Alive-O 6 Analysis - Eanna Johnson
A Theological & Pedagogical
Analysis of Alive-O 6
Éanna Johnson PhD
2008, 2013
This Analysis of Alive-O 6 was prepared by Éanna Johnson
as part of his research of the complete Alive-O Programme
for a PhD in Theology at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.
For the PhD dissertation see
Alive-O 6 is the sixth of eight years of the
Religious Education Programme for Catholic Primary Schools in Ireland.
It corresponds with Fourth Class in Primary School (9/10 year olds).
The Alive-O Programme is published by Veritas Publications,1996-2004.
© Irish Episcopal Commission on Catechetics.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION & SUMMARY 3
ANALYSIS OF PROGRAMME COMPONENTS
o Overall Presentation 12
o Lesson Structure 13
o Pupils’ Book 15
o Pupil’s Worksheets 17
o Teachers’ Book 17
o Songs & Stories 46
o Prayer 47
o Video 49
ANALYSIS BY THEME & LESSON 50
o Nourishment: T1L6; T1L7; T1L8. 51
o Revelation of God in Scripture: T3L3; T3L4; T2L5. 60
o Creation: T1L1; T1L2; T1L3; T1L4. 70
o The Holy Spirit: T3L6. 84
o Mary: T1L5. 86
o The Church: T2L2; T2L3; T2L4; T2L5. 90
o The Saints; T3L7. 100
o The Last Things (Eschatology): T1L9. 103
o The Liturgical Year: T1L12; T2L6; T2L9; T3L1. 107
o Liturgy and Sacraments: T2L1; T3L2. 119
o Life in Christ / Morality: T1L10; T1L11; T2L7; T2L8. 133
ABBREVIATIONS:
The Alive-O Programme is structured in Lessons of one week in three Terms. The abbreviations above indicate Lessons within Terms: T1L1 is the first Lesson in the first Term; T3L8 is the eighth Lesson in the third Term; and so on. A prefix is often used to indicate Book of the Alive-O Programme, e.g. A6- for Book 6.
CCC – Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1992.
GDC – General Directory for Catechesis, 1997.
GCD – General Catechetical Directory, 1971.
CT – Catechesi Tradendae, 1979.
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION & SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION.
This analysis seeks to assess Alive-O 6 in comparison with the relevant teaching of the Catholic Church, in particular the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)[1] and the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC)[2]. The Church requires that a Catholic catechetical text must be in perfect harmony with the CCC, and must give due consideration of the norms and criteria contained in the GDC [3]. In relation to norms and criteria, some are mandatory (e.g. the Pedagogy of God), while others are more in the nature of good advice.[4] In the context of these requirements of the Church as expressed in the General Directory for Catechesis the principal evaluation criteria for content used in this Analysis are Authenticity and Completeness, while the criteria used for pedagogy are Faithfulness to the Church’s prescribed Pedagogy and Educational Effectiveness.
SUMMARY
The summary material below is arranged in accordance with the principal themes that are addressed in Alive-O 6. The themes are arranged in the sequence in which they appear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with the exception of the theme of 'nourishment' which has been selected by Alive-O 6 has the principal theme for its own programme.
The Summary seeks to cover all the relevant material in Alive-O 6. This consists of some information for the teachers alone, which is partly contained in the Introductory pages, and partly prior to each lesson. It also includes the lesson material that could be expected to be seen directly by the pupils, covering the material in the Pupil's Book, Worksheet, and video material. The remainder is the lesson material that is provided for teachers to be used at their discretion with the pupils; this analysis cannot assess how much of this material will actually be used with pupils, because there is much more material than could be used in the allocated lesson time, so teachers must be selective in deciding how much or how little to use.
Nourishment.
Nourishment can be physical, mental/intellectual, emotional/psychological or spiritual. The most important kind of nourishment is spiritual. All catechesis or religious education should be spiritual nourishment, so there is no real need to pick 'nourishment' as the theme for any one part of catechesis programme, such as Alive-O 6 does. A good Catholic catechesis programme will automatically give spiritual nourishment, and also as a byproduct should also give intellectual/mental and emotional/psychological nourishment.
Three lessons are specifically dedicated to the theme of ‘nourishment’, which emphasise mainly physical nourishment. This includes teachings on the body and food, which really belong in biology class, not in the religious education lessons. A secondary emphasis is on emotional and mental nourishment, but spiritual nourishment, which should be the major emphasis of any catechetical programme, is largely neglected.
The titling and content of these three lessons present the three persons of the Trinity, as: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, which is not an authentic Christian expression of the Blessed Trinity. In the first lesson it is ‘God’ who nourishes us, while in the second and third lessons it is ‘God’ who sends ‘Jesus’ and the ‘Holy Spirit’ to nourish us. This implies that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are other than, and less than, ‘God’.
Scripture.
The Introductory sections for teachers on Revelation and Using the Bible have some good material, but still present an overall picture which is more theist than Christian. This is because Alive-O omits the critical dimension of salvation history and falls short on bringing out the divinity of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is treated simply as the way that God loved the people before the coming of Jesus, and the New Testament is treated simply as the story of Jesus who came to tell people that God loves them. There is no sense that Jesus is our divine saviour, who was foretold in the Old Testament as the Messiah who would redeem his people, and that the New Testament tells the fulfilment of our salvation. The Bible is described simply as 'a source of inspiration'. The impression is given that the literal meaning of Scripture is the only meaning of the scriptural text. The information for teachers on the Bible falls short of a full Christian understanding of Scripture as taught by the Catholic Church, and indicates why Alive-O throughout the programme tends to treat Scripture as something that may be freely added to, subtracted from, altered or reshaped at will.
There are three lessons which address Scripture in general, the Old Testament in particular. They do contain some reasonable information about the Scriptures, but overall they fall far short of an authentic Catholic understanding of the Scriptures, the Old Testament in particular. There are some good points in the presentation of the Old Testament episodes, but also significant weaknesses.
Alive-O presents the Old Testament as simply the story of the Jewish people before the birth of Jesus, which shows how God loved his people and cared for them. From this we can learn that God continues to care for us now in just the same way as he cared for people of Old Testament times. Jesus knew the stories of the Old Testament, and was nourished by them, in the same way that we can be nourished by those stories now.
There is of course much truth in the foregoing, but the problem is in what Alive-O omits. Alive-O omits the dimension of salvation history from its understanding of the Old Testament. There is no sense that the Old Testament is God's loving plan, first of all for the creation of the human race, and then for the salvation of the human race after the Fall of Adam and Eve, in preparation for the sending of the Messiah, who is Jesus, God the Son, who became man in order to give his life for the salvation of the human race from sin.
Also, Alive-O presents Jesus as just no more than a human being, who learnt from the stories of the Old Testament in the same way that we can learn from them today. What is omitted is that the Old Testament tells of Jesus (as he explained to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke24:13-35; see also John5:39,46) and that his coming is the fulfilment of all God’s loving plans and promises which we find in the Old Testament.
There are four episodes from the Old Testament presented in these lessons – Ruth, Rebekah, Joseph, and David – some good, some fair, but in general they suffer from being presented as isolated incidents, lacking context and connection, out of sequence, and without any mention of salvation history and the part they play in that great plan of God the Father's love for the human race.
Alive-O does teach that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, but its treatment of divine inspiration falls short of the Catholic Church's teaching. Also, Alive-O makes no mention whatsoever of the Church's Magisterium or of Sacred Tradition; by contrast, the Church teaches of the unbreakable connection between these three: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium.
There is some good information in the lessons on the Bible in general, and on the Old Testament in particular, but it is quite limited, and its value is greatly diminished by the inclusion of a large amount of distracting and irrelevant material.
Creation.
The Introductory material for teachers does not address Creation. There are four lessons that specifically address Creation, but the presentation of creation in these lessons is less than satisfactory, with significant omissions. One deficiency is that creation is presented as being entirely material, and there is no mention at all of God's unseen creation: the immortal soul of every human being, angels (including the angels who fell from grace and became devils), and heaven.
The Church stresses the critical importance of authentic catechesis on Creation. ‘Creation is the foundation of all God’s saving plans, the beginning of the history of salvation that culminates in Christ. ……Catechesis on creation is of major importance. It concerns the very foundations of human and Christian life. ………Since the beginning the Christian faith has been challenged by responses to the question of origins that differ from its own.’ (CCC 280, 282, 285). Also, the CCC teaches ‘we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without under-mining the mystery of Christ’ (CCC389). Alive-O’s deficient teaching on Creation therefore leads on the many other consequent deficiencies, in a kind of ‘hierarchy of errors’.
Alive-O’s principal emphasis is on inductive learning, that is, coming to know about God from observing material creation, both the natural world and human beings, but this approach could not go beyond theism, that is learning of the existence of God but without any understanding of Christianity. The Church teaches that there is certainly a place for inductive learning in religious education, but the main emphasis in learning about God must come from deductive learning, that is, based on Divine Revelation. Inductive learning and deductive learning support one another and are best used in combination.
Alive-O includes creation as given in the book of Genesis; it is good up to and including the creation of the animals and other living creatures, but is not satisfactory for the creation of human beings. It falls short of giving a genuine Christian understanding of the creation of human beings, omitting the original blessedness of our First Parents, God’s command to increase and multiply, original sin and the Fall. Alive-O presents an understanding of salvation as something purely material, and goes beyond implicit denial of Original Sin by omission, but actually teaches that original sin is an impossibility.
The treatment of Jesus and creation is most unsatisfactory. The Church teaches that creation is the work of the Trinity, that all creation has been created in and through Jesus, and that the salvation which Jesus brought to the human race will in some way be shared by all of material creation at the end of time. Alive-O completely fails to present this beautiful Christian understanding and instead presents a view of Jesus as just an ordinary human being who was greatly impressed by God's material creation. In addition, Alive-O gives great attention to a most unsatisfactory New Age song and dance (‘Celtic Blessing’), which is not at all Christian.
There is a presentation on St Francis and creation, which has some good aspects concerning Francis’ great love and care for material creation as a gift of God. However the presentation falls far short of genuine picture of St Francis, because the spiritual dimension is completely omitted. Francis is presented rather like a theist-humanitarian who is also a caring naturalist. Omitted is Francis’ passionate love for Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, his response to the Lord's call to 'Rebuild My Church', and his total dedication to the Catholic Church, which were all the wellspring and sources for his great love for human beings and God’s created natural world.
The Holy Spirit.
The lesson on the Holy Spirit has some reasonable information about the Holy Spirit, but is not satisfactory because of the dominant impression given that the Holy Spirit is not God, but only some kind of presence of God, and therefore less than God. A most unsatisfactory feature is the changing of Scripture in relation to Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost, omitting parts of the speech which are authentically Christian, and substituting material which fits in with Alive-O's theistic spirituality.
There is one brief but good teaching on the Trinity, but it is greatly de-emphasised and effectively 'buried' in the middle of an optional discussion session.
Mary.
The Introductory material for teachers has some reasonable material on Mary, but Jesus’ divinity is undermined by describing Mary only as ‘the mother of God's Son, Jesus’, but not as ‘mother of God’. There are also some very significant omissions concerning Mary: her Immaculate Conception, her Virginity, and her Assumption, these omissions all correlate with Alive-O’s spirituality. Alive-O does not recognize the existence of original sin, and therefore everyone is immaculately conceived, Mary is no different to anyone else. Alive-O does not apparently believe in Mary's virginity; there are illustrations in the Pupil's Books which imply that Mary was already pregnant at the time of the Annunciation and that she had several other children besides Jesus.
The wedding feast at Cana is featured in the lesson material, but the account is poor, with a lot of imaginative fictional additions which overwhelm the story, some key omissions and a most unfortunate presentation of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as if they were 'an item', and/or Mary Magdalene was an Apostle. Mary is described as mother of Jesus, but not as mother of God. The meaning of the miracle is not developed.
There is a good summary of the Assumption, but it lacks backup information and explanation. The Hail Mary is presented, which is good, but there is no explanation of the meaning of the prayer, which is not good.
The video segment presents images of Mary, which are excellent. The only pity is that these excellent images are not reflected in the illustrations in the Pupil's Book, which tend to show the ordinariness of Mary, rather than following the great Christian tradition of presenting Mary as someone who was really special, worthy of our greatest respect and devotion.
The Rosary is included, which is good, but the actual material presented is rather mixed. There is an excellent instruction for the teachers on how to pray the rosary, but it would have been better if this material was incorporated in some way in the pupil texts. There is a poem on the Sorrowful Mysteries, which is most unsatisfactory in that it omits from the Crucifixion any reference to Jesus’ death on the cross winning our salvation from sin.
The Church.
The Introductory material for teachers includes information on the Church, but it is quite limited and weak. Here, and throughout the lesson material, the impression is given that ‘The Church’ is all the baptized; there is no teaching on the Catholic Church.
Four lessons are devoted to the theme of the Church. While they do contain some good material, nevertheless the lessons fall seriously short of giving authentic Catholic teaching on the Church.
There is some useful information on the parish, but in general the parish is treated very much like a local human community. There is mention of priests as part of the parish community, but their role and position are gravely diminished. ‘Parish Priest’ and ‘Curate’ are not mentioned.
There is some limited information on the Diocese, and the Bishop is mentioned, but there is no explanation as to what a Bishop is and what is his role. The term 'pope’ only appears once, jumbled up among a number of other names on a worksheet; there is no explanation as to who or what a ‘pope’ is. The identity of the Catholic Church is confused and obfuscated, because the word 'Church' sometimes implies the Catholic Church, but in other places the word 'Church' is defined as all those who are baptised. These lessons will give the pupils minimal understanding of what the Catholic Church is, and probably a great deal of confusion.
The image of the Church as the Body of Christ, which appears in the letters of St Paul, is used a lot in the lessons, but is radically changed from the scriptural image. The key point of the scriptural image of the Body of Christ is that Christ is the Head of this Body; without Christ as Head the image is meaningless. Alive-O omits Christ as Head, and presents the image of a headless body, which is really no more than a secular image of a group of people who are connected to and care for each other.
Alive-O returns to the Gospel story of children being welcomed by Jesus, but does not distinguish between qualities which are childlike and childish, omits any spiritual qualities of children and so fails to present the significance of Jesus’ teaching on children and the Kingdom of God.
The Saints.
The lesson on St Canaire focuses on a minor legendary incident and so is of limited value in teaching about saints in the Catholic Church, in particular the Irish saints. Pupils are introduced to the idea of pilgrimage, which is excellent in principle. The video features a group of young people going on pilgrimage to Knock, which is well presented.
The Last Things
The Introductory section for teachers addresses the Last Things under the heading ‘Heaven and Hell’. Alive-O advises to concentrate on the joys of heaven after death, and not to dwell on the unhappiness of hell, which is in line with the approach of the CCC. However, the problem arises with Alive-O advising teachers to withhold altogether information from the children about mortal sin, the devil, and hell. Alive-O omits most of the teaching of the Church which has a bearing on the Last Things as the final stage of salvation history. Alive-O substantially omits the creation and fall of the angels, the immortal soul, the Fall of our First Parents, original sin and its consequences, temptation, spiritual battle, graces given by God to resist temptation and avoid sin, sanctifying grace and actual graces, mortal sin, eternal consequences of salvation from sin won by Jesus for mankind through his sacrificial death on the cross, particular and general judgments, the Last Day, the general resurrection, the Second Coming of Jesus as infinitely just and merciful judge, the restoration of all creation with the coming of a new heaven and new earth.
