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Exploring the word

06 May 2012 - Fifth Sunday of Easter, Cycle B

JESUS WAS A smart teacher. He took images that his neighbors understood and used them as the undergirding of his instruction. First-century Israel was overrun with grapevines, sheep, tax collectors, and Pharisees. His listeners knew that sparrows were cheap and houses without good foundations routinely came down in hard rains. If Jesus wanted to add a surprise ending to perk up an audience’s attention, all he had to do was include a landowner who paid his workers more than they were worth or make a Samaritan character a hero. Sometimes we do our modern church assembly a disservice when we try to ram 1st-century agricultural practices and social structures down the throats of computer-savvy listeners. If your parish is in wine country, by all means talk about vines and branches, but the point of the teaching is that fruit-bearing branches stay put and bare ones get the ax. What modern images can you use to talk about the expectation of results that are more accessible? How about these: Would you continue to buy a piece of merchandise that fails to perform each time you purchase it? How many times would you invite a friend over who repeatedly pulls a no-show? Would you invest in stocks that never grow in value? Do you keep on eating at a restaurant where the food is never very good? How often does someone betray your trust before you vote them off your island? The fact is, everyone has basic minimum expectations of how people will respond to them, and how things will perform, and how experiences will turn out. When these are not met, no one considers you cruel or disloyal if you lower the ax on certain relationships or products. In the same way, those who share in the life of Christ ought to demonstrate that connection in due season. When it’s time to forgive, your forgiveness should be eager. When a stranger’s in need, you should burgeon with generosity. When justice is called for, you should stand up and speak clearly. When others despair, your hope should be a beacon. If, however, you exude the spirits of rage, vengeance, violence, jealousy, selfishness, or prejudice, and no fruit of Christian virtue can be found in you, can you be surprised when you're not counted among the remaining branches? The person who does not live as Jesus lives and act as Jesus acts is not a Christian, no matter how much paperwork can be produced to the contrary. It’s not about the rituals, but the results. Related scripture links Spiritual fruits: Gal. 5:22-23 Love never fails: 1 Cor. 13:8 Catechism links Jesus as vine: CCC 737; 755; 864; 1108; 1694; 1988; 2074; 2732

Authors Alice Camille

Teach teachers parables

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The courage to teach—and to grieve

Funeral, Sacrament-based, Holy Day, Holiday, Special Occasion - Sample homilies to be adapted for your use

Funeral: Death of a teacher Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived . . . this is to have succeeded." Here, before this altar, we gather to mourn the death and celebrate the success of N., who, as a teacher, has most certainly given innumerable lives the ability to breathe easier—not only his/her students but all those who have been touched by his/her presence. Teaching is no easy job. It is a work of sacrifice and of love. It was the work of our Lord, Jesus, whose title, rabbi, fell from the lips of all who followed him. The life of Jesus, our Rabbi and our Lord, holds many powerful lessons. Today, as we celebrate the life of N., one lesson stands out: Being a teacher takes courage. "The courage to teach," wrote renowned teacher Parker Palmer, "is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able so that teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning, and living, require." Today, as we come together—a community of family and friends of N.—it seems our hearts, too, are being asked to hold more than they are able—so much pain, so much emptiness, so many memories all pressed together into moments already filled to the brim with grief. When we lose someone we love, grief moves us almost as if in a dream. We walk in shadows doing what needs to be done while part of us wonders when we will wake up from the nightmare. We grieve with the psalmist who said, "How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day?" We grieve with the apostles, who, with the death of Jesus, their friend and teacher, knew what it was like to lose someone they loved so much; someone who had loved them in return beyond measure. Their grief drove them to the upper room, fearful, distraught, doubtful of their ability to go on without him. Surely they wondered, as we will wonder, "How does one live without the teacher who taught, not only with words, but through a life of love and affirmation?" We grieve with Jesus, who understood all too well the pain of abandonment, of loss and of death. Isaiah describes Jesus as "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (53:3). Even as Lord, Jesus wept openly at the death of Lazarus, his friend, and in empathy for the pain of Lazarus' sisters, Martha and Mary. He cried to his Father from the cross, "Why have you abandoned me?" We, like him, may feel abandoned and cry to our God with anger or fear born of this new and abiding emptiness. Surely, N. would understand. N. was a teacher and hers/his a vocation of the heart. Listen to Parker Palmer's beautiful words: "As good teachers weave the fabric that joins them with students and subjects, the heart is the loom on which the threads are tried, the tension is held, the shuttle flies, and the fabric is stretched tight. Small wonder, then, that teaching tugs at the heart, opens the heart, even breaks the heart—and the more one loves teaching, the more heartbreaking it can be." Life itself teaches us that the more one loves anything, especially another person, the more one's heart breaks with the loss. Grief comes to each of us in its own way and cannot be denied. Just as with teaching, it takes courage to grieve." Grief comes to each of us in its own way and cannot be denied. Just as with teaching, it takes courage to grieve. Right now it is hard to imagine life without N.'s guiding light, his/her wisdom or his/her encouragement. Now is the time to follow the example of our Lord and allow ourselves the opportunity to grieve and acknowledge the pain of loss. Ecclesiastes says, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance" (3:1, 4). Now is the time to weep, to share memories of a special life and, in doing so keep that life alive in the hearts of others. But, as N. would undoubtedly say, the best teachers form their students for the future, encourage them to step forward with confidence and hope, and without fear, into the life that lies before them. For those who died in Christ, there is the promise of new life in the Resurrection. Today, N. would encourage us to have the same confidence, the same hope in the promises of God, repeating the words of Our Lord, "Be not afraid. I go before you always."

