(no subject)
Wow, it's been a while.
Sorry I've been OOC for so long! I have been reading everything you've all had to say, even if I haven't had a chance to comment.
Last week was the first full week of school, and it wiped me out. I think I'm being a bit too idealistic about my hopes and expectations from my students. I went home very upset on Tuesday after I saw that hardly any of the students even opened their mouths once to participate in the school's Opening Mass. On Wednesday I used class time to discuss the liturgy; many of the students pointed out that their teachers were falling asleep during Mass, saying, "If Ms. So-and-so is so bored she's going to sleep, imagine how we feel!"
Admittedly, the Mass wasn't the Best Thing Ever. The songs were sung and played without any enthusiasm or passion whatsoever. The poor pianist didn't even have real music - she was playing off the guitar chords! You could barely hear the priest, and his homily consisted of a question-answer session with one (!) student. The music teacher in charge of planning music for the liturgies told me first of all that the Mass was very hastily thrown together, and second of all she, being a very high-church sort of Episcopalian, said she knows nothing about contemporary Catholic liturgical music. I've been trying to send her suggestions for livelier pieces and point out new songbooks and the like, but I'm worried I'm butting in.
Still. I can't help but be concerned. The liturgy ought to be the place where our school draws its strength and where all we do leads. And yet liturgical planning seems to be an after-thought. It's our responsibility to give these girls a better liturgy, if only because, if we don't, then why would they want to go to Mass when they're no longer forced to do so by their parents and their school? I've been doing all I can for the music teacher, but it's certainly not just the music. The girls also suggested having Mass before school instead of after, so they won't dread going to Mass after school when they could just be going home. It makes sense; after a long day in class, I doubt they have the energy to stay focused on the liturgy afterwards. They wanted better music, yes, and better preaching. We do need a priest who can speak to their needs, appropriate to their age as Sacrosanctum Concilium would say. I told them that if they know of a good priest they should suggest him to us and we can try to get him to say a Mass. The problem, too, is that the school doesn't have a priest attached to it - no priest who knows the school, knows the students, has a bond with them, anything. It's just some random guy who gets pulled in at the last minute. It's pretty awful.
Also, I feel like we have to do something about teaching the girls how to appreciate the liturgy. So few of them know what's expected of them, what the liturgy is really about. We spent Wednesday talking about that, too. And I know that before the next school Mass I want to get the music and the readings for my classes so that we can go over them before the Mass. That way my students won't have an excuse for not participating and not thinking about what's going on. I also want them to plan a prayer service that is structured on the Mass as well. I want them to pick music, write petitions, pick readings, write their own sermons, and so on. I hope that will get them more involved in liturgical-style worship, at any rate.
It's a dual obligation - we have an obligation to provide them with a spiritually nourishing Mass, and they have an obligation to take the liturgy seriously for what it is. I think I'm taking it too personally - they're high school girls; how "into" the Mass do I really expect them to be? Still, I have high expectations for them. I hope I don't ever let those expectations diminish. I've already read these girls' writing, peered a bit into their thoughts and hopes - they're capable, they're so full of potential waiting to be tapped. When I asked them to write what they hope to learn in a course on Christian Morality, many of them wrote the most touching answers. I would say 90% of them are serious about what we're doing in our class, and want to be better people, want to be closer to God, want to love God and seek Him and know Him. I can't hope to touch everyone, but if I can let God's grace work through me to touch even one of them then that's enough.
I had no idea, really, that I'd get so emotionally involved in this job. It didn't hit me until that Mass, when I saw how disjointed the experience was for the girls. We owe them better than this. I'll rock the boat all I must to give the best I can to them.
Sorry I've been OOC for so long! I have been reading everything you've all had to say, even if I haven't had a chance to comment.
Last week was the first full week of school, and it wiped me out. I think I'm being a bit too idealistic about my hopes and expectations from my students. I went home very upset on Tuesday after I saw that hardly any of the students even opened their mouths once to participate in the school's Opening Mass. On Wednesday I used class time to discuss the liturgy; many of the students pointed out that their teachers were falling asleep during Mass, saying, "If Ms. So-and-so is so bored she's going to sleep, imagine how we feel!"
Admittedly, the Mass wasn't the Best Thing Ever. The songs were sung and played without any enthusiasm or passion whatsoever. The poor pianist didn't even have real music - she was playing off the guitar chords! You could barely hear the priest, and his homily consisted of a question-answer session with one (!) student. The music teacher in charge of planning music for the liturgies told me first of all that the Mass was very hastily thrown together, and second of all she, being a very high-church sort of Episcopalian, said she knows nothing about contemporary Catholic liturgical music. I've been trying to send her suggestions for livelier pieces and point out new songbooks and the like, but I'm worried I'm butting in.
Still. I can't help but be concerned. The liturgy ought to be the place where our school draws its strength and where all we do leads. And yet liturgical planning seems to be an after-thought. It's our responsibility to give these girls a better liturgy, if only because, if we don't, then why would they want to go to Mass when they're no longer forced to do so by their parents and their school? I've been doing all I can for the music teacher, but it's certainly not just the music. The girls also suggested having Mass before school instead of after, so they won't dread going to Mass after school when they could just be going home. It makes sense; after a long day in class, I doubt they have the energy to stay focused on the liturgy afterwards. They wanted better music, yes, and better preaching. We do need a priest who can speak to their needs, appropriate to their age as Sacrosanctum Concilium would say. I told them that if they know of a good priest they should suggest him to us and we can try to get him to say a Mass. The problem, too, is that the school doesn't have a priest attached to it - no priest who knows the school, knows the students, has a bond with them, anything. It's just some random guy who gets pulled in at the last minute. It's pretty awful.
Also, I feel like we have to do something about teaching the girls how to appreciate the liturgy. So few of them know what's expected of them, what the liturgy is really about. We spent Wednesday talking about that, too. And I know that before the next school Mass I want to get the music and the readings for my classes so that we can go over them before the Mass. That way my students won't have an excuse for not participating and not thinking about what's going on. I also want them to plan a prayer service that is structured on the Mass as well. I want them to pick music, write petitions, pick readings, write their own sermons, and so on. I hope that will get them more involved in liturgical-style worship, at any rate.
It's a dual obligation - we have an obligation to provide them with a spiritually nourishing Mass, and they have an obligation to take the liturgy seriously for what it is. I think I'm taking it too personally - they're high school girls; how "into" the Mass do I really expect them to be? Still, I have high expectations for them. I hope I don't ever let those expectations diminish. I've already read these girls' writing, peered a bit into their thoughts and hopes - they're capable, they're so full of potential waiting to be tapped. When I asked them to write what they hope to learn in a course on Christian Morality, many of them wrote the most touching answers. I would say 90% of them are serious about what we're doing in our class, and want to be better people, want to be closer to God, want to love God and seek Him and know Him. I can't hope to touch everyone, but if I can let God's grace work through me to touch even one of them then that's enough.
I had no idea, really, that I'd get so emotionally involved in this job. It didn't hit me until that Mass, when I saw how disjointed the experience was for the girls. We owe them better than this. I'll rock the boat all I must to give the best I can to them.