The Pupil's Book gives the impression that everyone is happy in heaven, but what is conspicuous by its absence is any mention that it is Jesus who has won salvation for us so that we can indeed hope for happiness in heaven. The Pupil's Book and the Worksheet lead pupils to reflect on their own experience of loss and death, while the Teacher's Book leads the children deeper into their own experiences of death, bereavement and loss, to speak about it openly in the classroom, and to relive the pain of it; Alive-O admits this could be quite emotional and traumatic. This approach is not responsible, especially since authentic Catholic Christian teaching about the Last Things is withheld from the children. The only help that Alive-O offers teachers to help handle the potential emotional distress that the children may suffer, is to refer them to a bibliography of 24 different books, all of which appear to be secular.
The Liturgical Year – Seasons and Events.
There are lessons on Christmas, Lent, Holy Week and the Resurrection.
The lesson on Christmas has a very good Scripture quotation from the gospel of Luke on the birth of Jesus. There is an excellent question and answer, which states that Jesus Christ is the only son of God who became man to save us, and that he is truly God and true man. However, this excellent teaching is not supported or repeated anywhere else in the lesson, which instead gives a lot of attention to food at Christmas time and an inadequate understanding of Jesus: Jesus nourished himself by loving God and doing what pleased God, and we can be nourished by following the teaching and example of Jesus. The choice of Christmas carols for this lesson is excellent.
The Lesson on Lent sets out to draw a parallel between Jesus' time in the wilderness and the season of Lent. This is fine in principle, but not in practice, because Alive-O misinterprets the Scriptures on Jesus' time in the wilderness. The scriptures say that Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit in order to be tempted by the devil [5]. Alive-O omits this (which is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of temptation or the Devil), and says instead that going into the desert was for Jesus a time of focus when he worked out what his mission should be. Alive-O's accompanying song is New Age in approach, focusing on finding peace inside myself. Alive-O's presentation on fasting focuses on giving up things in order to have resources to give to others, which is not bad in itself, but is not the essential nature of fasting, which the Church teaches it helps us to acquire mastery over our instincts and attain freedom of heart.
The Lesson on the Holy Week has three very good Scripture quotations, accompanied by three excellent illustrations. However, the meaning of the events of Holy Week is not explained or developed in the Pupil's Book, worksheet or lesson material in the Teacher's Book. There is an attempt to draw out the meaning in the questions and answers, which is actually counter-productive, because what is omitted is the salvific nature of Jesus' death on the cross, which undermines the central message of Christianity.
The lesson on the Resurrection has a story based on the scriptural account of the meeting of Jesus with Mary Magdalene, but the story is poor because there is too much fictional additions, which include a focus on Mary's emotions and giving the impression that there was an emotional, even romantic, relationship between Mary and Jesus. The incorrect information is given that Jesus was raised from the dead by the Father, which gives the impression that Jesus was no more than human being, whereas the Church teaches that the Resurrection was the work of the whole Trinity, and that therefore Jesus raised himself from the dead, which is an indication of his divinity. Alive-O says that the message of the Resurrection is simply that Jesus is with us; Alive-O omits the significance of the Resurrection, in conjunction with Jesus' salvific death on the cross, as a vital part of our salvation from sin. This is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of Jesus as fully divine, and the nonrecognition of the salvation from sin of the human race.
Sacraments & Liturgy.
The Introductory material for teachers focuses on sacraments in general, and on the sacraments of Eucharist, Reconciliation, Baptism and Anointing of the Sick. Unfortunately, the section has fundamental and serious omissions, which undermine Catholic authenticity.
Alive-O does not teach what a sacrament is, nor that the sacraments were instituted by Christ, and given to the Church, in order to give grace, nor that each sacrament has an outward sign, which signifies the inward grace of the Holy Spirit, which is proper to each sacrament.. It was noted in the previous section above, that Alive-O has decided not to follow the Church's teaching on grace. In particular, Alive-O excludes any actual graces, of which an important part are sacramental graces. As Alive-O has excluded sacramental graces, then the sacraments are deprived of Christian meaning, and become merely human rituals.
Alive-O discourages the teachers from an expectation that the pupils can understand, at an appropriate level, the Church's teaching on the sacraments. In rejecting sacramental graces, Alive-O creates a complicated and confusing rationale about the sacraments as fundamentally human institutions, and this indeed is difficult for the children to understand. If Alive-O were faithful to the Church's teaching there would not be a problem.
The Introductory material for teachers on the Eucharist is less than satisfactory, with many significant omissions. The subsequent lesson material on the Mass is mixed, with some good material but also omissions and confusions. The Pupil's Book contains the words of the Eucharistic Prayer, but no explanation or development of the meaning of the Mass, which is very limited value to the pupils. The video material, which the pupils may see, is rather more helpful. The Teacher's Book material introduces the idea of sacrifice, which is good in itself, but the nature of sacrifice tends to be diminished and the connection with our salvation from sin by Jesus is omitted. There are two structures of the Mass given in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book, which differ from one another, and neither of which is a clear presentation which will help the teachers to present to the pupils the meaning and structure of the Mass.
Under the subheading "Baptism" Alive-O does not have any teaching about the Sacrament of Baptism. Alive-O's previous teaching on the Sacrament is deficient, because Alive-O does not recognize original sin, sacramental grace, or salvation from sin won by Jesus on the cross. Alive-O treats baptism as a human ritual which initiates people into membership of a body of people who follow the teaching and example of Jesus.
The lesson material on the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is poor, because it treats the Sacrament as no more than the people and the priest coming together to pray for the comfort of a sick person. The lesson omits just about everything that the Church teaches about the Sacrament.
Life in Christ / Morality
The Introductory material for teachers on Moral Formation is partly good, but has major omissions relative to Catholic teaching. The predominant emphasis to moral formation is more humanist than Christian, as summed up in this sentence, "moral development is a slow and gradual process and must be viewed in the context of the children's overall psychological, emotional and intellectual development". The moral teaching of the Church is either absent or very poorly presented, and is negatively caricatured in the following sentence: 'God should never be used to threaten the children to do what is required of them'.
'Development of Christian conscience' is addressed, but the understanding of conscience is different to that of the Church. Alive-O says that for the moral life knowledge is not sufficient, which of course is perfectly true. However Alive-O equates 'knowledge' with 'rules and commandments' and does not distinguish the Commandments of God from the rules of adults and of society. This is radically contrary to Church teaching, in which knowledge about the Christian moral life is vastly more than simply rules and commandments.
There are four lessons that specifically address the theme of Life in Christ / Morality. The lesson on 'Loving God' deals with the commandment to love God and neighbour, but has very little on the commandment to love God. An ideal way to teach the love of God would be to focus on the first of three Commandments of the Decalogue, but Alive-O does not utilise these three Commandments; Alive-O has not introduced the Decalogue at all to the pupils even at this stage which is two to three years after their First Confession. Alive-O does refer to the Decalogue, but only in terms of it having been given to Moses and the Israelites, and not with any reference to its continuing validity for Christians today. Instead of the Decalogue, Alive-O substitutes its own set of 'Guidelines'. Alive-O then goes further and invites the children to write their own moral guidelines, a kind of DIY morality. There is also alternative lesson material, consisting of a one-day ‘retreat’, which is an induction into New Age spirituality.
The Lesson on 'Loving My Neighbour' teaches well that love of God and love of neighbor are inextricably linked. However, it does not teach why these two Commandments are inseparable. This would have been the ideal place to develop the teaching of the second table of the Decalogue, but instead Alive-O continues with its own moral 'Guidelines'. Alive-O chooses the parable of 'The Good Samaritan' for this lesson, which is excellent in principle. However, it is less than satisfactory that the Pupil's Book only contains a fictional modern adaptation of the parable, which does not bring out the full meaning of the gospel original, while the gospel original is only in the Teacher’s Book.
The lesson on 'The Prodigal Son' introduces the parable from Luke 15:11-32. The choice of this parable is excellent in principle, however the presentation is poor, because it consists in a long and complicated drama, which is mostly fictional additions, and falls short in conveying the true meaning of the parable.
Lesson on 'God’s Never-Ending Love': The Introductory material for teachers says, "Therefore, we should be sensitive about the requirements of confession according to number and species". The Church teaches the necessity for confession of each and every mortal sin in the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Church also strongly recommends confession of venial sins; the penitent benefits from a complete examination of conscience and confession of venial sins, in order to grow in virtue and holiness. It also helps the confessor to give appropriate words of advice to the penitent to know of the situation on venial sins as completely as possible. Therefore, confession of sins according to number and species benefits both penitent and confessor.
The lesson presents information to the pupils on a kind of examination of conscience, but which is not described as such, and there is no teaching at all as to what 'conscience' is. However, the examination of conscience is based on Alive-O's own moral guidelines, and not, as taught by the Church, on objective moral norms, in particular the Ten Commandments and the moral teachings of the Church. For the Sacrament of Reconciliation the pupils are introduced to Rite 1, which is good. However, the introduction to Rite 1 is coming rather late; the Church teaches that Rite 1 is the norm for Confession, and so the pupils should have been thoroughly taught Rite 1 two to three years previously when they were making their First Confession. Alive-O consistently tends to treat Rite 2 as the norm, which is contrary to the teaching of the Church, and also works against the children experiencing regular Confession. In any case, the presentation on the Sacrament of Reconciliation according to Rite 1 is far from satisfactory in this lesson.
SECTION 2: ANALYSIS OF PROGRAMME COMPONENTS
Overall Presentation
The Programme presents itself on its covers and title page simply as “ALIVE-O”. This title in itself does not convey anything Catholic, Christian, or even religious. The term “Alive-O” comes from the chorus of the popular traditional Dublin folk-song, known as ‘Molly Malone’ or ‘Cockles and Mussels’. The song is basically secular, though it does end with a vaguely spiritual element (‘Her ghost wheels her barrow’), which is not specifically Catholic or Christian. The Programme is heavily ‘branded’ as ‘ALIVE-O’, not as anything Catholic or Christian.
The Teacher’s Book title page has a quotation attributed to St Irenaeus, "The glory of God is people fully alive”, which suggests that this is the theme of the Programme. This is indeed a quotation from St Irenaeus, but the quotation is incomplete. The full sentence from Irenaeus (Adv. haeres. 4,20,7) is quoted in CCC294 as follows: ' the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word’s manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God'. The full quotation from St Irenaeus is unequivocally Christian, but Alive-O’s incomplete quotation is open to a theist understanding. (See p.17 below for further comment on the Teacher's Book -- A Programme for Middle-Primary School Children).
The title 'Alive-O' harmonises with the incomplete quote from St Irenaeus, whereas a title that would be in harmony with the full quotation would be something like "Alive in Christ", or "Christ our Life".
Alive-O's use of this incomplete quotation from St Irenaeus does in fact harmonise with the content of the programme, which could be described as predominantly humanitarian theism, rather than authentically Christian. Right through Alive-O 6 the perspective tends to be predominantly 'horizontal' (the term used by Pope John Paul II in Catechesi Tradendae) or this-world focused, to the neglect of the spiritual and eternal.
On its cover or introductory pages Alive-O 6 does not present a claim to be specifically Catholic or Christian. The Church requires that every Catholic catechetical programme must be in perfect harmony with the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) and give due consideration to the norms and guidelines in the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC) – see GDC 284; Alive-O Book 6 makes no claim that it complies with this requirement of the Church. The Church also requires that if an Episcopal Conference prepares a catechetical programme for its territory, it must obtain pre-publication approval from the Holy See (CIC775§2; GDC285); Alive-O did not obtain this necessary approval and so contravenes Canon Law.
The Alive-O programme does carry a Copyright of the Irish Episcopal Commission on Catechetics. However, copyright is a legal-financial matter which indicates which person or body holds the intellectual property rights under civil law. Copyright does not constitute official Church approval of the content of the programme.
Alive-O 6 states that the specific theme selected for this particular Book of the Programme is 'nourishment'. This is analysed further below under Lesson Structure, and under the Teacher's Book -- Themes of the Programme.
Lesson Structure
The principal structures for catechesis which are recommended by the General Directory for Catechesis are – the four-fold structure of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and salvation history. The content of the lessons does contain many elements which are compatible with the structure of the CCC and/or the structure of salvation history, but they are not presented in the context of a structure or plan (which may reflect the absence of a Syllabus for Alive-O). Therefore, the lesson material seems uncoordinated, rather than fitting in with a coherent presentation of the fundamentals of the Faith, which is a principal task of catechesis.
There are 28 lessons in Alive-O book 6 arranged in three terms, as follows:
Term 1: Lesson 1. Within God's creation.
Lesson 2. And God said……
Lesson 3. Jesus and Creation.
Lesson 4. St Francis Cares for Creation.
Lesson 5. Mary.
Lesson 6. God nourishes us.
Lesson 7. God sent Jesus to nourish us.
Lesson 8. God Sent the Holy Spirit to Nourish Us.
Lesson 9. Happy Ever After.
Lesson 10. Loving God.
Lesson 11. Loving My Neighbour.
Lesson 12. Come to the Manger.
Term 2: Lesson 1. A Healing Community.
Lesson 2. Our Parish.
Lesson 3. The Body of Christ – The Church.
Lesson 4. The Body of Christ – At Play.
Lesson 5. The Body of Christ – At Work.
Lesson 6. Lent.
Lesson 7 The Prodigal Son.
Lesson 8. God’s Never-Ending Love.
Lesson 9. Jesus' Never-Ending Love (Holy Week).
Term 3: Lesson 1. The Risen Jesus.
Lesson 2. The Sacrifice of the Mass.
Lesson 3. Under God's Wing.
Lesson 4. Under God's Guidance.
Lesson 5. In God's Family.
Lesson 6. The Holy Spirit.
Lesson 7. St Canaire
Lesson Structure by Theme.
For purposes of this analysis it has been considered helpful to group the lessons in accordance with the theme that they address. The order in which the lessons are grouped below follows the order in which the themes are addressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The titles of the lessons sometimes give a good indication what is contained in the lesson, and other times not.
The first theme listed below is 'Nourishment', which is designated as the major theme for Alive-O 6. The theme of ‘nourishment’ does not fit in with the structure of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, or with Salvation History. All catechesis should be spiritual nourishment, so this could be considered the theme of all lessons of every one of the eight Alive-O Books, not just for Book 6. However, the theme of ‘nourishment’ is addressed by Alive-O in the three lessons specifically dedicated the theme (T1L6, T1L7, T1L8) in a predominantly physical and humanitarian way, to the neglect of the spiritual.
Nourishment.
Term 1: Lesson 6. God nourishes us.
Lesson 7. God sent Jesus to nourish us.
Lesson 8. God Sent the Holy Spirit to Nourish Us.
Revelation of God in Scripture.
Term 3: Lesson 3. Under God's Wing.
Lesson 4. Under God's Guidance.
Lesson 5. In God's Family.
Creation.
Term 1: Lesson 1. Within God's creation.
Lesson 2. And God said……
Lesson 3. Jesus and Creation.
Lesson 4. St Francis Cares for Creation.
The Holy Spirit.
Term 3: Lesson 6. The Holy Spirit.
Mary.
Term 1: Lesson 5. Mary.
The Church.
Term 2: Lesson 2. Our Parish.
Lesson 3. The Body of Christ – The Church.
Lesson 4. The Body of Christ – At Play.