Authors Mary Morrell

funeral death of a teacher Isaiah 53:3 Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 educator

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California’s budget subjected to school of hard knocks

19 Jul 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Moved to pity by the anxious and leaderless crowd, this Sunday's gospel tells us, Jesus taught the people many things. California legislators announced Wednesday that agreement had finally neared on a series of budget cuts-including contentious cuts in education-needed to close the state's $23.6-billion budget deficit. The progress in negotiations comes as the cash-starved state is issuing IOUs to vendors, college students, and local governments, while a third Wall Street credit rating agency on Tuesday dropped California's bond rating. "I don't think there is anything that would make negotiations shut down at this point," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles). Senate GOP leader Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) agreed that a final budget deal was probably imminent. Fiscal experts have been struggling for days to find a way to cut billions of dollars from schools. The California Teachers Association has been running television advertisements to pressure legislators not to suspend voter-approved funding formulas that guarantee schools a set amount of money each year. Any final deal is expected to include some of the sharpest cutbacks in government services the state has experienced. Programs that have not been cut deeply in years are likely to shrink considerably, with tens of thousands of Californians losing access to programs they have relied on. Some programs, like home health care for senior citizens, may be wiped out entirely. Source: An article by Evan Halper for the Los Angeles Times

california budget deficit programs schools california teachers association dennis hollingsworth karen bass budget cuts

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Pope schools Catholic colleges and universities

13 May 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday parishes nationwide will pass the basket for the Catholic Communication Campaign, designed to support media outreach that helps inform and educate Catholics and the general public on Catholic concerns. Continuing the recent Vatican push to reform church institutions in the U.S., Pope Benedict XVI has called on Catholic colleges and universities to do more to affirm their “Catholic identity,” particularly by ensuring the doctrinal orthodoxy of their faculty and staff.Speaking to a group of bishops from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Wyoming, who are in Rome on a regularly scheduled visit, Benedict last Saturday said there has been a “growing recognition” on the part of Catholic colleges of the need to “reaffirm their distinctive identity.” But “much remains to be done,” the pope said, singling out the church law requirement that Catholic theology teachers “have a mandate from the competent ecclesiastical authority,” usually the local bishop.That requirement was introduced more than 20 years ago by Pope John Paul II, according to the Father Scott Brodeur, a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. But there has been “continuous resistance against it. If he is repeating it, it is because it has not yet been fully implemented,” Brodeur said.Benedict's remarks come a few months after the U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee denounced Quest for the Living God, by Sister Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J., Distinguished Professor of Theology at the Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York, as not in accord with “authentic Catholic teaching.” The book’s publisher, Continuum, saw a resurgence in interest—and sales—of the book after the denounciation.Benedict said Saturday that the need for theology professors to be faithful to church doctrine becomes “all the more evident” when considering the “confusion” created by “instances of apparent dissidence between some representatives of Catholic institutions and the Church’s pastoral leadership.” The pope warned that such discord “harms the church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom.” Sources: Articles by Alessandro Speciale for Religion News Service and The Tablet (UK)

teachers doctrine catholic colleges and universities elizabeth johnson quest for the living god

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Striking news from Chicago's public schools

