1. Baptism: Continuing the 3-Fold Mission of Jesus

ULevelU: Level 2Ages 12-13

USubject:UReligion

UTopicU:

1. Baptism: continuing the 3-fold mission of Jesus

2. Role models of Christian Living

3. The Beatitudes

4. Exploring Social Justice

UObjectives:U

1. The students will review the life of Sr. Dorothy to identify how she lived out each part of the three-fold mission each Christian receives at baptism.

2. The students will compare and contrast how Sr. Dorothy lived out her baptismal commitment with how Oscar Romero, St. Julie Billiart and one other person of their choice lived out their baptismal commitment.

3. Students will review the Beatitudes and identify how Sr. Dorothy and other role models lived them.

4. Students will study the underlying principles of Catholic Social Teaching, identify how Sr. Dorothy lived by each principle and reflect on how each principle is already operative in and can be more visibly apart of their own lives.

UA Note to Teachers:

The materials in this lesson plan will need to be spread out over a number of days. Teachers will want to read through the lesson and test the web site links to insure that they are suited to their particular students. There are materials to tell the story of Sister Dorothy Stang to younger children. Information is underDay One below.

It is strongly recommended you preview the pod cast that is suggested on Day Two below.

PowerPoint presentations and worksheets 5A through 5E, referenced below, are attached with this document.

UProcedures:

UDay One:

1. Ask the students, “What happens when a person is baptized?” Compile their answers.

2. Share with the students the PowerPoint presentation found in 5A (“Baptism and the Three-fold Mission of Jesus”—attached with this document). 5B contains the slides and notes for a script your use with the presentation.

3. After the presentation, ask the students to identify ways they live out each part of the three-fold mission of Jesus. You may want to ask for a certain number of examples for each part of the mission.

4. Assign worksheet 5C. To do this assignment the students will need access to the materials at the following websites.

Name of site: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur – Ohio Unit

Address of site: HU

Brief description of site: The link gives an excellent but short biography of Sister Dorothy that will be very helpful to the students. Other resources at may also be helpful.

Name of site: NotreDameOnline.org

Address of site: HU

Brief description of site: The Sister Dorothy Stang page of the NotreDameOnline.org website has a number of resources that tell about Sister Dorothy and her life. Have the students explore what is there, or direct them to the materials you feel are most appropriate from this site. The page is accessible through the 4th slider on the home page and under the “Resources” tab at the top of the page.

5. After the students have had time to complete the assignment, have them discuss their findings in class.

6. Share the following prayer with the students.

Loving God, in Baptism you ask me to act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with You. Help me to know how to bring justice and love to a world that is desperately in need of You and Your values. Strengthen me, as well as my brothers and sisters, with the courage and generosity to respond to Your invitation. I ask this, in the name of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

UOptional Exercises to reinforce the concepts/Homework:

1. Have each student interview someone they believe lives out the mission of Jesus. Then have the students write an essay about that person and why they think he/she is a good role model for living out the three-fold mission of Jesus.

2. You’ve already had the students look at ways they ARE living out the three-fold mission of Jesus. An additional exercise would be to ask the students to think of additional ways they could live out Jesus’ mission now, to think of ways they might live it out 10 years from now, and 20 years from now. Another option is to have students identify actions that are clearly NOT in line with the mission of Jesus.

3. Have the students do an art project depicting ways people live out the mission of Jesus.

UDay Two:

1. Review the three-fold mission of Jesus we are brought into through baptism. Tell the students you’re going to spend some time examining one aspect of being part of a community of believers: the Communion of Saints.

2. Send the students to the following website to answer these questions:

What is the ‘Communion of Saints’?
Why do we pray to the saints?

Name of site: The Communion of Saints and You

Address of site:

Description of site: The page gives short, clear answers to the questions the students are asked to answer.

3. Invite the students to listen to the pod cast that can be found at the following site:

Name of site: Good Friday 2011, "My Life With The Saints"

Address of site:

Brief description of site: A presentation by James Martin, SJ (Author of UMy Life with the SaintsU) on the role of saints in our lives. Fr. Martin makes a number of excellent points about what the saints can teach us.