Lesson 5. The Body of Christ – At Work.
The Saints.
Term 3: Lesson 7. St Canaire
The Last Things (Eschatology).
Term 1: Lesson 9. Happy Ever After.
The Liturgical Year – Seasons and Events.
Term 1: Lesson 12. Come to the Manger.
Term 2: Lesson 6. Lent.
Lesson 9. Jesus' Never-Ending Love (Holy Week).
Term 3: Lesson 1. The Risen Jesus.
Liturgy and Sacraments.
Term 2: Lesson 1. A Healing Community.
Term 3: Lesson 2. The Sacrifice of the Mass.
Life in Christ / Morality.
Term 1: Lesson 10. Loving God.
Lesson 11. Loving My Neighbour.
Term 2: Lesson 7 The Prodigal Son.
Lesson 8. God’s Never-Ending Love.
It is good that the lesson structure covers many elements of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The topics covered in the programme give ample opportunity to bring out dimensions of Salvation History, but this does not happen; in fact Alive-O does not express recognition of the existence of Salvation of the human race from sin through the redemptive death of Jesus on the cross, and so does not teach salvation history at all.
If a Syllabus for Alive-O exists and were available, then it might help understand the structure of Alive-O 6 and how it fits in with the overall Programme.
Pupil’s Book
The Alive-O 6 Pupils’ Book is brief (64 pages), with over forty full-colour illustrations which are eye-catching, and give an attractive appearance. From a catechetical / pedagogical point of view, the value of the illustrations is mixed, some are quite helpful, others not. Each illustration is analysed as part of the lesson material in Section 3 below.
The great majority of the illustrations are specially prepared for Alive-O, and use a colourful cartoon style. This style can be effective, but an exclusive reliance on cartoon type pictures can serve to trivialise, rather than build up a sense of reverence and respect, and to limit the pupils’ imaginations. An unusual departure for Alive-O is the inclusion of four classical paintings, which are excellent. However, Alive-O does not explain and teach the meaning of these paintings (such as is done so well in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church), which is an opportunity missed.
The amount of text in the Pupil's Book is quite limited, and often gives a very poor presentation of the content of the lesson. The lesson material is predominantly contained in the Teacher's Book. This is a very poor way of structuring the programme, because it means the pupils do not have ready and constant reference to the essential material of the programme. It also serves to separate the pupils from home and parish, because parents and parish clergy will not normally see the Teacher's Book, and therefore will have little idea of what is actually in the programme. (A study carried out in 1999 on the Children of God series found such a large gap between home, school and parish, that it was published under the title 'Islands Apart'.[6] The structure of Alive-O can only serve to push the 'island' of school even further apart from the 'islands' of home and parish.)
The concept of separate Pupil's Book and Teacher's Book is a good one in principle. However the normal practice in good catechetical programmes is that the Pupil's Book essentially contains the programme, while the Teacher's Book provides helpful guidance to the teacher in how to apply and present the programme. This can be seen in the approximately equal sizes of Pupil's Book and Teacher's Book. The opposite is the case with Alive-O, which has a thin Pupil's Book (with approximately 18,000 words of text), and a very substantial Teacher's Book (with approximately 230,000 words of text).
A little over half the lessons in the Pupil's Book contain one or more questions with answers, under the title, 'To Be Learned'. This is excellent in principle. However the actual questions and answers vary a lot in quality, and do not provide satisfactory summary of the appropriate Catholic catechesis on various topics addressed. Also, the questions and answers are not mentioned in the 'Note for Parents' in the Pupil's Book, so parents will not know whether or not they are expected to help the pupils memorize these answers. There is also inadequate instruction for teachers in the Teacher's Book as to how the teachers should treat these questions and answers. Analysis of the individual questions and answers is included with the lesson material in Section 3 below.
At the back of the Pupil's Book there are the words of all the songs that appear in Book 6. This is excellent in principle, but the value of the songs varies from excellent to poor. The songs are analysed in greater detail below under the section 'Songs and Stories', and in the detailed analysis of each lesson.
The Pupils' Book also has the text of many of the prayers that are used in this year's programme. Some of the prayers are the great prayers of the Church, which is excellent. There are also the text of some of the Alive-O written prayers, which vary in quality from reasonable to poor. The Alive-O prayers are analysed in greater detail in Section 3 below along with the lesson material in which the prayers appear.
Overall, the Pupil's Book is a disappointment and a great opportunity missed. Obviously, considerable talent has been employed in the preparation of this book, with very attractive illustrations, layout and style. However the extremely limited content and deficiency of much of the material means that the pupils will not learn much from it, while the programme is essentially contained in the Teacher’s Book.
Pupil’s Worksheets
Most Lessons have a Worksheet for the pupils, with drawings to be coloured in (about 30 illustrations) and/or exercises. The concept is excellent. There is a limited amount of catechesis that can be done through the worksheets, but some worksheets are supportive of good catechesis, others less so.
Each worksheet is analysed along with the relevant Lesson in Section 3 below.
Teacher’s Book
Alive-O 6 Teacher’s Book is substantial, with 475 pages and approximately 230,000 words of text; (by way of comparison the Catechism of the Catholic Church has approximately 200,000 words of text). The Teacher’s Book is made up of about 100 pages of information for teachers and the rest is lesson material for the pupils. The information for teachers is contained partly in a 66 page Introductory section, and the remainder before each lesson.
The Introductory material is analysed below, while the information for teachers specific to each lesson is addressed along with the relevant Lesson in Section 3 of this Analysis.
Introductory Material
The Alive-O teacher's book contains a substantial amount of instructional material for the teachers. The provision of instructional materials for the teachers is normal practice in other modern Catholic catechetical series, providing help for teachers in application of the material in the pupil’s books.
However, Alive-O is different in that it contains a significant amount of religious instruction for teachers and basic pedagogical instruction, in addition to guidance material for the application of the programme. Teachers in Catholic primary schools in Ireland should be well trained in basic catechesis, both content and pedagogy. This raises a question: is Alive-O is doing something which is unnecessary, or is Alive-O seeking to form teachers in its own spirituality and pedagogy, which is something with which the teachers were not previously familiar?
The most important references for Catholic catechesis the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) and the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC). One would expect that any instruction for teachers should encourage them to have their own copies of these two vital references, and to make extensive use of them in their teaching practice. Alive-O does not do this. There are some references to the CCC and the GDC included in the instructional material for teachers, but this is no substitute for the teachers having the original reference books themselves, being familiar with them, and regularly referring to them in their teaching work.[7]
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The selection of references given by Alive-O from the CCC and GDC in the Teacher's Book are of limited value; some are excellent and highly relevant, but are frequently not followed through in the subsequent lesson material and instructional material written by Alive-O for the teachers. Some of the quotations from the CCC and GDC do not focus on the key information, and taken out of context can even be misleading.
The GDC requires that every Catholic catechetical programme should be in perfect harmony with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and that it should follow the guidelines given in the GDC itself (GDC284). Alive-O does not give this information to the teachers.
The various elements in the Introductory material for Teachers are analysed below:
The Fundamental Tasks of Catechesis
The fundamental tasks of catechesis are listed as provided for in the General Directory for Catechesis (GDC 85,86). The tasks are as follows:
▪ Promoting knowledge of the faith
▪ Liturgical education
▪ Moral formation
▪ Teaching to pray
▪ Education for community life
▪ Missionary initiation
These tasks are correctly stated. The first four tasks parallel the four pillars of the CCC. However, Alive-O omits the GDC’s helpful summary of the meaning of the fundamental tasks which is, 'helping to know, to celebrate and to contemplate the mystery of Christ'.
While it is good for Alive-O to give the fundamental tasks of catechesis as outlined in the GDC, the value is greatly limited by the fact that the tasks are given out of context of the rest of the GDC. Tasks on their own lack focus and meaning, unless one is aware of the broader context, the nature of catechesis, how it is situated in the life and activity of the Church, its aims and objectives. It would have been very helpful for teachers if Alive-O had presented this vital information from the GDC, or given the GDC references where this information is to be found.
The GDC in its Introduction sets the scene brilliantly for catechesis, when it speaks of 'Preaching the Gospel in the contemporary world', which is illustrated with the Parable of the Sower. The GDC explains that this parable is a great source of inspiration for evangelisation, before going on in its Part 1 to set the scene for catechesis in the Church's mission of evangelisation. (GDC 48-52). This theme of catechesis as an essential element of evangelisation was expressed in Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, On Evangelisation in the Modern World, 1975. If we do not understand Catholic catechesis (or Catholic religious education) as an integral part of evangelisation, which is the fundamental task of the Church, then we do not have the mind of the Church on catechesis and religious education.
The GDC stresses the importance of initiatory catechesis in the process of evangelisation, in which home and school play vital roles. (GDC 60-68). 'Catechesis, is thus, a fundamental element of Christian initiation…. The aim of catechetical activity consists in precisely this: to encourage a living, explicit and fruitful profession of faith…. Authentic catechesis is always an orderly and systematic initiation into the revelation that God has given of himself to humanity in Christ Jesus'. (GDC 66).
The GDC also gives an excellent presentation on ongoing catechesis (GDC 69-72), but initiatory catechesis is most relevant to a primary school programme in Catholic religious education.
The GDC also gives the true nature of catechesis. The Church continues the mission of Jesus, animated by the Holy Spirit; she treasures the Gospel in her heart, and transmits it actively in catechesis to all those who have decided to follow Jesus Christ. (GDC 78).
'The definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch, but also in communion and intimacy, with Jesus Christ'. (GDC 80). 'The object of catechesis as expressed in the profession of faith in the one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit'. (GDC 82).
A Programme for Middle-Primary School Children.
This subsection opens with the quotation from St Irenaeus that is on the fly-leaf, but this time it is expanded to, “The glory of God is people fully alive but the vision of God is the life of people". This is an improvement, but the quotation is still incomplete, and leaves open a theist (or pantheist) interpretation. Such an interpretation also applies to Alive-O’s subsequent statement, "The title Alive-O reflects one of the overriding concerns of religious education, namely, to enable people to become fully alive to the presence of God in themselves, in others, in the Church and in the world around them".
Alive-O's incomplete quotation from St Irenaeus, and the subsequent statement on the overriding concern of religious education, make no reference to Jesus Christ or anything Christian. Alive-O’s ‘overriding concern’ differs from the Church’s definitive aim of catechesis which is to put people in touch, and in communion and intimacy, with Jesus Christ. (GDC 80).
The CCC 294 gives the full quotation from St Irenaeus as follows: ' the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word’s manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God' (St Irenaeus, Adv haeres. 4, 20, 7). This full quotation explains what the 'vision of God' means in a Christian context. The revelation of the Father only comes about through the salvific mission of Jesus, who became man and offered himself in the redemptive sacrifice of the cross to wipe away our sins, open the gates of heaven and make us adopted children of the Father. This is beautifully expressed in many passages from Scripture, including John 3:16, 'Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life'. And also in John 10:10, 'I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full'.
Alive-O is described as a re-presentation of the Children of God catechetical series. The term 're-presentation' suggests little or no change from the original. This is misleading, because Alive-O is a very substantial change from the earlier Children of God series; it is at least a revision or a new edition, if not effectively a new programme with a new name.
Alive-O uses the term 'religious education' without explaining what it actually means. The term 'catechesis' is widely used by the Church, and Church documents explain the meaning clearly. However the term 'religious education' is by comparison vague and could mean different things to different people. (‘Catechesis’ and ‘Catholic religious education’ would probably be understood as synonymous, but ‘religious education’ on its own is a different matter). The Church states that the aim of catechesis is to bring people into communion with, and intimacy with, Jesus Christ. This section which seeks to explain what Alive-O Book 6 is all about, does not even mention Jesus Christ!
The subsection says, “The primary educators of the child are the significant adults in the home -- the parents/guardians”. This is effectively downgrading parents, by putting the emphasis primarily on 'significant adults', rather than putting the emphasis first and foremost where it belongs, that is on the parents. Naturally, one must recognize that in many homes one or both parents may not be present, and it may indeed be guardians or significant adults that take care of the child. Nevertheless, it should be made clear that parents are primary and normative.
The structure and content of Alive-O actually marginalises parents. The program is effectively contained in the teacher's book, which parents do not see, and may not even be aware exists, while the information that they might see in the pupil's book is extremely limited and gives very little idea about what the programme is actually about. Also the material in Alive-O is mostly specifically written for Alive-O -- prayers, songs, stories, exercises, teachings, -- and serve to immerse the children in a complete Alive-O environment which is alien to what the parents might know and experience.
Alive-O speaks about the importance of the teachers, which is certainly true. Alive-O also speaks of the importance of the role of Diocesan Advisers as support to the teachers, which is also true. However, the teachers are largely bound by the structure of the Alive-O programme and their in-service training focuses on implementing the programme. Also, from conversations which this author has had with teachers and Diocesan Advisers, it would appear that the role of diocesan adviser is directed towards implementation of the Alive-O programme. Therefore, both teachers and Diocesan Advisers appear primarily influenced to deliver Alive-O, rather than focused on giving Catholic catechesis in accordance with the teaching of the Church.
The comment above about the structure of the programme marginalising parents applies equally to the parish. Parish clergy are unlikely to have studied the Teacher's Book and may not even be aware of its existence, and therefore will have little idea about what is actually in the Alive-O programme. The high proportion of uniquely Alive-O material in the programme serves to immerse the children in an Alive-O environment, which differs in significant ways from what they will experience in the parish.
A Note on Cultural Background
This brief note recognizes the need for adaptation to cultural differences as between children from different backgrounds and cultures. This is generally reasonable, however a few points might be noted. There is reference to differences in relationships, because not all children have two parents. Of course, one must recognize that an increasing number of children come from homes where they do not have their natural mother and father, who are married to each other. However, it is important for Catholics schools to recognize that even though many situations differ from this, it is always important to affirm that children should be brought up in a loving home by their natural parents who are married to each other, and that this should be seen as the Catholic norm and not some ideal attainable only in exceptional circumstances. This can be done in a way which does not make children who do not enjoy the situation feel belittled, but it is most important for them to know the norm so that they can aspire to and look forward to something better than the less than satisfactory situation in which they are brought up.
There is also reference to the differences of religion. This is much more than a cultural difference, but a major challenge for teachers in a Catholic school. It is of course vital to respect the consciences of those who are not Catholic or Christian, and yet at the same time it is essential that this does not stop giving Catholic children the fullness of the Catholic faith, because this is the primary reason for the existence of a Catholic school.
The Role of the Teacher
The first part of this subsection is common to Book 5. There is helpful material on how teachers can help, encourage, and take care of children, showing them that they are truly loved, respected and cared for. However, the language is entirely theist or humanist, and does not reflect anything specifically Catholic or Christian, which is a problem.
The second part of this section is unique to Book 6 and is an improvement. There are two good quotations from the GDC, and an excellent reminder that it is the Holy Spirit that moves everyone to faith in the first instance, and is the source of all growth and development in faith.
However, while there is reference to communicating and transmitting 'faith', and there is a lack of emphasis on actually teaching the children the Deposit of Faith. This teaching of the Deposit of Faith in a structured manner, is one of the essential tasks of Catholic catechesis, and is therefore a key role, if not the primary role, of the teacher. In a Catholic approach to catechesis, it is vital that the teacher hands on the faith, teaches the children on the Deposit of Faith, which the Church has received from the apostles, and which she carefully guards so that it can be handed on, in all purity and integrity, to succeeding generations (this is made very clear in the GDC).
