So I bought, brought, and read Fiona French’s Easter to CCE last Wednesday. Melanie recommended it (thanks Melanie!) and it really delivered… with one exception.
We’re reading, and looking at the pictures, and everyone is interested and quiet so it’s all going smoothly even with my on the fly slight updating of the KJV language (even to evening, that sort of thing). Then we reached the Last Supper.
At this point, Fiona French seems to have been a little squeamish with her verse selections. We get the verse about Jesus handing out the bread saying "This is my Body." But only the briefest mention of Him passing around the cup. And my class promptly exploded.
"What about the Blood???"
They were furious. I actually had to put the book down and spend five minutes calming them down and reassuring them. Yes, that verse belongs there. No, I don’t know why she left it out. I’m so proud of all of you! Who can tell me why it’s important? (Answer: all of them!)
I have kindergarteners, so some are closer to 7 and others closer to 6. The almost 7 year olds are generally better at listening and answering, and they could give me a completely adequate description of what was happening and who was acting.
And this, boys and girls, is why a shallow CCE curriculum is a bad, bad, thing.
On the Care and Feeding of Geeks 
I have the RSV version not the KJV and I didn’t remember that omission, but I went and checked and sure enough the Blood is left out. I think I just add it in when I read. Though maybe the first time I used to as a discussion point.
It doesn’t make the boom terrible, though. I like it very much, and so did my class. But the outrage caused by that omission was akin to Santa Claus coming in through a window when there’s a perfectly good chimney available. It was very, very funny.
The outrage speaks well of their teacher. They know when something’s not right. It means they know what it’s supposed to be. I do love children’s deep-seated sense of the propriety of things.
I’m not really meaning to speak well of anyone here. We’re fortunate enough to have a group of kids this year with (to all appearances) stable family lives and regular Mass attendance. It was funny and adorable and so very kiddish, and I wanted to share it on those grounds. But it’s also a critique of the modern pedagogical method that rejects offering children anything deemed too ‘difficult’ for them. Even if such pedagogy had value in secular topics (which is debatable), it’s nonsensical to apply it to catechetical methods where we are necessarily discussing topics that are at least partially outside of any human comprehension.
On Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 12:05 PM, On the Care and Feeding of Geeks wrote:
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Yeah. I have little patience for dumbing things down for kids. And especially for attempting to gloss over the mysteries like the Eucharist or the cross. I remember conversing with one mom who wasn’t comfortable reading the passion narrative to her kids or having them see pictures of the crucifixion in a book. But we have a crucifix in every room of our house. What do they think Jesus is doing up on that cross? There are certainly details we don’t discuss, but that he died, that we eat his Body and Drink his Blood… I don’t think there’s ever an age where that isn’t a shock.
By the way, I just rediscovered a gem of a book that I’d forgotten about that you’ll have to find for next year. It’s called The Way of the Cross, but it actually tells the whole story from the entry into Jerusalem through the Resurrection and appearances to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. The kids and I read the whole thing today and it sparked a fabulous discussion. The Way of the Cross: Holy Week, the Stations of the Cross, and the Resurrection
Sometimes I think that teaching selection is more aimed for the comfort of the adults than the kids. 😀