16 Sep 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The Lord keeps the little ones,” says the psalmist this Sunday. Though progress was made in contract negotiations, which went until midnight last night and will continue this morning, many Chicago parents will be keeping their little ones at home or making other arrangements as the first strike by Chicago teachers in 25 years goes into its fourth day.By last Sunday union and district officials had failed to reach a contract agreement despite protracted negotiations that the union said failed to adequately address issues such as job security and teacher evaluations. The biggest U.S. labor strike in a year is keeping more than 350,000 children from kindergarten to high school out of school.In the event the strike persists, its tone and outcome could ripple well beyond Chicago, given Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s close association with President Barack Obama. Union support is important to the Obama campaign, which has been careful not to weigh in, even as Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney swiftly spoke out against the Chicago teachers.The strike also offers a high-profile test for the nation's teachers' unions, which have seen their political influence threatened by a growing but controversial movement that seeks to expand charter schools, get private companies involved with failing schools, and link teacher evaluations to student test scores."They certainly are on the defensive," said Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, of the teachers’ unions. "They are under attack. A lot of times they are demonized. On the other hand there's really smart and progressive elements in the teacher's movement who want to get out ahead of this and do it in a way that's fair." Sources: Articles by Peter Slevin for the Washington Post, Don Babwin and Tammy Webber for the AssociatedPress, Mary Wisniewski and James B. Kelleher for Reuters, and Celeste M. Ball for WGN-TV.

barack obama richard ingersoll teacher evaluations chicago public schools chicago teachers union mitt romney strikes chicago rahm emanuel teachers unions

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Striking news from Chicago's public schools

16 Sep 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The Lord keeps the little ones,” says the psalmist this Sunday. Though progress was made in contract negotiations, which went until midnight last night and will continue this morning, many Chicago parents will be keeping their little ones at home or making other arrangements as the first strike by Chicago teachers in 25 years goes into its fourth day.By last Sunday union and district officials had failed to reach a contract agreement despite protracted negotiations that the union said failed to adequately address issues such as job security and teacher evaluations. The biggest U.S. labor strike in a year is keeping more than 350,000 children from kindergarten to high school out of school.In the event the strike persists, its tone and outcome could ripple well beyond Chicago, given Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s close association with President Barack Obama. Union support is important to the Obama campaign, which has been careful not to weigh in, even as Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney swiftly spoke out against the Chicago teachers.The strike also offers a high-profile test for the nation's teachers' unions, which have seen their political influence threatened by a growing but controversial movement that seeks to expand charter schools, get private companies involved with failing schools, and link teacher evaluations to student test scores."They certainly are on the defensive," said Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, of the teachers’ unions. "They are under attack. A lot of times they are demonized. On the other hand there's really smart and progressive elements in the teacher's movement who want to get out ahead of this and do it in a way that's fair." Sources: Articles by Peter Slevin for the Washington Post, Don Babwin and Tammy Webber for the AssociatedPress, Mary Wisniewski and James B. Kelleher for Reuters, and Celeste M. Ball for WGN-TV.

barack obama richard ingersoll teacher evaluations chicago public schools chicago teachers union mitt romney strikes chicago rahm emanuel teachers unions

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Striking news from Chicago's public schools

16 Sep 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The Lord keeps the little ones,” says the psalmist this Sunday. Though progress was made in contract negotiations, which went until midnight last night and will continue this morning, many Chicago parents will be keeping their little ones at home or making other arrangements as the first strike by Chicago teachers in 25 years goes into its fourth day.By last Sunday union and district officials had failed to reach a contract agreement despite protracted negotiations that the union said failed to adequately address issues such as job security and teacher evaluations. The biggest U.S. labor strike in a year is keeping more than 350,000 children from kindergarten to high school out of school.In the event the strike persists, its tone and outcome could ripple well beyond Chicago, given Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s close association with President Barack Obama. Union support is important to the Obama campaign, which has been careful not to weigh in, even as Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney swiftly spoke out against the Chicago teachers.The strike also offers a high-profile test for the nation's teachers' unions, which have seen their political influence threatened by a growing but controversial movement that seeks to expand charter schools, get private companies involved with failing schools, and link teacher evaluations to student test scores."They certainly are on the defensive," said Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, of the teachers’ unions. "They are under attack. A lot of times they are demonized. On the other hand there's really smart and progressive elements in the teacher's movement who want to get out ahead of this and do it in a way that's fair." Sources: Articles by Peter Slevin for the Washington Post, Don Babwin and Tammy Webber for the AssociatedPress, Mary Wisniewski and James B. Kelleher for Reuters, and Celeste M. Ball for WGN-TV.

barack obama richard ingersoll teacher evaluations chicago public schools chicago teachers union mitt romney strikes chicago rahm emanuel teachers unions

