Introduction
Teaching students how to pray in accordance with Christian and Catholic tenants of faith is vital for an individual child, group, class, school, and entire Christian community. Prayer is a complex and intricate subject that needs to be taught with full awareness of the underlying essentials. The given summative assessment will highlight the most critical aspects of proper and correct approaches toward teaching prayer. The core elements include appropriate teaching style, personal nature of prayer, the distinction between assembly and school liturgy, dimensions of the Eucharist, child engagement simplification, and purposes of an assembly.
Appropriate Teaching Style
Firstly, when educating students on prayer, it is important to note that the role the teaching in a Catholic school is critical in order to ensure the effectiveness of learning through an appropriate teaching style. When it comes to Religious Education or RE teacher, the prayer cannot be fully taught without having a personal faith commitment (Life Light, 2022). It is stated that “without ramming the Christian-Catholic vision down the throats of your pupils, you are expected to ‘own’ what you say about the different aspects of your Christian faith” (Life Light, 2022, p. 11). In addition, an RE teacher must have a more professional commitment to religious education as a subject (Life Light, 2022). Therefore, prayer needs to be taught within the framework of these two commitments, which are essential for providing both instructional and exemplary elements of the act.
Moreover, one should understand that prayer is a complex and multifaceted topic. The learning process needs to be delivered with a consideration of four critical aspects. These include the underlying knowledge of prayer, concepts related to prayer, skills required to properly pray, and attitudes towards the act of praying (Life Light, 2022). In other words, a learner needs to be given a comprehensive understanding as well as experience on the subject from an RE teacher, which depends on commitments and teaching elements.
Personal Nature of Prayer
Secondly, an RE teacher must be aware that prayer is a complicated and unique subject, even in the realm of religious education. It is stated that “unlike most other sections of the RE syllabus, prayer raises a series of questions for the teacher which affect one’s attitudes to life, faith, and life-style” (Life Light, 2022, p. 20). Thus, the deeply personal nature of prayer means that there needs to be a proper and meaningful definition of the act, which is achieved through reflection. Whenever a learner describes what he or she understands a prayer to be and mean, each word and factor stated requires reflective analysis and discussion. It is important to emphasize that “prayer is a self-opening on to God … grounded in an attitude of mind and heart” (Life Light, 2022, p. 21). In other words, it is an invitation to allow God to invade one’s personal life, which can be fleeting or significant. For example, during a crisis, a person’s prayer will likely have a higher degree of self-opening. Prayer is a conscious effort rooted in one’s attitude towards God, and its experiential side can be a minor emotion or life-changing event (Life Light, 2022). Despite prayer being personal, it does not mean that it cannot be conducted in a large gathering because liturgy is an act of praying as well.
The commonality of prayer as a phenomenon should not be dismissed. Although it might be challenging to assess how common it is for people to pray, the opinion polls show that over 90% of individuals engage in it (Life Light, 2022). Thus, prayer needs to be taught with relevant knowledge substantiating its prevalence in humans’ daily lives. It is vital for RE teachers to broaden and expand a learner’s idea of praying because it can take many different forms, shapes, and scales. It should be communicated that one “may experience prayer while listening to music, watching a film, admiring a view, taking a walk… No matter!” (Life Light, 2022, p. 22). There is no single correct approach because it is a deeply personal and transcendental experience that is genuine in its intention. Prayer should not be confused with a mere knowledge of set prayers, which is why one should avoid over-stressing of recitations (Life Light, 2022). A student must first acquire a full understanding of what prayer is and what it is not before going into detailed methods of Catholic praying.
Assembly and School Liturgy
Thirdly, when teaching students how to pray, the communal aspect needs to be addressed. It should be noted that private prayer is the same in purpose but distinct in execution and approach. There are two general forms of group prayer, which include assembly and school liturgy (Life Light, 2022). A RE teacher needs to start the given subject by accentuating the learners first because a group prayer is an act of a group opening itself up to the Lord. The core element of such a format of prayer is “joining in a series of common prayers and common ritual actions” (Life Light, 2022, p, 23). Comprehensively mastering and understanding a private prayer ensures that one can easily incorporate the essential attitude within a group setting. In addition, an occasion might require a change in expression, such as smiling instead of a solemn demeanor (Cepelka, 2019). In other words, an RE teacher needs to be able to highlight the differences and similarities between individual and group prayers.