Revelation: God's Self-Disclosure
There is much good material in this subsection. There are also important omissions, and in very many places the language is more theist/humanist rather than authentically Christian.
The introductory paragraphs on page [8] are good, in particular reference to the promise of God for redemption and salvation after the sin of Adam and Eve. Alive-O does not generally recognize original sin or salvation, and so it is good to see them referred to here, but unfortunately it is not followed through, either in this section or in Alive-O generally.
An important omission from the introductory paragraphs is the difference between natural and supernatural revelation. The Church teaches that man is capable of coming with certainty to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God by the natural light of human reason, but that man is limited by the consequences of original sin, and is therefore in need of being enlightened by God's supernatural revelation. It is very important to understand the difference between natural and supernatural revelation, and the reasons why God's supernatural revelation is necessary. (CCC 31-49). Natural revelation can get man only as far as theism, which unfortunately is the spirituality that permeates much of Alive-O.
The subsection on, 'Jesus Christ -- the Fullness of Revelation', has some good things to say about Jesus as the fullness of revelation, but omits the critical dimension of salvation, and fails to bring out the divinity of Christ.
The subsection on 'Tradition' has a good quotation from Dei Verbum (DV). However, what is missing is an explanation of the differences and complementarity between Scripture and Tradition, and the vital role played by the Church's Magisterium, which is very well expressed in Dei Verbum 9, 10.
The subsection on the Old Testament is inadequate. It gives a perspective which is fundamentally theist. It fails to bring out the connection between the Old and New Testaments. It fails to express that the Old Testament showed the beginning of God's plan of salvation (the Old Covenant), the principal purpose of which was to prepare for the coming of Christ, the universal Redeemer, and of the messianic kingdom. This was famously expressed by St Augustine: ’God wisely arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old and that the Old be made manifest in the New’. (Dei Verbum 14-16).
The subsection on the New Testament is also inadequate, because it omits the crucial dimension of salvation history, the fact that Jesus Christ, God the Son, came to give his life to redeem us from sin. Alive-O’s text could be interpreted in a theistic way, simply that Jesus came to teach us about God through his words and example, which we follow.
Alive-O's presentation on Scripture is quite disappointing. It fails to bring out the importance of Scripture, as is so well expressed in the famous quotation of St Jerome, 'Ignorance of Scripture, is ignorance of Christ'. (DV 25). It also fails to bring out the truth of Scripture, which is well expressed in Dei Verbum 11, 'the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching firmly, faithfully, and without error that truths which God wanted put into the sacred writings for the sake of our salvation'. Scripture as an expression of salvation history is also lacking. The central importance of salvation history in Revelation is well expressed in the General Catechetical Directory. "Revelation is the manifestation of the mystery of God and of his saving action in history. It takes place through a personal communication from God to man. The content of this communication constitutes the message of salvation, which is to be preached to all men". (GCD 37)
The subsection on 'Christian Witness' has some good things to say, but a major omission is martyrdom. The Church has always held that the martyrs are very special and unique witness for the faith, indeed the very meaning of the word 'witness’ is a martyr.
The subsections on the Natural World and Human Experience are largely expressed in a language which is theist/humanist, rather than Christian. An exception is the final quotation from GDC 152, on the role of experience in catechesis, which is excellent.
The sub-section, 'Helping the children to respond', is seriously inadequate. Rather than encouraging the teachers to teach the children the basics of the Christian faith, the teachers are actually discouraged from such teaching as follows: 'familiarity with the content of faith will be achieved gradually as the children move from class to class, and as the ability to understand difficult language and concepts increases’. While it is true that the mysteries of faith are unfathomable, and that one can go for the rest of one's life learning more and more about them, nevertheless it is equally true that the basics of Faith are extremely simple and can be expressed in a way which is understandable to even very young children. The basic truths of faith do not necessarily involve difficult language and concepts, but can be taught to children in simple language in accordance with their age and ability, from pre-school onwards, which will provide a sound foundation for progressive development of these truths of faith as they go through school and through their adult lives. The teaching of children in the basics of the faith has been done in the Church over the past two millennia, and so is certainly not beyond the capabilities of this generation, with all our sophisticated pedagogical technologies and methods.
Alive-O's discouragement of teachers by using language such as, 'difficult language and concepts' works against the other aspiration expressed, which is good in itself: 'As we try to enable the children to grow as people of faith, we hope that they will become as articulate in this area as in any other area of the curriculum. We hope that eventually they will be able to give an account of the faith that is in them, to say what they believe and why.' The video that accompanied Alive-O Book 5 would indicate that Alive-O is failing to teach the children the basics of the faith and how to give an account of that faith in a confident way. The video includes a segment in which Catholic, Jewish and Muslim children speak of their faith. The Muslim children come across by far the best; they are most articulate, and give a clear and confident account of the basics of their faith, while in contrast the Catholic children show a great lack of confidence and knowledge of the basics of Catholic faith.
The rest of this subsection is expressed in language which is mainly theist rather than Christian, with the exception of the final quotation from the General Catechetical Directory, (GCD 33), which is excellent, but is poorly reflected in Alive-O's own written text.
Faith: Responding to Revelation
This section contains a number of good quotations from Magisterial documents, in particular the CCC, the GDC, and the GCD, which are relevant to a Catholic understanding of faith. It also contains some information which is a reflection of a Catholic understanding of faith. However, mixed in with this is an understanding of faith which is theist, and which tends to predominate, undermining Catholic teaching. There are also significant omissions in what the Church teaches about faith.
The predominance of a theist understanding of faith is well expressed in the opening sentence: "The aim of religious education is to foster and deepen the children's faith". Also in such views as, 'the seed of faith that was sown in baptism is encouraged to grow and mature', and, 'The task of the teacher is to accompany children on their faith journey'. These quotations are more in tune with the kind of theory of religious education promoted by James Fowler and similar researchers, in which everybody is assumed to have ‘faith’ of some sort and all that is required is to create conditions in which the person’s ‘faith’ may be deepened, nourished and strengthened. This kind of thinking about faith keeps surfacing throughout the section, as analysed in detail below.
Under the heading 'What is Faith?', there are a number of good things said concerning the nature of faith, which are in harmony with Catholic teaching. However, there are also significant omissions, and many expressions of a theist understanding of faith.
Faith is relationship with God. The opening quotation from the CCC 142 is good, dealing with God's invitation, but Alive-O omits what follows in the CCC, which says that the adequate response to this invitation is faith, but which man completely submits his intellect and will to God. In contrast, Alive-O says that the children need merely become aware of God's relationship with them and the depth of his care for them. This is by no means a Catholic understanding of the response of faith.
Faith is our assent to what God tells us. This is reasonable, but falls somewhat short of an expression that faith involves the complete submission of intellect and will.
Faith is a gift from God. It is interesting that Alive-O selects this particular phrase as a quotation from the GDC 55, rather than the expression in the CCC which speaks of the grace of faith. Alive-O seems very keen to avoid the use of the term 'grace', and in its teaching it does not recognize the existence of grace. The Alive-O text that follows gives the impression that ‘faith’ is entirely personal to each individual, and is their own particular response to whatever they think God is saying to them; this is radically different to a Catholic understanding of faith.
Faith is a free response to God's gift. Alive-O gives a good quotation from CCC 150, 'Faith is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed'. However, in the text that follows Alive-O falls far short of this speaking of 'an echo in the heart' which would ‘bear fruit in the will'.
Faith is active. Alive-O correctly says that faith calls us to action, but the following text is expressed entirely in theist, humanitarian and 'horizontal' terms, not in Christian language.
Faith is communal. There is a good opening quotation from CCC 166, about faith not being in isolation, but the CCC presents this in terms of the Church. Alive-O does not mention the Church. Alive-O interprets ‘communal’ simply in terms of school and home. Alive-O rightly says that in some homes there will be an atmosphere of Catholic faith and teaching of the faith, and in other homes not so. However it also assumes that in the school the pupils will get taught the truths of Catholic faith. This assumption is contrary to common experience, and is also contrary to the surveys of religious knowledge that were carried out in 2007 by the Iona Institute and by this author. The surveys indicate that the teaching of the faith in Catholic schools has been seriously inadequate for more than 30 years; in fact the lack of faith of many parents of the present-day pupils in primary school can be attributed to the poor catechesis / religious education that they received themselves when they were at school. As has been noted above in this analysis, the structure of Alive-O will reinforce the separation between school and home, and the lack of authentic religious Catholic teaching in Alive-O will not make up for inadequacies in many homes. In fact it is more likely that Alive-O will undermine the teaching of the faith in those homes that have a strong Catholic faith and wish to bring up their children in the Catholic faith.
Faith has a content. This subsection simply sets out a structure for the content of Faith taken from the General Catechetical Directory of 1971 (GCD 43). It is less than satisfactory that Alive-O would select this limited structure from an older document, rather than the more comprehensive structure adopted by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the General Directory for Catechesis 1997, which put forward the Creeds (Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed), as the basic structure for the faith.
Faith challenges us to work for the reign of God. It is good to express the active dimension of faith, that we are called to work for the kingdom of God. However, Alive-O’s text approaches the matter in a way which is predominantly theist, human and 'horizontal', to the exclusion of the authentically Christian, spiritual and eschatological dimensions.
Other dimensions of faith which are important, as presented in the CCC, but which are omitted by Alive-O, include: faith as necessary for salvation; faith requires perseverance; faith is the beginning of eternal life; there is only one Faith; faith seeks understanding.
Promoting Knowledge of the Faith in the Middle-Primary Schoolchild.
There is much good material in this subsection, but there are also vital omissions and some obfuscations, which undermine its Christian authenticity.
The subsection opens with the following sentence: "in presenting doctrine, it is important to stress the central truths of faith in order to achieve a proper perspective". This statement is excellent, but the follow-through leaves much to be desired. The section then goes on to present ‘the most important truths of faith’ in a format taken from the General Catechetical Directory (GCD 43), but with omissions. Below is the listing of truths of faith from GCD43; the items underlined are omitted by Alive-O:
• the mystery of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Creator of all things;
• the mystery of Christ the incarnate Word, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and who suffered, died, and rose for our salvation;
• the mystery of the Holy Spirit, who is present in the Church, sanctifying it and guiding it until the glorious coming of Christ, our Saviour and Judge;
• the mystery of the Church, which is Christ’s Mystical Body, in which the Virgin Mary holds the pre-eminent place. (Alive-O changes this to ‘a prominent place’).
Alive-O's omissions appear to have vital significance.
The omission of God as Creator correlates with the omission by Alive-O from this section of the Church's doctrine on creation. This is a significant and serious omission, because the Church teaches that catechesis on creation is of major importance; it concerns the very foundations of human and Christian life. Creation is the foundation of all God’s saving plans, the beginning of the history of salvation that culminates in Christ. (CCC 280, 282). Alive-O omits the Church’s doctrine on creation, the Fall, and original sin, which is of the utmost seriousness because, 'The Church, which has the mind of Christ, knows very well that we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ'. (CCC 389). Therefore by omitting teaching on creation, the fall and original sin, Alive-O is undermining the mystery of Christ, which surely undermines its own Christian authenticity. Alive-O generally does not recognise salvation and salvation history.
Alive-O's omission above that Christ suffered, died, and rose for our salvation correlates with Alive-O’s omission from this section that Jesus is our saviour, that he died to save us from sin. Alive-O does say that Jesus died for us on the cross, but omits that this death was redemptive and salvific from sin; it is not enough to say that Christ died for us, because millions of people have died for others, but only one person, Jesus Christ, who was both God and man, could save the human race from sin through his death on the cross. As Alive-O has already omitted the Fall and original sin, this would mean that we had no need for salvation, because there was nothing to be saved from, and therefore Jesus is not our saviour. Also, Alive-O fails to teach that Jesus is divine, therefore Jesus could not save us from sin even if we needed such salvation.
Alive-O's omission above that the Holy Spirit is present in the Church, sanctifying it and guiding it until the glorious coming of Christ, our Saviour and Judge, is also significant. Alive-O does teach in this section that the Holy Spirit forms the Church, which is good. However, as noted in the previous paragraph, Alive-O does not recognize Jesus as Saviour. Also, Alive-O does not recognize Jesus as Judge; more than that, in dealing with the Last Things Alive-O does not recognize any judgement at all. These are very serious omissions by Alive-O, and undermine its Christian authenticity.
Alive-O's omission above of the Church as Christ's Mystical Body is curious, because the section does teach that the Church is the Body of Christ. However, the omission probably results from the term ‘Mystical’, because in the lesson material Alive-O treats the analogy of the Body of Christ as if it were only a headless secular body in which people co-operate and work together. The Body of Christ analogy only makes sense if Christ is the head of the body. In the lesson material Alive-O does not say that Christ is part of its body, which has no head at all.
The choice of this structure of the central truths of the faith is curious. The GCD was written in 1971 and has been greatly upgraded and largely superseded by the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1992 and the General Directory for Catechesis 1997. The GDC recommends the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the normative structure for presenting the truths of the faith, and the CCC itself bases its profession of faith on the creeds (Apostles’ and Nicene). The CCC does refer to GCD 43, but only to speak of the ‘hierarchy of truths’, and the importance of the Trinity, which is contained in that same para 43; the CCC does not use the structure of truths of faith as in GCD 43.
Therefore Alive-O's selection of the four headings in GCD43 is curious; the structure of the Apostle’s Creed, as used in the CCC, would be far preferable for presenting the truths of the Faith. However, the choice of the GCD’s very simplified four point structure makes it easier to overlook Alive-O’s omission of many fundamentals of the faith, for example, the Church’s doctrine on Creation, as noted above.
The section has a subheading titled "The Trinity", but it does not actually contain any teaching on the Trinity, which is a serious omission because the Church teaches that the Blessed Trinity is the foundation of all the other truths of faith. Simple basic teaching on God and the Trinity might include the following:
There is only one God, who is infinite in his holiness, in all his perfections, his omnipotence, knowledge, providence, will and love. God is eternal, he always was, he is, and always will be. God has revealed himself as the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity. There are not three Gods, but one God in three divine persons. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire. ‘Father’, ‘Son’, ‘Holy Spirit’ are not simply names of three different ways in which God acts, for they are really distinct from one another.
These basic truths on God and the Trinity are all omitted by Alive-O.
The section then goes on to present three subheadings for the three persons of the Trinity. The three subheadings are titled as follows:
• God
• Jesus, Son of God
• The Holy Spirit
If God is the first person of the Trinity, then the second and third persons cannot be God, so this presentation of the blessed Trinity amounts to the gravest heresy. The first person of the blessed Trinity is ‘God the Father’, not ‘God’. The descriptions of Jesus and the Holy Spirit given in the section reinforce this perception. In order to make it clear that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are divine, they should be described as ‘God the Son’, and as ‘God the Holy Spirit’, and the descriptive material should first and foremost make clear their divinity.
‘The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith. The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, revealed himself to men and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin'. (CCC 234). This quotation from the CCC indicates that the Blessed Trinity is a foundation on which all other truths of faith are built; and it follows then that if a catechetical programme gets it wrong on the Trinity, there will be knock-on effects, which will cause problems with the rest of the programme. In this way instead of a 'hierarchy of truths', we are likely to see a 'hierarchy of errors'. This is in fact what we see in Alive-O, with a whole succession of flaws and omissions, which flow from the initial wrong understanding on the Trinity.
