Notes for praying in the Catholic Christian school context

What is prayer?

• ‘talking to God’
• ‘raising the mind and heart (i.e. the whole person turns to God, focuses on God)
• ‘prayer is a relationship between ourselves and God ‘
• ‘prayer involves both our work and God’s work’

What is Catholic Christian prayer?

• acknowledges God as the source and inspiration of prayer
• requires openness to a relationship with God
• involves awareness of God in daily life
• develops through faith and life experience
• is at the heart of the Catholic Christian tradition
• is centred on Jesus Christ
• is essential to Catholic Christian spirituality
• finds expression in many forms
• is learnt and developed through practice
• engages the whole person
• requires effort and perseverance
• is a response to a God of love

What is the role of prayer in a Catholic Christian school?

• is a key element of school life
• occurs frequently and at appropriate times
• is timetabled but not restricted to timetable
• can arise spontaneously and responsively
• extends beyond students and teachers to the wider school community

How do we review prayer in a Catholic Christian school?

• What is the school prayer policy? Is the policy known and implemented? Is the policy adequate in terms of focus, context, variety and reach?
• How adequate is classroom prayer in relation to range of traditional prayers, quality of formal and informal prayer experiences, resourcing and skilling of teachers and students, atmosphere and sacred space, variety of types of prayer experiences

How do we plan classroom prayer?

• relevance to age, stage and background of students
• variety of ways to pray to take advantage of personality, strengths and preferences
• advantageous time and sufficient time
• choosing and using space within and beyond classroom
• using scripture for prayer in a variety of ways
• integrating prayer and life
• providing appropriate environment and atmosphere
• using creativity
• teaching about prayer
• teaching and practising skills for prayer

How do we pray in a diversity of ways?

• Vocal prayer, meditation, contemplative prayer as main expressions of prayer (CCC)
• A categorisation of forms of Catholic Christian prayer could be:
  • traditional prayers (e.g. Our father, Hail Mary, Nicene Creed)
  • formal and informal prayers ( praise, thanksgiving, petition, sorrow)
  • meditation ( imagery, story, scripture, nature, art)
  • contemplative prayer ( silence, mantras, breathing)
  • other methods of prayer ( movement, journal writing, music)

What are the challenges of traditional prayer?

• staff and student background often means low knowledge base
• this can be put in the ‘too hard basket’
• putting students and teachers in contact with the tradition is however important
• traditional prayer formulas are important for communal prayer and worship
• there is great richness to be unpacked in many traditional prayers
• challenge of ‘teaching about’ and ‘teaching to pray’ traditional prayers
• using four resources model ‘code breaker’; ‘meaning maker’; ‘text user’; ‘text analyst’
• memorising traditional prayers
• expressing traditional prayers and devotions in contemporary ways
• teaching and using traditional prayers in a balanced prayer program
• using traditional prayers with both staff and students
• connecting with the extended family

Context/background

Books

A resource for classroom teachers that integrates the theory of the nature of prayer with the practice of how to teach about prayer in the Catholic tradition.

A NEW publication from The Liturgical Commission! Every Catholic school classroom needs this book for daily prayer. Week by week during the year, a simple form of liturgical prayer is provided, taking account of the liturgical seasons and saints' days. Introductory material will help teachers understand liturgical prayer and introduce it to their class.