Furthermore, it is vital to pinpoint the significance of the school mass and its special format called Eucharist. It is stated that “The Eucharist is at the center of any Christian community, just as it is at the center of all Christian living. The sacramental and liturgical life of the Church revolves around the Eucharist” (Life Light, 2022, p, 23). A student needs to know the central themes centered around the Eucharist, which include Jesus’ second coming, the outpouring of the Spirit, sacrificial death and resurrection, preaching, and incarnation (Life Light, 2022). In other words, the special occasion plays a significant role in the community’s function and life of the Catholic school.
Dimensions of the Eucharist
Fourthly, a student must be taught about the essential dimensions and appreciation points of the prayer in the Eucharist. The first one is faith-strengthening because faith requires constant and continuous work through contemplation, resistance to temptations, and self-control. The second dimension is community-building since the strength of Christians lies in their unity and togetherness in their faith in Christ, which is why this relationship needs to be renewed and preserved. The third element is the Liturgy of the Kingdom, and “the Eucharist is at the heart of Christianity: The Kingdom of God” (Life Light, 2022, p. 23). The fourth and last critical aspect is an outpouring of the Spirit because “the Eucharist is an occasion for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit” (Life Light, 2022, p. 23). In other words, the Catholic school community and Christian community in general needs are filled with the Holy Spirit through reassurance, comfort, strength, and faith (Cepelka, 2019). Therefore, the core four dimensions of the Eucharist are the strengthening of faith, the building of the community, the Liturgy of the Kingdom, as well as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Children in an Adult Religion
Fifthly, an RE teacher must be able to teach how to pray with consideration to the student’s stage of development. It is important to point out that “Christianity is first and foremost an adult religion” (Life Light, 2022, p. 24). Since the students are likely to be children, the process of celebrating the Eucharist might become an issue due to a mismatch between an adult-centered religious practice and child participation. An RE teacher needs to be aware of the fact that “the Directory makes provision for a simpler ritual which would be more readily appreciated by children of school age” (Life Light, 2022, p. 24). In other words, simplicity is permitted and enabled by the Vatican, but it is vital to preserving the essentials of the prayer itself. The central objective is to make the mass and community prayer as meaningful to children as possible. Each child student needs to be involved, engaged, and encouraged to feel the part of the given liturgical action (Life Light, 2022). An RE teacher should refer to the Chapter III of the Directory for more details on how to proceed with this simplification process and ensure a greater level of engagement.
Assembly: Core Aspects
Sixthly, an assembly at Catholic primary schools is not only used for announcing sports results or reading out notices. An RE teacher needs to understand that the essence of an assembly is to provide an opportunity for the school family to gather and come together as one unified Christian community (Life Light, 2022). Therefore, the gathering needs to incorporate some form of meaningful and relevant Christian activity for the purposes of making a connection or link between life and faith. For instance, according to Goldman, “worship for the young child must be at a personal, immediate level of experience if it is to be real” (Life Light, 2022, p. 24). In other words, the emphasis and accentuation must be put on worshiping, sharing, communion, caring, and loving primarily. The correct use of the vocabulary of the Christian religion is secondary compared to the previously mentioned qualities.
When it comes to the purposes and forms of assembly, it can be flexible and come in different formats. An RE teacher educating children and students on how to properly pray must be knowledgeable about these freedoms in the teaching process. For example, an assembly might be focused on differential contexts ranging from small celebrations of something worthwhile to a prayer of international occurrences (Life Light, 2022). Similarly, the formats and shapes of an assembly can vary from a gathering of the entire school to a class-based one. In the case of the former, the assembly can be initiated by a group, a class, or an individual.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an RE teacher must know about appropriate teaching styles, personal nature of prayer, the distinction between assembly and school liturgy, dimensions of the Eucharist, child engagement simplification, and purposes of an assembly. Being aware of these critical understandings can greatly improve the teaching process of prayer. Catholic schools offer a wide range of tools supplicated with underlying knowledge to enable a deeper understanding of prayer.
References
Cepelka, K. A. (2019). National standards and benchmarks for effective Catholic schools: An Archdiocesan framework for excellence. Journal of Catholic Education, 22(1), 207-212. Web.
Life Light. (2022). Religious education in the primary school in Ireland. Life-Light Home Study Courses.