Ascension Church Tuesday Grades 7/8 Religious Education

Greetings everyone! During our September 27 class, we went on a field trip to tour the church. We started outside by the St. Francis Shrine.  I read Psalm 148, which talks about God's presence in nature, and then we prayerfully admired the nature around us. Inside, we looked at the scenes and people depicted in the stained glass windows.  We then looked at the various altars, the ambo, the sacristy (with the church's best-kept secret), and the choir loft. Toward the end of class, I also did a show-and-tell with incense as we rolled into our concluding prayer.  Psalm 141:2 says, "Let my prayer be incense before you."  This Psalm is part of the Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. As part of our closing prayer, everyone wrote a specific prayer intention on a slip of paper.  For this week, keep that slip of paper someplace where you'll see it regularly and take one moment each day to offer up that prayer.  I will not collect that slip of paper for this ...

Greetings everyone! In our most recent class, we shared ideas about what makes us unique as Roman Catholics.  We then focused on the idea of Sacred Tradition.  Christ established a Church and handed His teachings on to the leaders of the Church, His Apostles, to safeguard them.  Guided by the Holy Spirit, they passed on these teachings of faith to their successors, the bishops, who have passed them on, throughout the centuries, down to us today. In addition to watching a cool video with noted Roman Catholic speaker Chris Stefanick, we read a section about Sacred Tradition which is in the Christ Reveals God's Mystery, with the green cover, on page 14. All of our practices, doctrines, and beliefs as Roman Catholics are part of our Sacred Tradition. For the activity to do during the week, spend some time prayerfully admiring God's creation when you're out and about this week, walking to school, walking elsewhere, or even spending time in your backyard.  There is nothing...

Greetings everyone! It was great to gather for our first class this past week. Thanks to Bill Wilson who's serving as our class aide while we wait for Gabby to join us as our aide, scheduled for next month. To recap, we gathered with all the other students in the Pine Room, and Mrs. Monaco led a prayer of blessing over our books.  Then, in our classroom, we had the chance to get to know one another. I played this music video of " Baba Yetu ", which is the Lord's Prayer in Swahili, which I heard at the Baccalaureate Service on the morning I graduated from college. One major point I emphasized is that even though God is mysterious and hard to take in, like the ocean, He reveals Himself to us in various ways so that we can get to know Him:  It's like He gives us floating devices so we can swim in the ocean.  I, as your catchiest, have the role of teaching you how to swim.   Throughout our journey, our faith helps us see how God is all around us, beyond our time at Ma...

Greetings Students and Families! I am Paul Rubio, the catechist-teacher for the combined grades 7 and 8 Religious Education (RE) class for the 2022-23 RE year on Tuesday evenings. I am excited to welcome you to this new year. I am a long-time Ascension parishioner, since about 2000, after attending St. Giles Family Mass Community for several years.  I attended Ascension’s RE program as a student during grades 7 and 8.  I am now starting my 10th year as a middle school RE teacher.  I am a lifelong Oak Parker, having lived here for 30 years, as of this coming November.  While growing up in Oak Park, I attended local public schools: I am  Irving   Class   of   2002 , Julian  Class   of  2005, and OPRFHS  Class   of  2009. I graduated in May 2016 with a Master's degree in Library and Information Science from Dominican University.  After working at the Oak Park Public Library for nearly ...