Welcome, Pope Francis!
Pope Francis will
visit the United
States for the first
time September
22-27. His trip will
include
Washington, D.C.,
New York, and
Philadelphia.
Older students
will hear about
the pope’s visit in social studies or civics
classes. Younger children may hear about him
from their parents or during Mass. How will
you welcome Pope Francis into your
classroom?
Seeds – Preschoolers understand that
parents lead their family, teachers lead the
classroom. Explain that Pope Francis leads
the Catholic Church. A quick web search of
“Pope Francis with children” will yield many
photos of the Pope greeting and embracing
children, even welcoming young ones on the
altar! Print these pictures and share them with
your children.
Promise – There are many children’s picture
books about Pope Francis, including Jorge
from Argentina: The Story of Pope Francis for
Children, by Marlyn Monge (Boston: Pauline
Books and Media, 2013). If you enjoy acting,
visit the classroom as Pope Francis or one of
his friends. Tell the children about his growing
up or any details about his life – he liked to
dance, he used to be a science teacher. This
biography (www.pflaumgospelweeklies.com/
WMOF/Pope-Francis-from-Argentina.pdf) will
get you started.
Good News – From his zucchetto to his
pellegrina, the Pope Francis wears a lot of
special items. Print a picture of the Pope or
use the picture from the September 27 issue
of Venture.
Go through the matching activity “How to
Recognize a
Pope.” (www.pflaumgospelweeklies.com/
WMOF/How-to-Recognize-a-Pope.pdf) Do
the students think they could spot Pope
Francis on the street?
Venture – Announce to the class that you
have a special guest this week – Pope
Francis! They all get to interview him. The
questions can be about everyday things or
serious issues. Have them write their
questions on index cards. This activity can be
as simple as you wish. A microphone and
interview chair (perhaps even dressing as the
Holy Father?) will add to the fun. Videotape
the interviews with a phone or camera so you
can share with parents.
Visions – Bend the no-phones rule for this
fun activity. Give each student or pair of
students a keyword to search: mercy, poor,
environment, Mary, family, kindness,
indifference, saints. Have them search what
Pope Francis has to say about each. Allow
three to five minutes, checking in to make
sure they stay on task! Then ask volunteers
to share their favorite quotes with the class
and copy the words onto large sheets of
paper. Then collect the phones until the end
of class!
Follow Pope Francis’s travels with a day-byday itinerary, color his coat of arms, and learn
his official titles (there are more than 12 of
them – and not one is pope!). Coloring
sheets, puzzles, and prayer services are all
available to enhance your lessons during the
Pope’s visit this month.
(www.pflaumgospelweeklies.com/wmof)
Saint of the Month
Saint Vincent de Paul (c.1580-1660)
Patron of charity
Feast Day: September 27
Pirates, slave ships,
royal intrigue, and war
were all part of the life
and times of St. Vincent
de Paul. Born around
1580 in Gascony,
France, Vincent
became a priest in 1600
and served as a tutor in
Toulouse. Then his life
took a dramatic turn.
Returning by sea from a trip to Marseilles in
1605, Vincent was captured by Turkish pirates.
He was taken to Tunis and sold as a slave,
finally escaping in 1607. He traveled to
Avignon and then Rome to continue his
studies, returning to France in 1609 on a
secret mission to Henry IV.
In 1612, Father Vincent entered the service of
a rich French family, the de Gondi, as a
teacher to their children. While in their service,
he also came to the aid of the poor farmers on
the Gondi estates. One Sunday he told his
church congregation about a poor family
whose father was too sick to work. Everyone
took food to this family—so much food that
they could not eat it all and there was no way
to keep it from spoiling. Father Vincent
recognized the need for organized aid and
began to work toward that goal.
Working in Paris among imprisoned galley
slaves, Father Vincent found that their
conditions on the sailing ships were brutal.
Vincent ministered to the slaves on the galleys
supervised by Monsieur de Gondi and to the
convicts who were chained and crowded into
dungeons in Paris. He converted many of them
to Christianity. He established a hospital and
was appointed by Louis XIII to distribute alms
to the galleys.
Building on this success, Vincent founded the
Congregation of Priests of the Mission, also
known as Vincentians. These priests devoted
themselves to needy people in smaller towns
and villages. The work of the Vincentians was
expanded when Vincent, with the help of Louise
de Marillac, founded the Daughters of Charity.
This religious community for women continues
their work today with the poor in hospitals and
prisons all around the world. Louise de Marillac
was proclaimed a saint in 1934.
At the request of the Archbishop of Paris,
Vincent also founded the Ladies of Charity.