The identification of ‘God’ as the first person of the blessed Trinity is reinforced by the points listed under this subheading, which nearly all speak about characteristics of God, not specifically of God the Father. This is particularly so of the first item which reads, "who loves us as a loving father and who cares for us like a loving mother", which also serves to confuse and obfuscate the identity of God the Father.
There are 37 items presented under the subheading titled "Jesus, Son of God", some of which are good, others deficient. There are also serious omissions. The most serious omission is that it is not made clear that Jesus is divine, that he is God, the second divine person of the Blessed Trinity; Jesus is presented as 'Son of God', but then all Christians are sons and daughters of God.
Other serious omissions include: Jesus is not presented as saviour and Redeemer of the human race from sin; not presented as the Messiah; not presented as the first born of all creation and the one in whom all creation will be renewed; not presented as the one in whom we are incorporated as brothers and sisters, so that we thereby become adopted sons and daughters of the Father; not presented as the founder of the Church, or the one who instituted all the sacraments; not presented as the New Adam, whose obedience rectified of the disobedience of the first Adam; not presented as the fulfilment of all the prophecies of the Old Testament; not presented as the one whose Second Coming at the end of time we renew all creation; not presented as the Judge who will, in infinite mercy and justice, judge all the human race at the Last Judgment. Jesus is not presented as priest, prophet, and King, which are very important dimensions to understanding the nature and mission of Jesus.
There are also a number of the items which are not satisfactory. Alive-O says that Jesus 'shows us the love and forgiveness of God', which is deficient because Jesus himself forgives, since he is divine. Alive-O says that Jesus 'shared a last meal with his friends before he died'; this falls far short of significance and meaning of the Last Supper. Alive-O says that Jesus 'died on the cross for us'; this is an entirely inadequate description of what Jesus did for us on the cross, when he redeemed the entire human race from sin, because millions of people have died for others but only Jesus' death was redemptive. Alive-O says that Jesus 'was raised from the dead by God the Father'; this is inadequate because Jesus raised himself from the dead, since the Resurrection was the work of the entire Trinity. Alive-O says that Jesus 'after the resurrection, promised to ask the father to send the Holy Spirit'; this treats Jesus as only a human being, because the Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus and the Father. Alive-O says that Jesus 'invited his followers to have faith in him'; this is inadequate because the word 'invited' does not adequately express the necessity for faith in Jesus for salvation. Alive-O says that Jesus 'leads us to God's forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation'; this is inadequate and fails to treat Jesus as divine, because in the sacrament of Reconciliation the priest, in the place of Jesus, pronounces forgiveness from the entire Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This extensive series of key omissions and inadequate expressions means that Alive-O's presentation on Jesus, despite having many good features, falls well short of being authentically Christian.
Under the subheading "The Holy Spirit" it is not made clear that the Holy Spirit is divine, that the Holy Spirit is the second divine person of the blessed Trinity and is fully God. The various points listed in this subheading give a very limited understanding of the nature and work of the Holy Spirit.
Under the subheading 'The Church', there is a reasonable comment on the role of home and family. However the items listed under the Christian community are quite inadequate, because they give the impression that Jesus is not God. Alive-O says that the Christian community believes in Christ's resurrection; this is entirely inadequate, because we believe in Jesus Christ himself as God and saviour. If we only believed in Jesus' resurrection, then Jesus could be just a human being who was raised from the dead by the power of God. Alive-O also says that a Christian community gathers to praise God with the Risen Jesus, and to celebrate the forgiveness of God in the sacrament of Reconciliation; this is inadequate because it gives the impression that God is someone different from Jesus. Christians gather to praise and thank Jesus and to receive his forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation. The last point about the Christian community looking forward to eternal happiness with God is very good, but is poorly reflected in the lesson material which is inadequate on the Last Things.
Alive-O says that an understanding of the sacrificial nature of what Christ did on Holy Thursday and Good Friday lays the foundation for an understanding of the Church as the Bride of Christ. This is a good aspiration, but Alive-O significantly fails to give an understanding of Jesus' sacrifice. Also the image of the Church as the Bride of Christ is not reflected in the lesson material.
Other significant aspects of the Church omitted by Alive-O include: the Church’s origin, foundation and mission; the marks of the Church, as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic; the Communion of Saints; the faithful – hierarchy, laity, consecrated life; and anything at all about the Catholic Church (Alive-O gives the impression simply that ‘the Church’ is all the baptized).
There is some reasonable material under the subheading "Mary". However, Alive-O continues its omission of the divinity of Jesus by describing Mary only as ‘the mother of God's Son, Jesus’, but not as ‘mother of God’. There are also some very significant omissions concerning Mary: her Immaculate Conception, her Virginity, and her Assumption, these omissions all correlate with Alive-O’s spirituality. Alive-O does not recognize the existence of original sin, and therefore everyone is immaculately conceived, Mary is no different to anyone else. Alive-O does not apparently believe in Mary's virginity; there are illustrations in the Pupil's Books which imply that Mary was already well pregnant at the time of the Annunciation and that she had several other children besides Jesus. Alive-O is very vague on the Last Things, and conveys that everyone is with God after death in some way, so that Mary's Assumption would not be anything special.
The next subheading is titled "Grace", but falls well short of an authentic Catholic presentation on grace. The Church's teaching on grace is well presented in the CCC 1996-2005. Alive-O opens with a good quotation from the CCC 1996, 1997, which speaks of grace being the favour, the free and undeserved help that God gives to respond to his call; and a participation in the life of God. However, Alive-O then takes the extraordinary decision to ignore and reject the rest of the Church's teaching on grace is as expressed in the CCC. Alive-O deliberately excludes the Church’s teaching on sanctifying grace, habitual grace, actual graces, sacramental graces, the special graces called charisms, and graces of state in life. Alive-O ends up with an understanding of grace is as the help of God, which is with everyone at all times and circumstances. (Alive-O appears to depart from its general policy on grace in the final paragraph on page [24], but this is an isolated exception.)
Alive-O's rejection of sacramental grace is manifest right through the programme when it teaches on the Sacraments of the Church; in all cases the grace of each sacrament is omitted. This deprives all seven Sacraments of their meaning, because the particular grace of each sacrament is fundamental to understanding the meaning of sacrament. Sacraments without particular graces are then reduced to merely human rituals, which were not specifically instituted by Christ for the purpose of giving particular grace. This is obviously the reason why Alive-O's presentation of the sacraments is generally extremely poor.
The subheading "Heaven and Hell" would be better termed 'The Last Things', and is seriously inadequate, mainly because it omits the great majority of what the Church teaches.
The Church teaches that God created immortal spiritual creatures called Angels, who were destined to glorify God and to serve mankind. These Angels dwelt with God in a place or state of happiness called heaven. Some of the Angels rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven to a place or state called hell, where they are separated from God for all eternity. The leader of the fallen Angels is called Satan, and they are called Devils. The Devils can and do tempt human beings but their power is limited.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were created in a state of innocence, but tempted by Satan they disobeyed God, and the effects of this original sin are transmitted to all mankind. Jesus won salvation for human race from sin through his death on the cross, and opened the gates of heaven to us which had been shut through the original sin of Adam and Eve. However we still can sin, and are subject to temptation from the devil, the sinfulness of humanity and our own fallen nature. Our existence on earth is a spiritual battle, against the world, the flesh and the Devil.
Sin, which is fundamentally an offence against God, disobedience of his law, can be minor / venial or it can be serious / mortal. Mortal sin is a grave offence against God which separates us from God, but from which we can obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation. But if we die in unrepented mortal sin we will be separated from God for ever, in the place or state prepared for the Devil and his fallen angels, which is called hell.
If we die in the state of grace, in friendship with God and repentant of sins committed, we can, through the salvation won for us on the cross by Jesus, and through the grace and mercy of God, look forward to an eternity of happiness with God in heaven.
Each person has a spiritual soul which is created directly by God at the moment of conception. The spiritual soul is immortal, destined to live for all eternity either in happiness with God in heaven, or separated from God in hell. When we die the soul separates from the body. At the moment of death there is a particular judgement by God, which determines whether we will live with him for ever in heaven (sometimes preceded by a purification in Purgatory) or be separated from God forever in hell.
At the end of time on the Last Day, there will be a general resurrection and a general judgement. Jesus will come again in glory, known as the Second Coming, this time as an infinitely just and infinitely merciful judge, to judge all of mankind. Our bodies will rise and will be reunited with our souls, and share in the soul’s joy of heaven or unhappiness of hell. At this time all creation will be renewed in a manner which we as yet cannot understand, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. (CCC 325-336, 386-421, 1020-1060).
The problem is that Alive-O omits nearly all of the above teaching of the Church which has a bearing on the Last Things. Alive-O's omission is not only from this subsection, but also from the entire programme. Alive-O does not recognize the existence of the immortal soul. Alive-O mentions angels but does not teach what an Angel is, and does not recognize the existence of fallen Angels or Devils. Alive-O does not recognize original sin, temptation, spiritual battle, or mortal sin. Alive-O does not teach about the judgement of God, or God’s infinite justice and mercy. Alive-O does not recognize that Jesus won salvation from sin for mankind through his sacrificial death on the cross. Alive-O does not recognize the End Times, the Last Day, the general resurrection or general judgement, or the Second Coming of Jesus as just and merciful judge.
Alive-O advises to concentrate on the joys of heaven after death, and not to dwell on the unhappiness of hell, which is very good, and is fully in line with the approach of the CCC. However, the problem arises with Alive-O advising withholding information from the children about mortal sin, the devil, and hell. In saying that children sometimes have heard scary stories about the devil and hell, Alive-O is actually making an excellent case for giving the children a proper teaching about these matters. However, Alive-O arrives at the wrong conclusion by deciding to withhold this vital information from the children. This is quite irresponsible because it leaves the children in ignorance about the real dangers that are there. This would be like sending children out on bicycles and only teaching them about the joys of cycling, and never teaching them about the dangers and about how to avoid those same dangers, which would be seriously irresponsible.
Depriving the children about factual information about the devil and his works and temptations, leaves them open to the occult, because 'forewarned is forearmed'. Depriving the children about factual information about mortal sin and its consequences, depriving them of the knowledge of the spiritual battle of life, giving them the impression that they are going to enjoy heaven after death no matter what, invites the grave sin of presumption, which would jeopardize their eternal souls.
The material presented under the subheading "Purgatory" is satisfactory, in itself, especially the excellent quotations from the CCC. However this information requires the context of good teaching on the Last Things in general, something which is missing from Alive-O.
Liturgical Education for the Middle-Primary Schoolchild
This section focuses on sacraments in general, and on the sacraments of Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Baptism. This is excellent in principle, considering the age and stage of the children who undertake Alive-O 6.
Unfortunately, the section has fundamental and serious omissions, which undermine Catholic authenticity. The Church teaches that the sacraments were instituted by Christ, and given to the Church, in order to give grace. In each sacrament there is an outward sign, which signifies the inward grace of the Holy Spirit, which is proper to each sacrament.
Alive-O does not teach what a sacrament is. It was noted in the previous section above, that Alive-O has decided not to follow the Church's teaching on grace. In particular, Alive-O excludes any actual graces, of which an important part are sacramental graces. As Alive-O has excluded sacramental graces, then the sacraments are deprived of Christian meaning, and become merely human institutions. If, as Alive-O teaches, grace is something which is present always and everywhere to everyone, then the sacraments become essentially human rituals or institutions, with no more grace than any other human activity or ceremony.
This section does say that Christ is present in the sacraments, but this is insufficient. It is necessary to say that the sacraments were deliberately instituted by Christ and given to the Church, which Alive-O does not teach. If Christ is present always and everywhere, then there is nothing special about of the sacraments in comparison with any other human action or ritual.
Alive-O states that, 'Without faith, we cannot participate meaningfully in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church'. There is of course some truth in this, but it also misrepresents the teaching of the church on the sacraments. It gives the impression that it is our own 'faith' which makes the sacrament effective. This is in harmony with Alive-O's exclusion of sacramental graces. In contrast, the Church teaches that the sacraments act by the very fact of being performed (ex opere operato), but their fruitfulness is also affected by the faith and disposition of those who receive them.
Alive-O discourages the teachers from an expectation that the pupils can understand, at an appropriate level, the Church's teaching on the sacraments: 'The children will continue to be introduced gradually and progressively to all aspects of the sacraments in the course of the primary programme'. 'We must acknowledge the limitations in the experience, understanding and faith development of middle-primary school children'. In fact, the Church’s basic teaching on the sacraments is simple and straightforward, and readily understandable by middle-primary children. In rejecting sacramental graces, Alive-O creates a complicated and confusing rationale about the sacraments as fundamentally human institutions, and this indeed is difficult for the children to understand. If Alive-O were faithful to the Church's teaching there would not be a problem.
Alive-O states its essential understanding of the sacraments as human rituals: "In the course of this year we endeavour to explore with the children the human values and attitudes that are central to an understanding of and meaningful participation in the sacraments". What follows are 14 points which are predominantly human, with just a touch of theism, 'a sense of God's presence'. The Church’s teaching on sacraments is conspicuous by its absence.
Under the subheading "Eucharist" the material is deficient and unsatisfactory. This naturally follows from Alive-O's exclusion of the Church's teaching on sacraments and on grace. It also follows from Alive-O's nonrecognition of salvation from sin through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. Also it follows from Alive-O's nonrecognition of Jesus as fully divine. Alive-O also excludes the full Church teaching on the Real Presence in the Eucharist; Alive-O excludes the term 'transubstantiation' which the Church uses to clearly express that Jesus is really and substantially present, under the appearance of bread and wine, in his body and blood, soul and divinity. In particular, Alive-O omits Jesus' presence in 'soul and divinity'. This naturally follows from Alive-O's nonrecognition of the soul anyway in anyone, and its non-recognition of Jesus' full divinity.
There is also omission of clear teaching that the Mass is the same as the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which is the redeeming sacrifice which saves the human race from sin. Alive-O goes no further than saying, 'an ability to reflect on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ', which falls a long way short of giving a clear understanding that the Eucharist is a re-presentation of the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary.
Other omissions include any marks of respect for the Eucharist, such as fasting for one hour before communion, showing great respect for the Eucharist when in the church, and the need for worthy reception of the Eucharist, that is to be free of mortal sin and be in the state of grace. Also there is no mention of the graces of the Eucharist, including the forgiveness of venial sin and the strengthening of the soul to live the Christian life.
There is a most unsatisfactory quotation from a Directory on Children's Masses, which reinforces Alive-O's presentation of sacraments as human celebrations. The quotation also has the statement that the children should have 'some idea of God and the supernatural'; it is utterly extraordinary that after six years of a Catholic catechetical programme, the expectation is no more than that the children should have some sense of God and the supernatural, which amounts to no more than a vague theism.
The final paragraph under this subheading speaks of sacrifice, but presents sacrifice very much in a human way, which does not help explain the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our salvation, but merely undermines it. This approach to diminishing the meaning of Jesus sacrifice on the cross is continued in the lesson material.
Under the subheading "Reconciliation" there is little information about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Alive-O states that in this year, "The children are given the opportunity to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation using Rite 1". This is altogether too late, coming two to three years after the children have celebrated their First Confession. The Church teaches that Rite 1 is the norm for confession, so that the children should have been thoroughly prepared and celebrated their First Confession according to Rite 1, and should have been going regularly to Confession for the past two years under the form of Rite 1. Alive-O consistently treats Rite 2 as the norm, which is contrary to the teaching of the Church, & also works against the children experiencing regular Confession.
