SACRAMENT MATTERS: “In Baptism we rise up!”

By Dr Christine Wood, Director of the Office of Evangelisation & Catechesis

English author, G. K. Chesterton once wrote: “The two facts which attract almost every normal person to children are, first, that they are very serious, and, secondly, that they are in consequence very happy. They are jolly with the completeness which is possible only in the absence of humour.”

Seriousness and joy are central facets of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd methodology.

Children manifest a religious potential from the beginning of their tiny lives. Educational theorist, Maria Montessori, relates the story of a three-year-old girl, raised in an atheistic home, without any religious influences.

The child questioned her father: “Where does the world come from?” He gave a materialistic explanation but added that some people say the world comes from a very powerful being which they call “God”. In response, the little girl ran like a whirlwind around the room in a burst of joy, and exclaimed, “I knew what you told me wasn’t true; it is Him, it is Him!”

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is based on Montessori educational principles, with an immersion in Scripture and Liturgy for children from the age of three. Facilitated by formed catechists, the work occurs in a prepared space called an atrium.

Children are presented with materials to enable them to grasp the meaning of their baptism, amongst other things. Simple pouring of water on the head, lighting of baptismal candles from the paschal candle, and garbing with white baptismal garments are powerful signs of invisible realities.

Young children have remarkable capacities to grasp these invisible realities. When asked whether we could have lit our own baptismal candles, a three-year-old girl responded, “Jesus gives us a loving hand so we can rise up.” When asked why we are given white garments at our baptisms a five-year-old girl explained, “Because the light is inside and outside us.”

The Archdiocese has an atrium in Kingston parish and is soon to open another atrium in Lindisfarne, with further locations planned. Adult volunteers are needed to make the materials, observe children during catechesis sessions, and become catechists. We must help children foster a relationship with God, so if you are interested in helping please call 03 6208 6236.

Our children are the future of the Church. Chesterton’s comments about children may bring encouragement: “As we walk the streets and see below us those delightful bulbous heads, three times too big for the body, which mark these human mushrooms, we ought always primarily to remember that within every one of these heads there is a new universe, as new as it was on the seventh day of creation.”