Session 2:
Advent/Christmas: Exploring the
Incarnation Mystery
Catechist Inservice Session 3:
Lent/Easter: Exploring the
Paschal Mystery
Evaluation and Celebration
Drawing on the online Resource
Manuals for training and discussion
content, this chapter provides the
resources the DRE needs to become
the catechist to his or her catechists.
Catechists’ Needs
If the parish has experience
using the Weeklies, the director
must both meet the needs of new
catechists and survey experienced
catechists to identify their evolving
needs. A director can draw
experienced catechists into training
and mentoring new volunteers
and into helping one another learn
new techniques. For example,
a primary-level catechist who is
a good storyteller or who uses
creative drama effectively can help
others develop these valuable ways
of involving children in their own
learning.
Orientation of new volunteer
catechists usually includes:
● the flow of a Pflaum Gospel
Weeklies lesson;
● the management of class time
and space;
● guidelines regarding discipline,
attendance, use of the building,
and other expectations and
responsibilities.
When a parish shifts for the first
time into a liturgical catechesis
approach, the director needs to
familiarize all catechists and parents
with the aims and resources of
the new program. Experienced
catechists benefit from overviewing
how the Pflaum Gospel Weeklies
provide the elements of basic,
comprehensive catechesis. They
usually want to know where they
offer lessons on concepts that they
are used to teaching, such as Old
Testament, Commandments,
prayers, and Sacraments.
All teachers, catechists, and
parents need ongoing help
internalizing the doctrinal themes of
the liturgical year. Each inservice
session should include time to
identify the doctrinal themes of the
24
liturgical seasons that upcoming
Weeklies explore.
Tailoring Inservice
Sessions
Directors have the role of suiting
inservice sessions to the specific
needs of their catechists. This
Handbook describes three inservice
sessions, which can work in any
of the implementation models that
earlier Handbook chapters describe.
Depending on the needs of those
using the Pflaum Gospel Weeklies
the director can plan training
sessions for:
1. Total group;
2. Grade- or edition-level groups;
3. Self-directed groups in which
catechists work together;
4. High-interest presentations by
outside specialists.
The important part of catechist
training—and this also applies to
training parents as catechists of their
children—is to ensure that your
catechists meet and exchange ideas
with you and with one another, that
they meet in smaller groups to plan
especially for the edition levels
they teach, and that they learn more
about special topics.
Inservice Topics
Each online Resource Manual
offers a menu of possible topics
for inservice presentations. This
Handbook provides training masters
for those topics, especially useful
for the first year of the liturgical
catechesis approach. Directors
can use the menu to create their
own inservice sessions to respond
to the needs of their catechists in
subsequent years of implementation.