There follows some vague discussion of ‘narrative’ being central to the approach to Confession. There is a major potential problem here, in that the term 'narrative' is used in some circles to convey the view that the Bible is all about narrative or mythology, similar to the holy books of other religions, and that the 'narrative' of the Bible is really on a par with the 'narrative' of our daily lives. At the same time, Alive-O does not recognize ‘The Great Narrative’, which is salvation history.
The subheading closes with the following sentence, "Therefore, we should be sensitive about the requirements of confession according to number and species". Alive-O is not being sensitive to the teaching of the Church. The Church teaches that there is a requirement for confession of each and every mortal sin in the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Church also teaches that it is not a necessity, but a strong recommendation, that there should be confession of venial sins. It is to the benefit of the penitent to be as complete as possible in the examination of conscience and confession of venial sins, in order to grow in virtue and holiness. It also helps the confessor to give appropriate words of advice to the penitent to know of the situation on venial sins as completely as possible. Therefore, confession of sins according to number and species would be of great benefit to both penitent and confessor.
Under the subheading "Baptism" Alive-O does not have any teaching about the Sacrament of Baptism. Alive-O's previous teaching on the Sacrament is deficient, because Alive-O does not recognize original sin, sacramental grace, or salvation from sin won by Jesus on the cross. Alive-O treats baptism as a human ritual which initiates people into membership of a body of people who follow Jesus’ teaching and example.
The very brief information under the subheading, 'The Anointing of the Sick ', is reasonable in itself. However, it gives little information about the Sacrament, and Alive-O's presentation of the Sacrament in the lesson material is poor, treating it as no more than people and priest coming together to pray for the comfort of a sick person.
Moral Formation for the Middle-Primary Schoolchild
The opening statement in this section is good. "Through baptism we share in the life and love of God. Christian living is an expression of this life. Our aim in the moral education of children is to help them grow into mature Christians". However, what follows differs substantially from the teaching of the Church.
The structure of this section is odd. First there are two pages under the title of 'moral formation’, followed by half a page under the title 'Christian Moral Education'. It is hard to know what to make of the strange division. In a Catholic programme all the teaching about moral formation should be Christian, not just one bit added on at the end. In fact, the first part of this section is predominantly secular rather than Christian, and the last bit has more Christian content but is still not entirely satisfactory.
One of the unsatisfactory features of this section is the number of key omissions of Catholic teaching about morality, life in Christ. Satisfactory teaching is lacking on creation and the fall, the existence of Satan and temptation, the immortal soul, the spiritual battle of life against the world, the flesh and the Devil, virtue and vice, or salvation won by Jesus sacrifice on the Cross and the eternal consequences of the moral life in this world.
The section has several mentions of the 'development of Christian conscience'. The Church does teach about the importance of conscience (CCC 1776-1802), but Alive-O's approach to conscience is quite different to that of the Church. The Church teaches that conscience is primarily a gift from God to us, a law inscribed by God in the depths of our hearts, which enjoins us to do good and to avoid evil, to perceive and recognize the prescriptions of the divine law. We are obliged to follow consciences, and are equally obliged to educate and inform consciences in the light of the Word of God and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church.
By contrast, Alive-O treats Christian conscience as something that we must develop ourselves, coming to appreciate the moral values underlying the rules, precepts and standards of adults, and learning through experience the consequences of our choices. This is a purely secular approach to conscience, and radically different to the Christian approach as taught by the Church.
Alive-O says that for the moral life knowledge is not sufficient, which of course is perfectly true. However Alive-O equates 'knowledge' with 'rules and commandments' and does not distinguish the Commandments of God from the rules of adults and of society. This is radically contrary to Church teaching, in which knowledge about the Christian moral life is vastly more than simply rules and commandments, as shown in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part Three, Life in Christ, CCC 1699-2557.
The predominant emphasis to moral formation in this section is secular, and is well summed up in this sentence, "moral development is a slow and gradual process and must be viewed in the context of the children's overall psychological, emotional and intellectual development". The moral teaching of the Church is either absent or very poorly presented, and is negatively caricatured in the following sentence: 'God should never be used to threaten the children to do what is required of them'.
Alive-O favours the telling of stories as a way of teaching morality, as follows: "Stories that are told to middle-primary school children at this stage can contribute to their personal and moral growth. Good stories can highlight the distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, the triumph of good over evil, and, indirectly, convey many moral values. In such stories, children can recognize situations and conflicts that parallel their own experience. In this way they learn to come to terms with fear, anger, failure, frustration, disappointment and death".
One of the problems of depending on the children to learn moral values from fictional stories, it is that one does not know what values or lessons the children are actually going to take from the stories; it could be something much different to that intended. If the children are going to learn morality primarily from their own experience and fictional stories, then they are really being invited to make up their own subjective morality, rather than relying primarily on the objective teaching of God as to what is right and wrong.
The final paragraph is good. It speaks of Baptism freeing us from sin and giving new life which is sanctifying grace; there is also reference to actual grace given in the sacraments. However, this good information is not matched by other material in the Introductory section for teachers, especially p.[17] where Alive-O says the pupils should not be taught about sanctifying and actual grace, which is put into practice because there is no teaching of sanctifying grace or actual grace in the lesson material for pupils.
Teaching the Middle-Primary Schoolchild to Pray
There is good material in this section, but also significant omissions and imbalances. There are several good quotations in this section from the CCC. However good quotations are not sufficient to guarantee that the section as a whole is in perfect harmony with the CCC, which is the Church's requirement. In fact, the section departs very considerably from the CCC. Prayer is not put in the context of the rest of the CCC as is expressed beautifully in the CCC as follows: "Great is the mystery of the faith! The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles’ Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be, conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer" (CCC2558). The section does not bring out this key dimension of prayer as expressed in the CCC.
The CCC also emphasises that in this relationship which is prayer, the initiative rests primarily with God, rather than with human beings. God's thirst for us comes first, and our response of thirst to him is a key part of Christian prayer. (CCC 2560-2561, 2566-2567, 25701-2572, 2575, 2579). This dimension of God's initiative is omitted from Alive-O's presentation on prayer.
An absolutely fundamental omission is the Trinitarian dimension of prayer. Right through the CCC the Trinitarian dimension of prayer is stressed, and the point is made that prayer to be authentically Christian must be Trinitarian. Prayer is offered to the Father, through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 2564-2565, 2614-2615, 2627, 2639, 2655, 2664-2672, 2714). Alive-O’s presentation on prayer does not mention the Trinity, but rather focuses simply on 'God'; the presentation on prayer in Alive-O is therefore more theist than Christian.
The CCC says that authentic Christian prayer while being Trinitarian, is also focused on Jesus Christ. While most Christian prayer is directed to the Father, prayer may also be directed to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit. (CCC 2652, 2663-2664, 2616, 2664-2669, 2680, 2670-2672, 2681, 2709, 2715, 2718, 2746-2751). The opening sentences of the subheading titled "Witness" read, "Watching Jesus pray awoke in the disciples the desire to pray. Children learn most of what they know by copying the adults around them”. While these statements are indeed true, they greatly diminish the reality of Jesus, by equating his role with his disciples with that of any adults with children. The CCC presents the role of Jesus in a far more exalted fashion (CCC2598-2616, 2620-21). When the disciples saw Jesus at prayer or were in his company they were actually participating in a prayer of contemplation, because Jesus himself is God. Alive-O’s presentation on prayer is by no means focused on Jesus.
The CCC gives great importance to the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian prayer (CCC 2564-65, 2600, 2615, 2623-25, 2652, 2661, 2670-73). Alive-O does not mention the Holy Spirit.
The CCC gives great emphasis to the place of Mary in Christian prayer. (CCC 2617-2619, 2673-2679, 2682). By contrast Alive-O gives no particular place to Mary in Christian prayer, apart from a passing reference to the Hail Mary prayer.
The CCC gives significant emphasis to the Mass and Sacrament of the Eucharist, as the summit and source of prayer. (CCC 2637, 2639, 2643). By contrast, Alive-O does not mention the Eucharist.
The CCC lays great stress on the great prayers of the Church. These prayers, mainly drawn from Scripture, are authentic expressions of Christian prayer, and also teach us how we can pray in a truly Christian way. The CCC also emphasises the importance of these great prayers in catechesis, which includes memorisation of the prayers and full explanation of their meaning. (CCC 2586-2589, 2625, 2688). The CCC gives particular emphasis to the Our Father prayer (the Lord’s Prayer), which Jesus taught the disciples. The CCC says that the Our Father is not merely a good Christian prayer, but that it is the model of all Christian prayer (CCC 2759-2865).
The importance of the great prayers of the Church was recently emphasized by Pope Benedict XVI: ‘Prayer … must be constantly guided and enlightened by the great prayers of the Church and of the saints, by liturgical prayer, in which the Lord teaches us again and again how to pray properly'.(Spe Salvi, 34, 2007)
By contrast, Alive-O gives little emphasis to the great prayers, subtly disparaging them as ‘traditional prayer formulas’, ‘the prayer language of adults’. Alive-O says nothing about memorizing these great prayers or explaining their meaning. There is a very brief reference to the Father and the Hail Mary, but only in the context of Alive-O's actions to accompany these prayers. These actions are very formalised and ritualistic, and contribute little to the meaning of the prayers or their solemnity.
The CCC has a superb Article on ‘The Battle of Prayer' (CCC 2725-2745). This gives excellent and simple guidance on handling difficulties in prayer, which should form an extremely important part of catechesis on prayer for all people, but especially children. Alive-O says nothing about handling difficulties in prayer. The CCC gives as the source of the difficulties the weakness of human nature and the temptations of the devil. This could be the reason for Alive-O's omissions, because Alive-O does not recognize the existence of the devil or the existence of human weakness resulting from original sin.
The CCC encourages forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful. (CCC 1674-1675), which includes: visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the Cross, the rosary, medals, etc. These can be important forms of prayer and helps to prayer, especially for young people who respond very positively to them. They also are ways of linking school with home and parish. These are not mentioned in this Alive-O section on prayer.
The first two paragraphs of Alive-O’ Introductory notes on Prayer give some very good information about prayer. For example, "We also need to help them to communicate with God: to be able to talk to God in prayer and to be able to listen to God speaking to them in the silence of their own hearts". These paragraphs also speak correctly about giving prayer a central place in a religious education programme.
However what is missing from these introductory paragraphs is a clear understanding of Christian prayer. The language is theist, with a focus on ‘God’, rather than Christian, which would focus on the Trinity and Jesus Christ.
The subsections titled 'An Awareness of God's Presence' and 'Atmosphere of Prayer' recognize only human qualities of the pupils (intuitive by nature, sense of awe and wonder, sense of openness and listening), which makes prayer primarily a human rather than a spiritual matter. This is not an authentically Christian approach to prayer. Unfortunately, this is consistent with Alive-O’s non-recognition of the existence of the spiritual and immortal soul.
The next subheading is, "Different Expressions of Prayer”. The opening quotation from the CCC is good. It speaks of the three major expressions of prayer: vocal, meditative and contemplative.
The paragraph on ‘Vocal Prayer’ focuses on spontaneous personal prayer arising from one’s own experience. The CCC also speaks about vocal prayer from personal experience, but particularly emphasizes vocal prayer in the context of liturgical and communal prayer, in which the Our Father is given as the quintessential vocal prayer for Christians. (In the lesson material Alive-O actually gives very little place for the pupils to vocalize spontaneous prayer or the great prayers of the Church, while the great majority of their vocal prayer is repeating Alive-O scripted prayer responses to Alive-O scripted prayers read out by the teacher ).
The paragraph on ‘Meditative Prayer’ makes some good points, but the emphasis is different to the CCC. The emphasis in Alive-O is on self: the children are encouraged to go to an inner space, where they can be quiet within themselves; then from there they can talk to God or they can meet and talk to Jesus. The emphasis in the CCC is on the Trinity, especially Jesus: "Meditation is above all a quest. The mind seeks to understand why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what the Lord is asking …….. The important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus”. The CCC also recommends to the Rosary as a means of meditative prayer, which would be particularly appropriate for children; this Alive-O section on prayer does not mention the Rosary. (CCC 2705-2708).
The paragraph on 'Contemplative Prayer' also has some good points, saying there are times when we can communicate with ‘God’ in the silence and depth of our own heart. However the rest of the paragraph deals principally with technique, and even the reference to Jesus is put in a way that a Jesus mantra is a helpful technique to get into a state of meditation. By contrast the CCC says that contemplative prayer is focused on Jesus and the Trinity: "Contemplative prayer seeks him whom my soul loves. It is Jesus, and in him, the Father……… Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus……….. Contemplative prayer is a union with the prayer of Christ in so far as it makes us participated in his mystery. The mystery of Christ is celebrated by the Church in the Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit makes it come alive in contemplative prayer”. (CCC 2709-2718).
The paragraphs on ‘Prayer through Movement’ depart significantly from what is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. What the CCC has in mind is given in paragraphs 1153-1155. The CCC talks about processions and acclamations. The emphasis by contrast in Alive-O is on liturgical dance and special ritualistic actions. Alive-O refers to a prayer movement that is illustrated on the accompanying video; this prayer movement is titled 'Celtic Blessing', and is taken from a New Age organisation in the USA called Peaceworks. As to be expected, the prayer and dance are New Age in style, not Christian.
The subheading, ‘Forms of Prayer’, covers prayers of petition, thanksgiving, praise, sorrow and repentance, and intercession, which are addressed in the CCC 2623-2643. By way of introduction to these different ways of praying the CCC says, "The forms of prayer revealed in the Scriptures remain normative for Christian prayer".
The paragraphs on 'Prayer of Petition' rightly says that it is important to direct children's prayers of petition away from a magical understanding of God as the Great Santa Claus in the sky. However Alive-O omits the CCC understanding that prayers of petition are essentially centred on the desire and search for the kingdom of God, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. The model for Christian petition is expressed in the Our Father prayer.
The paragraph on 'Prayer of Intercession' gives correct information on the nature of intercessory prayer. However, it would have been good to include examples of intercession for spiritual needs, rather than including only material and human needs.
Alive-O does not give any indication that prayers of petition or intercession are ever effective. Examples could be given of many ways in which prayers of petition and intercession have been answered, including examples from the Scriptures, shrines like Lourdes, and the many miracles that have been verified by the Church in the causes of canonisation of saints.
The paragraphs on 'Prayer of Thanksgiving' contain some good advice. However it is limited only to the human and material, it is entirely 'horizontal'. By contrast, the CCC emphasises the spiritual dimension of thanksgiving, particulary the Eucharist, and Christ's work of salvation. It also emphasises the Christian approach of giving thanks to God in all circumstances, even in situations which may not seem favourable: "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you". Alive-O does not cover this important dimension of Christian prayer.
The paragraph on 'Prayer of Praise' has some good information. However it misses out on some key aspects that are given in the CCC, in particular the Trinitarian and Eucharistic dimensions: "The Eucharistic contains and expresses all forms of prayer: it is to pure offering of the whole of Body of Christ to the glory of God's name; it is the sacrifice of praise".
The paragraph on 'Prayer of Sorrow and Repentance' contains good advice on prayer of forgiveness.
Under the subheading, "Prayer in the Classroom", there are some excellent proposals: education in common prayer; prayer each day in the context of the lesson and rising out of everyday events; prayer involved in celebration of special times of the year.