These high-ranking, pious ladies ministered to
the sick at the Hotel-Dieu, the oldest hospital in
Paris, and also visited the prisons. With the
support of these influential ladies, St. Vincent de
Paul collected large sums of money to aid sick,
poor and orphaned children. He also became
popular at the royal court in Paris and used his
influence to distribute aid to provinces
devastated by the Thirty Years War. He
established soup kitchens that served 15,000 to
16,000 war refugees every day.
In addition to helping the poor of France, he also
established seminaries and encouraged retreats
for clergy at a time when training for priests was
rare. Vincent sent priests to Ireland, Scotland,
Poland, and Madagascar.
Vincent de Paul died in Paris on September 27,
1660, and was canonized in 1737. He was later
declared patron saint of all acts of charity by
Pope Leo XIII.
In 1833, Blessed Frederic
Ozanam founded the
Society of St. Vincent de
Paul (www.svdpusa.org),
the organization that
works in Catholic
parishes around the world
to provide help for the poor.
Today there are 800,000 members (called
“Vincentians”) from 150 countries.
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul helps 12
million people in the United States each year.
Nearly 150,000 members meet the specific
needs of people seeking help, from food pantries
and thrift stores to disaster relief and job training.
Members live this quote from their patron:
Charity is infinitely inventive!
Focus on VENTURE
Middle-grade children want to know what they
will have to give and what they will get before
they make moral choices. They have a fierce
sense of fairness. They want established rules
and they want them to be enforced (for
example, while playing a game). Catechists
can encourage this age group to move beyond
their initial rule-bound decisions toward
making choices that are both caring and fair.
What’s going on in the minds and hearts of
Venture students? How do they learn? How do
they know God? Each month Focus highlights
learning styles and faith development of a
different age level, preschool to middle school.
This month learn best teaching practices for
the Venture classroom, grades 4-6.
Note: This information is also available in the
Venture Resource Manual
(www.pflaumweeklies.com/new_page/
resource_manuals.php) to all users of the
Pflaum Gospel Weeklies.
(www.pflaumweeklies.com)
Venture students (usually 10 to 11 years old)
are primarily concrete thinkers, but will move
into abstract thinking soon. They learn best by
doing – to pray by praying, to worship by
worshiping, to cooperate by cooperating, to
share by sharing, to love by loving and being
loved. Moral reasoning at this age is give and
take.
Children at this age like to gather facts,
information, and impressions, some of which
they will truly understand only later. They are
beginning to use and interpret basic Gospel
images and symbols.
This can be a time of social cliques. Middlegraders want to belong to teams, clubs, and
groups of friends. Catechists can encourage
this sense of belonging and discourage the
exclusion that sometimes happens at this age
by assigning the children to pairs and groups.
Shuffle these groups frequently. Help them
with activities that allow them to share likes,
dislikes, talents, and hopes. Encourage
empathy by having them solve dilemmas and
make decisions together.
Resource manuals (www.pflaumweeklies.com/
new_page/resource_manuals.php) are
available for every level of the Pflaum Gospel
Weeklies. They include age-specific
information about child development, lesson
planning, and classroom management.
Fall Activities and Resources
New fall printables (www.pflaum.com/families3) are available to supplement your lessons. You
will find feast days, family prayers, Catholic culture, and seasonal activity sheets. This season
features include sacramentals to stylites, commandments to common prayers. Activities are
available for all levels of the Pflaum Gospel Weeklies. You may choose to use the activities in the
classroom, print them and send home, or share this link with families.
Five-Minute Catechist
Crayons? Check. Bibles? Check. Snack and
scissors? Check and check! You may like to
have every last thing crossed off your
checklist before the first student arrives. But
you may be surprised to learn why some of
the best catechists make sure they aren’t
quite ready.
Party planners encourage hosts to leave a
few small jobs undone before their guests
arrive. Guests are happy to help and quickly
feel right at home. Use the same strategy
with your students, especially those who
arrive early.
In the younger grades, make a list of weekly
class roles or jobs: welcoming other
students; distributing art supplies, books, or
nametags; bringing a snack; leading prayer;
erasing the board; shutting off lights after
class. The responsibilities can switch from
week to week. You may wish to assign these
tasks, or children can draw a job from a can
or basket.
Older students gain the same sense of
belonging by having a regular role in the
classroom – setting up the prayer space,
distributing Bibles and other materials, or
even helping plan activities or class
celebrations.
Make a conscious effort to regularly include
every child and you will build a strong sense
classroom community. These small jobs can
also ease the transition away from parents or
help students with anxiety in new situations.
© 2015 Pflaum Publishing Group, Inc., a division of Bayard, Inc.,
2621 Dryden Road, Dayton, OH 45439 • www.pflaum.com