To help the students listen, you may want to use worksheet 5D.

4. After the students have had time to complete the worksheet, discuss their responses in class. You may want to have them share with one another in small groups and then move the discussion to the whole class.

5. Have each student pick a saint to explore as a project. Who was the saint? When did he/she live? What did the student like best about the saint? What can the saint teach us today? As part of the project have the student create a symbol for the saint they’ve chosen and explain the symbol to the class.

6. Assign the project found on worksheet 5E. Below are resources for you to preview and direct the students to for their research.

Name of site: Oscar Romero: Bishop of the Poor

Address of site: HU

Brief description of site: A good biography of Bishop Romero, with links to other sites.

Name of site: Remembering the Assassination of Archbishop Romero

Address of site: HU

Brief description of site: Excellent quotes and other resources.

Name of Site: Catholic Pages

Address of Site: HU

Brief description of site: This site contains an extensive list of Saints listed by their first name. Students click on the first letter of the Saint’s name and then scroll down until they find the link. Warn the students: when they go to a particular letter they will find a few names and then it looks like the list ends. Have them scroll down and they will find the rest of the list for that letter.

Name of site: Notre Dame Online

Address of site: HU

Brief description of site: This link takes you to the front page of Notre Dame online where students will find a link for St. Julie Billiart and another link for Sister Dorothy Stang. Both of the links to saint indexes above have biographies of St. Julie.

UOptional Exercises to reinforce the concepts/Homework:

1. Have the students write a “Litany of Saints”. In the litany they can certainly include Romero, St. Julie and Sister Dorothy, and each saint they researched for their project. For each saint have them complete the following: “Saint ______, we look to you as a role model for ______. Pray for us.” When the litany is complete, incorporate it into a prayer service with the class.

2. Have the students do an essay on a contemporary person they feel is a good role model for living the Christian life.

3. Have the students look at the “prayers of the saints” on the following website:

Name of site: Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Address of site: HU

Brief description of site: This page includes a number of resources on prayer. Have the students scroll down to the “Prayer with the Saints” section. The name of each saint is hyperlinked to a prayer that that person is known for.

UDay Three

1. Review the work of the past two days. Remind the students that it is in the Christian community that we first learn the message of Jesus. Part of that message is a passage called the Beatitudes. Ask them if they can name the Beatitudes.

2. To review the Beatitudes, have the students read togetherMatthew 5:3-10. Or show the following video from YouTube:

3. Divide the students into small groups and have themread the article at the following site. As they read it, have them summarize what each Beatitude means. Also have the students answer the questions that are at the end of the article.

Name of site: Every Day Catholic: God in Our Midst

Address of site: HU

Brief description of site: An article written by Bishop Robert Morneau that gives a description of each of the Beatitudes. There are questions for reflection at the end of the article.

4. Refer the students back to the work they did in the assignment on worksheet 5E. Split the class into groups to do the following assignment.

Have the students set up eight sheets of paper: at the top of each sheet they should write one Beatitude.

Have the students go through the life of Oscar Romero, St. Julie Billiart and Sister Dorothy Stang and identify where they see the Beatitudes being lived out by these three individuals. As they find an example, have them write it on the sheet for the appropriate Beatitude. An example would be:

"Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Sister Dorothy was put on a death list because she worked to protect the land and the people who lived there.
St. Julie was persecuted because she was faithful to the Church during the French Revolution.
Oscar Romero was persecuted because he spoke out against injustices against the poor of El Salvador.

(Students may not find examples of all the Beatitudes in each individual life. They may find multiple examples of some Beatitudes in an individual’s life. You will want to circulate between the groups to help them where they have trouble.)

Then have the students review the lives of the additional saints they researched and have the students add examples from the lives of those individuals to the sheet. (The students will all be familiar with the lives of Romero, St. Julie and Sister Dorothy. Doing those three first should give them confidence to do the fourth individual.)