However, the approach to prayer in this subheading is predominantly theist and secularised, rather than authentically Catholic or Christian. Theist, because there is only mention of 'God', and there is no mention whatsoever of the Trinity, God the Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. Secularised, because all the prayer is expressed in terms of material or this-worldly matters, with no spiritual dimension, no eternal perspective.
Rather than emphasising the great prayers of the church, as in the CCC, the major emphasis is on the children's own spontaneous vocal prayers and on the prayer rituals written by the Alive-O programme itself. In practice, the prayer-times in the Lesson plans are predominantly Alive-O written prayer rituals, with the teacher leading and pupils responding, with little scope for the great prayers of the Church or pupil’s spontaneous vocal prayers.
Educating the Middle-Primary Schoolchild for Community Life
Alive-O refers to the Church as the Body of Christ, which is excellent in principle. However, in the lesson material the image of the Body is developed very much as a secular headless body, rather than a Body where Christ is the Head.
Alive-O refers to the two great Commandments of Jesus: 'Love God' and 'Love your neighbour'. This is good but lacks a full Christian understanding. In giving these to Commandments Jesus was summarising the Old Testament, and quoting directly from Deuteronomy 6:5, and Leviticus 19:18. Like other aspects of the Old Testament these teachings were fulfilled in the New Testament: the command to love God was fulfilled in the command to believe in Jesus Christ, as the only Son of God, our Lord and Saviour (1 John 3:23). The command to love neighbour as oneself was fulfilled in Jesus’ command to love one another as he loved us (John 13:34).
Missionary Initiation of the Middle-Primary Schoolchild
The first three paragraphs of this section are a quotation from the General Directory for Catechesis on the topic of evangelization (GDC 46). This quotation is excellent and very well chosen. After this quotation there are references to lessons that are considered relevant: T1L8; T1L11; T3L6. However, the three lessons do not contain any teaching on evangelisation, but only examples of humanitarianism.
Using the Bible with the Middle-Primary Schoolchild
This section is substantially out of harmony with the teaching of the Church on Scripture.
The section opens with the following sentences: "The Bible is a source of inspiration for Christians. It is a significant resource book at all levels." It is entirely inadequate for Alive-O to recognize the Bible as simply ‘a source’ and ‘a significant resource’, in other words just one source or resource among many.
The Church takes a radically different view, as follows: "The source from which catechesis draws its message is the word of God: Catechesis will always draw its content from the living source of the word of God transmitted in tradition and the Scriptures, for sacred tradition and sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the word of God, which is entrusted to the Church". (GDC 94). "Tradition, Scripture and the Magisterium, all three of which are closely connected, each according to its own way, the principal sources of catechesis". (GDC 96). Alive-O does not mention Tradition or the Church’s Magisterium.
Alive-O's stated understanding of Scripture as just ‘a source of inspiration’ is reflected throughout the Programme in the way that Scripture is treated. Alive-O makes extensive use of Scripture but treats it like ‘spiritual putty’, which can be added to, subtracted from, altered or reshaped at will.
The subheading, "The Word of God", opens with a quotation from Dei Verbum 12. The quotation refers only to the literal meaning of Scripture, and taken out of context as it is here, gives the impression that the meaning intended by the sacred writers was the only meaning of the Scriptural text. The rest of DV12 makes clear that the literal meaning is not the only meaning. (The literal and spiritual meanings of Scripture are very well presented in CCC115-119).
The Catholic Church teaches that the Scriptures are primarily about God and tell of salvation history, the story of the human race in relation to God. Alive-O turns this on its head, and says that the writers of both Old and New Testaments were writing primarily about themselves and about themselves in relation to others, the natural world and God. Alive-O says that the writers of the Bible were writing in the conditions of their times and for the people of their time, which, if added to the impression that Alive-O has given that the literal meaning is the only meaning of Scripture, invites the conclusion that we may express whatever thoughts we think were in the writers’ minds in whatever way we find appropriate for modern times and conditions. This rationale ideally suits Alive-O's approach of treating the Scripture as ‘spiritual putty’ that may be reshaped at will, as has been noted above.
Alive-O refers to the three lessons in this year’s programme which address the structure of the Bible. These lessons, T3L3, T3L4, T3L5, are all unsatisfactory and are analysed in detail in Section 3 below.
The next subheading is titled, "New Testament". Alive-O says that it paraphrases New Testament texts to make them more intelligible to children. Some rewriting of the scripture passages for a particular audience is a perfectly valid technique; however, in practice Alive-O in its rewriting (of both Old and New Testament texts) often undermines the meaning of the Scriptural text through changes in the text, omissions of key elements and/or overwhelming of the original text with fictional additions.
The next subsection is titled, "Old Testament". Alive-O claims that its 'entire programme is profoundly biblical, in the sense that it presents God as a living God who is present and active in our daily world'. In the subsequent text it speaks of the Israelites having a awareness of the presence of God in the experiences of human life. These statements highlight how Alive-O's approach to Scripture is profoundly theist. The impression is given that God made himself known to the people of the Old Testament in essentially the same way that he made himself known in the New Testament, and makes himself known to people in general everywhere at all times. This radically fails to present a Christian understanding of the Old Testament as a preparation for the coming of Jesus, in the context of salvation history. Alive-O does not recognize salvation history at all, in particular it fails to show that the Bible is the story of salvation history.
The final subheading is, "Reverence for the Bible". The opening sentence expresses Alive-O’s diminished understanding of the Bible, which diverges significantly from the Church's understanding. The first sentence reads, "We encourage the children to be aware of the importance of the Bible for Christians". The Bible is in fact radically more than just ‘important for Christians’; the Church teaches that the Bible, in conjunction with Sacred Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium, is the source of the Deposit of Faith, which the Church has received from God, carefully guards, and faithfully hands on to succeeding generations in her evangelization and catechesis.
This subsection also contains guidance on how the pupils can be taught reverence for the Bible. The recommendations here are excellent, and are reflected in the lesson material for the pupils. This is all very good in itself, but will be of little value in the absence of a correct teaching on the Bible itself, which is lacking from Alive-O.
Themes of the Programme
Alive-O says that, 'the major theme of this year’s programme is nourishment'.
Nourishment can be physical, mental/intellectual, emotional/psychological or spiritual. The most important kind of nourishment is spiritual. All catechesis or religious education should be spiritual nourishment, so there is no real need to pick 'nourishment' as the theme for any one part of catechesis programme, such as Alive-O does with this Book 6. A good catechesis programme will automatically give spiritual nourishment, and also as a byproduct should give intellectual/mental and emotional/psychological nourishment.
There are three lessons in this year's programme specifically dedicated to the theme of 'nourishment' (T1L6, T1L7, T1L8). A major emphasis in these lessons is on physical nourishment, and to a lesser extent emotional/psychological nourishment. Spiritual nourishment is largely absent, which is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of the existence of the spiritual soul. In the course of these lessons Alive-O teaches that the human person is made up of body, mind and heart; the spiritual soul is conspicuous by its absence. 'Heart' is not understood by Alive-O as some sort of alternative description of the 'soul', but the heart is very much identified with emotions and feelings. A significant part of the teaching about physical nourishment is really biology lessons, which is not the business of a Catholic catechetics programme.
This section demonstrates well how Alive-O's understanding of faith and catechesis diverges widely from the Church's understanding. Alive-O treats 'faith' as something that everybody has and that the aim of 'religious education' is simply to nurture people through example and experience to enable the ‘faith’ within them to grow towards maturity. What is completely absent from Alive-O is what the Church teaches is a critical and central aim of Catholic catechesis, which is systematic teaching of the truths of Faith, the handing on of the Deposit of Faith, which has been given to the Church by God through Revelation, and which the Church must carefully guard and hand on through succeeding generations. Alive-O does not mention teaching the truths of Faith, or even the existence of a Deposit of Faith.
Alive-O's speaks of the importance of the children experiencing Christian witness and practice outside of the classroom, which of course is true. However, Alive-O gives the impression that everything is well within the classroom, which amounts to putting the blame elsewhere for any deficiencies in the children's knowledge and practice of faith. Alive-O does not advert at all to the most important contribution that can be made in the school, which is the systematic teaching of the truths of Faith. The school is particularly well positioned to carry out this task (much better than the home, and even better than the parish), because it has the benefit of full-time trained teachers and a structured programme of Catholic catechesis. However, it is precisely this particular advantage of the school that Alive-O does not recognize, and treats the classroom as no more than a place where 'faith' can be 'nurtured'. This is radically different to a Catholic vision for catechesis, and the relative contributions that can be made by home and school.
We are extremely blessed in having an extensive network of Catholic primary schools, staffed by trained and dedicated teachers. The problem is that the programme that the teachers are given to implement, the Alive-O programme, diverges widely from the teaching of the Church.
The section also refers to the way that the theme of 'nourishment' is handled in the various lessons in the programme. This analysis deals with each of the lessons in detail in Section 3 below.
Using the Programme in the Classroom
The first subheading in this section is titled, "Stories". It stresses the importance of stories in teaching, which is certainly true. Stories are a powerful educational tool. Stories are generally easier to remember than statements of fact, which is the case for people of all ages but particularly for children. Children love stories and will remember them. It is good in principle to have stories in a catechetical programme, which is very much in harmony with the pedagogy of God: the Bible is itself a story, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’, which is the history of salvation. The Bible also contains very many component stories – historical stories, parables, allegories.
Alive-O does not describe the Bible as the story of salvation. Indeed, Alive-O does not recognize salvation history at all, which follows from its non-recognition of the Fall, original sin and Jesus as divine Saviour from sin.
While it is good that Alive-O stresses the importance of story in catechesis, it is not so good that it includes an excessive amount of complicated theorising about stories in secular terms, all about the nature of story, abstractions, experience and time. Alive-O does not make any distinction between different types of story, fact or fiction, history, mythology, fable, legend, allegory or parable. Alive-O’s theorising adds little to an understanding of the role of story in Catholic catechesis.
Alive-O does not present a good understanding of Jesus and stories. Alive-O says that, "In the Christian tradition storytelling is not an innovation. Jesus told stories that challenged the people of his day to look again at their experiences. Through his stories he challenged them to re-evaluate these in the light of the values of God's kingdom, which he explored in concrete terms in his stories". In the Alive-O books Jesus is presented as a ‘story-teller’, which is a misleading description of Jesus. A 'story-teller' was essentially someone who went around telling stories for a living to entertain people, stories which might be fiction, history or mythology. The Scriptures never describe Jesus as a storyteller, nor does the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Jesus was a Teacher, the greatest teacher ever, and he taught by word, deed and example. One of the means used by Jesus to teach was the use of parables; a parable is essentially a metaphor, but is not necessarily a story. Some of Jesus’ parables were stories, others were not; all of Jesus’ parables are memorable, but especially the story-parables. Jesus’ teaching was essentially about God and about salvation history, and was not primarily focused, as this section says, on people’s experiences.
Further analysis of stories in Alive-O 6 are given under the heading ‘Songs & Stories’ below, and in Section 3 with the Lessons in which the stories appear.
The next sub-heading in this section is titled, “Poetry". It is stated that poetry plays a central role in Alive-O 6. What follows is a very complicated discussion of the role of poetry expressed in complex secular language. There are several references to the 'human struggle to become fully alive,……. to enhance fullness of life', which are expressed in entirely secular terms. This reflects Alive-O’s generally secular interpretation of its banner quotation from St Irenaeus, 'The glory of God is people fully alive'.
The use of poems in catechesis is excellent, in principle. In practice, in Alive-O 6 the catechetical value of the poems is extremely variable. Some of the poems in Book 6 are good, others are poor. Poems are analysed in Section 3 below with the Lessons in which they appear.
The next subheading is titled, "Chatting about…". Each lesson contains a number of discussion opportunities for the children and the 'Chatting about' section is mainly suggested questions for the teacher to use in the discussion or dialogue with the children. It is at the discretion of the teacher to use these questions in whatever way the teacher wishes, or to omit them altogether. This is not a bad idea, in principle, but the volume of questions is many times greater than could be used in the available time, so the teacher would have to be selective in which questions to use, if any. Also, while Alive-O says the purpose of these sessions is to stimulate discussion among the pupils, generally the questions are structured to reinforce Alive-O’s lesson material, they are generally ‘leading questions’. It is not good that Alive-O says that the discussion sessions are aimed at drawing the pupils deeper and deeper into themselves; a discussion session should draw the pupils deeper into an understanding of the lessons, into an understanding of and connection with Jesus.
It is not good practice that teaching material in the form of statements is not infrequently included mixed in with the discussion questions, without any guidance to the teacher as to how to handle that teaching material. If the teacher tried to convey that teaching material to the pupils then it would take from the already restricted time available for discussion. It is particularly bad that sometimes important teaching material is mixed in with the discussion questions (e.g. a good teaching on the Trinity in T3L6), and this important material is thereby greatly de-emphasised, and is likely to be completely lost and 'buried’.
The next subheading is titled, "Talking Together". This encourages the teacher to involve the children themselves in leading the discussion sessions, encouraging towards "collective leadership in discussion and conversation".
This proposal seems impractical and unhelpful. It is difficult enough for a teacher to conduct a meaningful discussion session with 30 9/10-year-olds, when the teacher is leading the discussion and trying to ensure that there is good order and that each child gets an opportunity to participate. If the young children themselves have to lead and coordinate the entire discussion session there is likely to be disorder and in particular the dominance of the discussion by the articulate members of the class. One would be concerned that the time, effort and energy put into this activity would not be well spent, and would be harmful to the primary task of teaching the truths of the Faith.
The next subheading is " Music ". One must agree fully with the importance given to music and song, which have formed part of the Church's liturgy and catechesis from earliest times. Most of the songs used are specially written for Alive-O, while the rest are drawn from other traditional or published sources. The value of the songs for Catholic catechesis are extremely varied, from excellent to very poor. For further analysis of the songs used in Alive-O 6 see section below on ‘Songs & Stories’, while each song is analysed in Section 3 below along with the Lessons in which the songs appear.
The next subheading is titled, "Art". Alive-O 6 has many illustrations in the Pupil's Book, often has drawings to be coloured-in in the Worksheets, and gets the children to do drawings and other artwork in the Art sessions. Teachers and parents know well how much 9/10-year-olds love drawing and painting, and how art can play a part in the educational process. However the material in this subsection talks about art in complex, abstract and convoluted secular psychology terms, which is way beyond what is needed to understand how 9/10 year-olds love and use art.
This subsection does not address the issue of artwork in the Pupil’s Book. The illustrations in the Pupil's Book are mostly originals for Alive-O; they are colourful and eye-catching, but concentrating on cartoon like drawings limits the children's imagination. Book 6 breaks new ground for Alive-O, by including four highly relevant and beautiful paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland. While it is excellent to include these paintings, Alive-O misses out the opportunity to really teach the pupils by means of these paintings in a manner which is exemplified in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The illustrations in the Pupil’s Book, the artwork in the Worksheets and the Art sessions in the Teacher’s Book are analysed further in Section 3 below under the Lessons in which they appear.
The art-motif in the Teacher’s Book is cats – something short of a thousand cats. The cat is not a Christian symbol, not mentioned in Bible. However, cat-gods were prevalent in the religions of the ancient Near East in Biblical times. Cats are an important symbol in withchcraft. So the cat seems a strange choice as motif for Catholic catechesis.
