Imagine a tranquil space in your child’s school with a child-sized altar and chalice, small prayer candles, wooden cut-outs of characters to act out biblical stories, crayons and colored pencils to be closer to God through art, a comfortable, quiet place to listen to and meditate on the Word of God.
For the past 10 years, students at St. Robert Catholic School in Flushing and religious education students at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, have been blessed with three grade-appropriate rooms like this. The rooms, or “atrium,” are filled with beautiful hands-on educational and religious materials to help them absorb the most essential proclamations of the Christian faith.
The atrium is an essential part of the religious education program called the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a Montessori-based program rooted in the bible and the liturgy of the church which St. Robert uses to infuse each student’s life with faith.
Started in Rome in 1954 by Sofia Cavaletti—a Hebrew Scripture scholar and religious education teacher—Catechesis of the Good Shepherd embraces Cavaletti’s observation that children have a way of being in the presence of God that is both unique to the child, and a gift to the adult who notices.
Currently, there are over 1,250 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atria in the United States, including the three at St. Robert Bellarmine for students age 3 to 6, 6 to 9 and 9 to 12 years old. Teachers and dedicated volunteer catechists have committed to the necessary 100 hours of training per level at St. Robert’s, because they see how vital Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is to both the spiritual growth of the child and the adult.
To celebrate the hope, love and peace which the school and religious education children have experienced over the past 10 years, St. Robert Catholic School is hosting tours of the atria following Mass at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Everyone is invited to come, celebrate and visit the God-given gift of these nationally renowned and beautiful atria.
St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic School is located at 214 East Henry St. in Flushing. For more information on the atria tours, please call (810) 659-2503.