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Homily stories

30 Oct 2011 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

One day it dawned on me that my eighth-grade teacher was a phony. He was a decent person, I suppose, but he was young and insecure in his first year of teaching. His insecurity led him to try to act tough, but he didn't have the courage to stand up to the wilder kids in the class (and there were some wild kids in our class!). Rather, he would try to exercise control over the kids who were likely to acquiesce and not really cause him problems. One day when his frustrations were mounting and his control of the class was ebbing, he picked on one girl who was meek and even fearful in class. Why? She happened to laugh at something some of the wilder guys in our class were doing. He knew he could control her and appear that he was in control of the class. I came home and complained about it at dinner to my parents. And I learned a lesson, perhaps the most important one in eighth grade. Dad said, "Do what he tells you but not what he does." The teacher was trying to run a decent class, and so it was right that I try to cooperate and also to learn whatever I could from him--even if the lesson was how not to treat others simply when I was afraid.

Authors Tom McGrath

insecurity Courage teachers

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Homily stories

01 Mar 2009 - First Sunday of Lent, Cycle B

My newest hero is my neighbor across the hall: a public high-school teacher thought of as funny, sensitive, but not all that deep. Brian was on the verge of getting engaged to a beautiful woman, a social worker with a genuine concern for the people she helped. But when they began talking about marriage and children, she was clear about her expectations. He would, of course, have to pursue a different career because they could never raise a family on a teacher’s salary. “How ‘bout law school?” she threw out as a possibility. Brian was taken aback, but he too was very clear: He wanted to be a high school teacher. It was his dream job, his “vocation,” to use his words. He watched his dad die early in a high-powered job that kept his family at a distance, and he didn’t want that for his kids. He also wanted to be there to help other kids. Wow, who knew? We all read him wrong, including his girlfriend. Since she couldn’t get past the money, the relationship ended. But for me, it was the beginning of an even more beautiful friendship. Here was a friend who could teach me about resisting temptation and staying on course—just like Jesus.

Authors Patrice J. Tuohy

teacher engage expectations Vocation friendship Temptation

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Exploring the word

18 Sep 2016 - Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

When I’m pope, Catechetical Sunday will be elevated to a high holy day. The color of today’s vestments will be red, because religion teachers are the unsung martyrs of the church. Pope John XXIII understood this when he advised the young man who insisted he wanted to sacrifice his life for the gospel: “Don’t be a martyr. Be a teacher. It’s much harder.” The ministry of Jesus exemplifies this point. He heals the sick, walks on water, multiplies loaves, and raises the dead on three occasions. But chances are the hardest activity of his career was the teaching. Healing and miracle working are tasks Jesus can perform on his own authority. While a show of faith is gratefully received, it’s not required. Meanwhile catechesis—the unpacking of divine mysteries for mortal inspection—does involve our willingness and investment. Jesus can make a hemorrhaging woman stop bleeding and a blind man see. But he can’t make us hear what we refuse to hear. Jesus can’t force a closed heart to open. That’s what makes teaching so challenging and often frustrating. A catechist can lay out the most beautiful lesson in the world, but if a student refuses to receive it, it’s as if no words were spoken. As a master catechist, Jesus tells story after story, resembling nothing so much as the mad sower of one parable: scattering seed on every quality of soil, hoping something takes root. Some parables are user-friendly: a mustard seed of faith can yield a mighty tree of results! Others are troubling: Can there really be a good Samaritan, and how can we continue to despise those people if that’s true? Some parables build on each other, the way three tales about money and value did last week. This week’s lesson is among the most challenging Jesus tries to teach. The problem with the story of the cheating steward is that Jesus makes the bad guy into the hero—sort of. Actually, Jesus does this a lot, only most of the time we don’t mind. In the Good Samaritan tale, we have no beef with Samaritans today, so who cares? The Prodigal Son who winds up feeding pigs is a horror to first-century Jewish fathers. But in our more indulgent age, our children can do almost anything and be welcomed home. Here’s where the cheating steward becomes abominable even to us: He’s an embezzler! He’s cooking the books! Twenty-first-century Americans can’t stomach a crook any better than first-century Judeans could. It’s tough when Jesus holds up this man’s single-heartedness as an admirable model for us all. It’s an ambitious lesson plan, and one that still leaves many students scratching their heads. Related scripture links Render to Caesar: Luke 12:13-15 Other money passages in Luke: Luke 6:20; 12:13-34; 14:33; 16:14, 19-31; 21:1-4 Catechism links Money: CCC 952; 2269; 2401-2414; 2419-2425; 2443-2449 Pray for the powerful: CCC 1349; 1900-1904; 2240; 2636; 2822

Authors Alice Camille

teachers Teaching catechists Catechism cheating steward

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