where they may meet and be grounded in the love of the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep by name. We say that everything we do in the atrium is a prayer and, likewise, every material in the atrium is meant as a means for pondering the mysteries and riches of our faith; just as the life and work of a monk centers on prayer, so the child’s engagement and experience in an atrium is considered prayerful work. Among the work the children are invited to explore are models of church architecture, vessels, and garments. Other materials relate to the proclamations of our faith, our liturgy, and our communal sacramental life.
“If we want to help the child draw nearer to God, we should with patience and courage seek to go always closer to the vital nucleus of things. This requires study and prayer. The children themselves will be our teachers if we know how to observe them. ” —SOFIA CAVELLETTI
The New Atrium
The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in the Sacred Home By Allison Seay
An overview of the Montessori-based approach to the religious formation of young children WHAT IT IS The Catechesis (kat-i-KEE-sis) of the Good Shepherd is a religious formation approach for children ages 3 to 12. Based on scripture, liturgy and the educational and pedagogical principles of Dr. Maria Montessori, CGS began in Italy in 1954 under the guidance of noted theologians and educators Sofia Cavelletti and Gianna Gobbi. This manner of Christian education is not primarily academic but instead seeks to be a religious experience rooted in celebration, contemplation and joy. It depends on a gentle entrance to, and witnessing of, the child’s often-silent encounter with the Divine. 20
Montessori advised that we must “quit our roles as jailers and instead take care to prepare an environment in which we do as little as possible to exhaust the child with our surveillance and instruction.” Children, even from the earliest age, have an enormous capacity for wonder and a deep and vital desire to develop a conscious and intimate relationship with God. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd seeks to nourish what is already present and indwelling. WHERE IT HAPPENS
Traditionally, the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd takes place in an atrium—a carefully prepared, sacred space for children
Though the atria are closed while we shelter in place, we are steady in our belief that the principles of our shared life in the atrium can translate to an environment at home where adults and children can live a common religious experience in what some call the Domestic Church. After all, it is in the home that the child’s moral and spiritual development is first formed by the nurturing she receives from those who love her. Just as in the atrium, home can be a place of exploration, creation, joy, prayer, and mystery. HOW IT HAPPENS The word catechesis means oral religious instruction and a catechist (KAT-i-kist) is the one who shares presentations (not lessons) and scripture with the child— parables and prophecies, geography, history, and the life of Christ. Importantly, the catechist is not a teacher but a cowonderer, a listener and facilitator who has prayerfully prepared the space and who has undergone formation and study herself in order to better understand ways that biblical and liturgical themes correspond to the developmental stages of children in her (or his) care. Every catechist works under the assumption that Christ is the only “teacher” and that all the wisdom one needs is already in the room. While this year children may not be receiving these presentations as we wish they could, parents still have the unique responsibility and distinct honor of being the first heralds of faith in the development of their children, the primary catechists. Because it is within the life of the family at home that Christian community is first SEASONS OF THE SPIRIT