UOptional Exercises to reinforce the concepts/Homework:

1. Use Auckland Catholic Youth and You Ministry’s prayer of the Beatitudes with the students:

Dialogued Prayer on the Beatitudes

Lord Jesus, you said,"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Keep usfrom being preoccupied with money and worldly goods, and with trying to increase them at the expenseof justice.

Lord Jesus, you said,"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth."

Help us not to beruthless with one another, and to eliminate the discord and violence that exists in the world around us.

Lord Jesus, you said,"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

Let us not beimpatient under our own burdens and unconcerned about the burdens of others.

Lord Jesus, you said,"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall befilled."

Make us thirst for you, the fountain of all holiness, and actively spread your influence in ourprivate lives and in society.

Lord Jesus, you said,"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."

Grant that we maybe quick to forgive and slow to condemn.

Lord Jesus, you said,"Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

Free us from oursenses and our evil desires, and fix our eyes on you.

Lord Jesus, you said,"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."

Aidus to make peace in our families, in our country, and in the world.

Lord Jesus, you said,"Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of justice, for the

kingdom of heaven in theirs."

Make us willing to suffer for the sake of right rather than to practiceinjustice; and do not let us discriminate against our neighbors and oppress and persecute them.

(Source: )

2. Assign the students the project of doing a collage of the Beatitudes. The task will be to find pictures or headlines that represent people living the Beatitudes today. On the back of the collage have them explain their choices.

UDay Four

1. Begin class with the prayer:

2. Review the concepts covered in the first three days of this unit. Explain to the students that today you’re going to focus on some basic principles that can help us live out the three-fold mission of Jesus we receive at Baptism: the principles that form the basis of Catholic social teaching.

3. Send the students to this site to identify and explain the meaning of each of the principles that form the basis of Catholic Social Teaching:

Name of site: Principles of Catholic Social Teaching for Kids

Address of site: H

Brief description of site: This site approaches each of the principles in language that is easily grasped and will help the students begin thinking about how they can/do live out the principles.

4. Have the students go back to the reading they did to complete the assignment given in 5 E. Ask them to writetwo pages: one giving examples of evidence they see of each of the principles in the life of Sister Dorothy Stang, and another on evidence they see of each of the principles in the life of one of the other three individuals they studied.

5. Split the students into small groups.

Ask each of the groups to write a skit that shows how young people can put the principles of Catholic social teaching into practice.
Have seven sheets of paper ready ahead of time, with a different principle written at the top of each sheet. (When it is time to use these sheets have students ready who can serve as “secretaries”, recording the audience’s observations on the appropriate sheets of paper.)
When the students are ready, have the students present the skits to the class—with a little bit of time between each one.
After each skit, give the class a few minutes to review the list of principles and think about the skit.
Then ask them to tell you what the skit said about how young people can live out each principle. Have the “secretaries” record the points as they are mentioned.
Then have another group present their skit, give time for reflection, ask them to tell you what that skit said about how young people can live out each principle, etc. until all of the skits have been presented.
Have the class review the lists of actions that have been created.

UOptional Exercises to reinforce the concepts/Homework:

1. Ask the students to come up with stories from the Gospels that illustrate the principles of Catholic social teaching.

2. Give the students the opportunity to create a prayer service on the theme of Michah 6:8: “act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with your God.”

3. Have the students bring in articles they find that show situations where there is a need for the principles of Catholic social teaching to be put into action. Give them the opportunity to talk about the situations and to talk about what could be done to correct them.

4. Have the students explore the information on issues of hunger and water at the UN website: HU

UAssessment/Evaluation:U

Students should be able to answer:

What is the three-fold mission of Jesus?

How do you live out each part of the mission of Jesus?

Who were Oscar Romero, Julie Billiart and Dorothy Stang?

What is the Communion of Saints?

What are the Beatitudes?

Give some examples of how you live out the Beatitudes.

Name the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

Give examples of how you live out each principle.