Resources for Sac. Confirmation preparation for teens and their teachers?

[whosebob]

What materials or books or book series are the “best available today” for preparing high school teens for the Sacrament of Confirmation?

Of course it goes without saying that I’m interested in materials that are entirely faithful to all of the teachings of the Church.

I know Ignatius Press publishes a teacher/student pair of instructional books entitled Confirmation. Are they any good?

Also, what catechetical materials in general are the “best available today” for high school students – Ignatius Press Catechism Series only goes throught eighth grade.

What recommendations, my fellow forum enthusiasts, do you have for me?

Thank you for your insights and help.

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

 

[jordan]

whosebob:

What materials or books or book series are the “best available today” for preparing high school teens for the Sacrament of Confirmation?

bob:

Until someone responds who can speak with authority on what’s “best available,” I’ll just tell you that I used the “Faith and Life” series to teach three years running. Our Religious Ed coordinator bought the series for all the classes. I wasn’t thrilled with it then, but now they’re supposed to be more tied in with the CCC.

I believe I’ve looked at the “Image of God” series and liked that better than “Faith and Life.”

Also, this link has some downloadable resource materials that might be helpful:

catecheticalresources.com/Teacher_Resources.htm

God bless!

jordan

 

[workinprogress8]

The Gift of the Spirit is a great workbook for teens. There are lots of places for refelections and journaling.

 

[DianJo]

There is a book called " A New Look at the Sacraments" by Willian Baucsh and is an excellent book on all the sacraments but I particularly like the chapters on the sacraments of initiation.

It gives the development of the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist in a most elegant way (with the biblical teaching). It describes, in detail, how these sacraments came to be and how they were celebrated in the early church and it just gives you a whole new perspective, love and understanding on the connection of these 3 sacraments.

The 3 or 4 chapters involved are not extremely long and are very easy to read and understand so I don’t think it should be an “over the head” read for most high school students. It would definitely help them understand those sacraments alot better.

The way things are described, it’s easy to get the imagination going with the mental pictures - one chapter even takes you through the life of a person in the early church that wants to become Christian - gives him a name and eveything! It takes you through his journey and all the steps he has to complete to become Christian in an age where people were persecuted for being Christian! I found it very emotional and exciting, placing myself in his shoes!

It’s a very good common sense book that is true to chruch teaching. Obviously, I recommend it highly!

 

[asquared]

I just saw today that Bishop Wuerl, who has an excellent video on A Walk through the Mass which is terrific catechesis on the Eucharist, has a Confirmation program, with video and workbook, and a similar program for the 7 sacraments. I left the catalog at work, and will post info tomorrow, but Ignatius Press distributes his other videos. I would use it sight unseen, based on his other works.

We use Fr. McBride’s Teen Catechism (with very good catechist guide & lesson plans) from Our Sunday Visitor, and he just came out with A Teenager’s Guide to the Bible, which we will be incorporating this year. Most of the “confirmation programs” I have reviewed are pretty lame, but the best of the rest is Confirmation for Teens by Liguori, which we will use for our candidate-sponsor sessions. We have acquired an excellent high school religion textbook, Introduction to Catholicism, Midwest Theological Forum, but its use will depend on attracting competent catechists to teach it.