The next subheading is, "Video". The educational potential for video material is tremendous, and in principle it is very good idea to provide a video to accompany the written materials in Alive-O 6. The technical and professional quality of the video is high, but from the point of view of Catholic catechesis, its value is somewhat variable; most video segments are reasonable, some excellent, one very poor. For further analysis see the section on ‘Video’ below, while each video segment is analysed Section 3 below under the Lessons with which the video segments are associated.
The next subheading is titled, "Workbook and Worksheets". The use of worksheets is excellent in principle. However, the Worksheets in Alive-O 6 vary in catechetical value, from good to poor. The Worksheets are analysed in Section 3 below under the Lessons in which they appear.
The next subheading is, "Reflecting on the Week". As there is a very large amount of material contained in the lessons in the teacher's book, one must wonder at the practicality of having a session on the final day of reflecting on the lessons that have been done during the week.
There is also a recommendation that each child should have a journal. This is not an exercise book, and there are to be no ‘right’ answers. The children are encouraged to write down personal things connected in some way with the week’s lesson theme. There are some concerns here. An exercise book is generally helpful in learning other subjects, so why not RE/catechesis? There is also a concern about violation of the children’s privacy; in the classroom very personal and private matters could be seen by other children. Also if the journal is kept all the time in the classroom, the parents will have no access to it, and this is also a concern.
The final subheading in this section is titled, "Memorisation". It is good that Alive-O mentions the importance of memorization. Alive-O says, 'Throughout the year the children are provided with countless opportunities to learn by heart -- songs, hymns, poems, Mass responses, traditional prayers and informal prayers'. However, it is not enough to say that the children have opportunities to memorize; the teachers must be instructed to lead the children to memorise certain items, and this rarely happens in the Teacher’s Book lesson material. In the absence of such definite instruction, it is likely that the children will remember the words of many songs, stories, illustrations and video material. In Alive-O 6 there are 40 songs, 53 stories, 74 illustrations, and 1½ hours of video. This is a mixed blessing, because some of this material is good, other parts of it are poor.
It is particularly regrettable that there are no instructions for the teachers to ask and help the children memorise words of the great prayers of the Church. The only prayer that the teachers are instructed to get the pupils to memorise is a rather poor poem based on Psalm 23.
It is excellent in principle that Alive-O has many questions and answers to be learnt. However, the value of these questions and answers is mixed; some are excellent while others are poor, and they do not constitute a satisfactory summary of the key truths of the Faith that the pupils should be learning during this year.
A serious omission from the entire Alive-O programme is any kind of learning assessment, in order to find out what the children have learned, what they have memorised.
Being Sensitive
There is some good material in this section about God's love and goodness. However it strongly reflects the earlier tendency noted in Alive-O to see the purely secular-human as being fully religious. This is reflected in the pedagogy of Alive-O which approaches things from the point of view of human experience, rather than the Church's approach or the ‘pedagogy of God’ which approaches things first of all from the knowledge of God.
There is reference to difficulties and suffering, but Alive-O does not present a Christian approach to suffering. Alive-O does not recognize original sin and therefore cannot see suffering as a result of the Fall and original sin; Alive-O does not recognize the salvation from sin won for us by the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, therefore it cannot see the Christian value of joining our sufferings to the salvific sufferings of Christ.
Alive-O’s approach is well summed up in the following quote: "Religion is about life. Children learn from their experience, so it is vital that every child finds his/her real experience reflected in the programme". The whole approach in this section is theist/humanist, rather than Christian.
Social, Personal and Health Education
This section outlines the relationship between the Alive-O programme and the Department of Education’s programme in Social, Personal and Health Education. The Department’s SPHE programme is entirely secular, and while it contains some good material, parts of it are in conflict with Catholic and Christian teaching. It is bad for Alive-O to uncritically embrace this secular programme, with its potential to undermine the faith and morals of the children.
Songs & Stories
Songs
There are a total of 40 songs included in Alive-O Book 6. There are in addition musical settings for the Mass and the Apostles’ Creed, which are all good (though the Acclamation after the Consecration in the Alive-O Mass – ‘Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again’ – is popular, but not entirely satisfactory; the Acclamation chosen for the Mass of Peace is better). The words and music of the songs appear in the Teacher’s Book at the end of the Lesson with which the songs are associated. The words of the songs (including Mass) appear in the Pupil’s Book, pages 50-58.
The majority, 25 songs, are specially written for Alive-O and are unique to the programme. There are four songs from traditional sources, and eleven songs from other published sources.
Out of the total of 40 songs, only nine would be normally heard in church. The selection of songs therefore contributes to immersion of the pupils in a unique Alive-O environment, and to separation of the pupils from home and parish.
Music and song has a powerful learning capability, especially when the music is attractive and catchy, which is generally the case with the Alive-O written songs. Words of songs are easily remembered, and therefore the pupils are likely to take away with them in their memories the words of songs rather than ordinary written text. The place of music and song in the educational programme is therefore very important.
This author has rated the songs in Alive-O 6 below. The songs are assessed from the point of view of their contribution to Catholic catechesis, not from the perspective of musical or artistic quality.
Alive-O songs Traditional & Other published songs
Excellent: 3 7
Good: 3 4
Fair: 4 2
Poor: 8 1
Very inadequate: 7 1
The rating shows a very mixed situation. Seventeen songs are rated excellent/good and will undoubtedly make a positive contribution to the pupil's catechesis. However, it is far from satisfactory that six songs rate only fair and there are far too many songs which are poor or inadequate. It is also most unsatisfactory that most of the poorer songs are specially written for Alive-O.
The songs are analysed in greater detail in Section 3 as part of the Lessons in which they appear.
Stories
There are a total of 53 stories in Alive-O Book 6, as listed in the Teachers' Book. Twenty nine are Scripture stories or based on Scripture. There are seven stories which have a religious theme other than Scripture. The remaining 17 stories have secular / humanitarian themes.
Of the 29 Scripture related stories, nine are taken straight from the Scripture or are very faithful to the Scripture original, but generally lack explanation or development. For fifteen of the stories Alive-O changes the Scripture account in some way, either by additions, alterations or omissions, but invariably in a way which diminishes or detracts to a greater or lesser extent from the Scripture original. The remaining five Scripture related stories are loosely based on Scripture, with a considerable amount of imaginative / fictional material, and which are unhelpful in understanding the Scripture original.
There are five stories with a religious theme other than Scripture. Three of these stories are good, but two of them are not.
There are 17 stories which are essentially secular, without any specifically religious content. Most of them are reasonable in a humanitarian way; eight of these are based on factual accounts, while five of them are fictional. There are four secular stories which are poor, and lack any value for Catholic catechesis.
The stories are analysed in greater detail in Section 3 as part of the Lessons in which they appear.
Prayer
The Prayers for the Year are given on pages [62-66] of the Teacher’s Book and on pages 59-63 of the Pupil’s Book.
The Sign of the Cross, Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory be to the Father are all excellent; they are from the great prayers of the Church.
The Morning Prayer is Alive-O written and is reasonable. However, there has been a great Catholic tradition in Ireland, and in other countries, of starting the day with a Morning Offering. A traditional Morning Offering would serve better, because it contains important spiritual dimensions which are not included in Alive-O’s Morning Prayer, and it would serve better to link the children with home and Church.
The Night Prayer is Alive-O written, and is reasonable.
The Alive-O Grace before Meals is reasonable, but is not as good as the traditional prayer. Use of the traditional ‘Grace before Meals’ would help link the children with home and parish. The Alive-O version also has some significant omissions: that we receive our food from the bounty of the Lord, and that we pray through Christ our Lord.
The same could be said of the Alive-O written Grace after Meals; it is a reasonable prayer, but for similar reasons the traditional version would be better.
St Patrick’s Prayer, the Prayer to Jesus (based on St Patrick’s Breastplate) and the Prayer to the Trinity (a doxology) are satisfactory.
‘Care for me, Lord’ is a prayer based on Psalm 23, but it is less than satisfactory for a number of reasons. It would have been better to use the traditional title, 'The Lord Is My Shepherd'; the traditional title is more expressive of the content of the prayer, and would better serve to link the children with home and parish. The content of the prayer is diminished in comparison with the original Psalm on which the prayer is based, and several rich and meaningful elements that are in the original Psalm are omitted. (A superior rendition of Psalm 23 is the song, 'The King of Love'. Alive-O includes the song in the Teachers Book, which is good, but omits four of the song's six verses, which is not good'.)
'We Are the Body of Christ' is less than satisfactory, because it projects a purely humanitarian understanding of the Church as the Body of Christ.
The 'Prayer to the Trinity' is good.
The Prayer to Mary is Alive-O written, and is only fair. A particular weakness is that Mary is only referred to as ‘mother of Jesus’ (not ‘Mother of God’, or ‘Mother of God’s Only Son’) which conveys the impression that she is simply a special mother of a special man. There are two much superior, inspiring and beautiful traditional prayers to Mary that the children could be introduced to at this stage: the Hail Holy Queen and the Memorare.
The Angelus is included, and this is good. Unfortunately, Alive-O gives its own re-written version of the concluding prayer, which is not good for two reasons. Firstly,by giving the children a different version of this great prayer of the Church, Alive-O separates the children from home and Church. Secondly, because the Alive-O version diminishes this great prayer in the following ways: the Alive-O version omits ‘grace’ (Alive-O consistently avoids the Church’s teaching on grace); Alive-O subtly alters the wording so that it is not clear that Jesus’ Passion and Cross are the means by which we human beings are brought to the glory of the Resurrection (Alive-O consistently omits or obfuscates the Church’s teaching on salvation, which is a natural result of Alive-O’s non-recognition of Original Sin and ambivalence on Jesus’ divinity); Alive-O omits the word ‘Christ’.
Alive-O also omits the additional prayer which is customarily said in Ireland at the end of The Angelus: ‘May the divine assistance always remain with us, and may the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.’ This prayer could so easily and beneficially have been included; it is an excellent prayer in its own right, and would serve to link the children with home and parish.
There are four Prayers to the Holy Spirit. The first two are Alive-O written. The first is fair, while the second is New Age friendly. The third and fourth prayers are traditional Church prayers to the Holy Spirit, and excellent.
There is an Alive-O written 'Prayer to the Guardian Angel'. This is a reasonable prayer in itself, but has some problems. It is different from the traditional Guardian Angel prayer, and will therefore serves to separate the children from home and parish. It is also inferior to the traditional Guardian Angel prayer.
The ‘Prayers before and after Playing’ are reasonable.
The ‘Prayers on Opening and Closing a Book’ express reasonable sentiments, but do not seem very practical for children to actually use.
The 'Prayers on Opening and Closing the Bible' express some reasonable thoughts, but are unsatisfactory in that they convey the view that Jesus was inspired by the Bible just like any other human person. This treats Jesus just like an ordinary human being, which is contrary to Scripture. When speaking to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus pointed out to them that the Scriptures, which at that time meant the Old Testament, spoke of him. The New Testament had not been written when Jesus was alive, and the New Testament is above all about Jesus.
The Alive-O Journey Prayer is reasonable.
The Prayers and Responses used at Mass are satisfactory.
There are a number of Prayers before and after Communion. There are reasonable sentiments expressed in these prayers, however they do fall short of expressing the fullness of receiving Jesus body and blood soul and divinity into one's heart and soul. The prayers speak of Jesus 'coming to me', which is good as far as it goes, but does not really express the Real Presence, because Jesus can come to one in a number of different ways.
There are three prayers given under the heading ‘Prayers for Sacrament of Reconciliation’. These Alive-O written prayers are Act of Sorrow, Prayer for Forgiveness, and Prayer after Forgiveness.
The Prayer for Forgiveness is not traditional, and appears to be a substitute for the examination of conscience, but a poor substitute. The Act of Sorrow addresses what has been the traditional ‘Act of Contrition’. Alive-O’s prayer is not unreasonable, but falls short in a number of ways of the Church’s recommended Act of Contrition (see ‘Compendium of the CCC’). Important Alive-O omissions are: the essence of perfect contrition, which is sorrow for offending God; firm purpose of amendment by the help of God’s grace; resolve to avoid occasions of sin. Alive-O would have done better to include the Church’s normal ‘Act of Contrition’, rather than its own version.
The 'Prayer after Forgiveness' is reasonable, but would have been better titled ‘Thanksgiving after Confession’, to better express what the prayer is really about, because this would link the prayer directly with the Sacrament.
Further analysis of the prayers is given in Section 2 below, in the analysis of the lessons where the prayers appear.
Video
Each of the Alive-O Books has a video which goes with the programme, which is excellent in principle. The video is intended to be shown to the pupils in the classroom at the discretion of the teacher, in order to illustrate or further develop the material contained in the books. Not all of the lessons have some illustrative material in the video.
The video for Alive-O Book 6 runs for 1 hour & 25 minutes. The technical and professional quality of the video is high. Most of the video segments are helpful, some are excellent. An exception is the 12 minute segment given to presentation of the ‘Celtic Blessing’, which is a New Age song and dance ritual devised by the Peaceworks organisation in the USA.
The analysis of each video segment is given in Section 3 below, along with the Lesson that each segment is associated with.
SECTION 3: ANALYSIS BY THEME & LESSON
There are 28 lessons in Alive-O 6 arranged in three terms, as listed above in Section 2.
The overall theme of Alive-O 6 is given in both the Pupil's Book and the Teacher's Book as 'nourishment'. However, this theme of 'nourishment' really only refers to three lessons. There are several other themes that appear during in the year of Alive-O Book 6, and for purposes of analysis it is most convenient to group the lessons in accordance with the theme that they address. The order in which the lessons are addressed is in accordance as that particular topic or theme appears in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The titles of the lessons sometimes indicate clearly what is contained in the lesson, and other times not.
Lesson title and number: Each lesson in Alive-O 6 generally corresponds to a week, and is given a title. There are 3 terms, and the lessons are sequentially numbered in each term. Lessons will be designated by book, term and number, as follows: A6-T1L1 – year 6 of Alive-O, first term and lesson one.
Lessons are analysed under the headings given below. Particular importance must attach to the material in the Pupil’s Book and Worksheets, because these are the materials which the pupils can be expected to receive and retain, and which may be seen at home by parents or guardians. The lesson materials in the Teacher's Book and the video are only presented to the pupils at the discretion of the teacher, and lack permanence in that they are not in the actual possession of the pupils, and cannot be reinforced at home, because parents and guardians will not have seen these materials and may not even be aware of their existence. Also, there is far more material in the Teacher's Book and on the video than could be possibly used in the 30 minutes per day allocated to religious education, and therefore much of the material must of necessity be left out and passed over by the teacher.
❑ Summary: This will summarize each group of lessons under the theme which they address.
❑ Pupil’s Book: This book comprises 64 pages, devoting between 1 to 5 pages per lesson. In addition to text, most lessons contain colourful illustrations, which may take up more than half the page space available. Some of the lessons contain one or more questions with answers, under the heading 'To be Learned'. The information for teachers in the Introductory section of the Teacher’s Book encourages learning of these questions and answers by heart, but there are no instructions to the teachers to check on whether or not the pupils actually memorise the answers to the questions – no learning assessment.
❑ Worksheets: there is a worksheet associated with each lesson, involving some kind of exercise for the children, usually colouring in a picture. The worksheets are analysed below with each lesson.
❑ Teacher’s Book – Information for Teachers: At the start of each lesson Alive-O provides one to two pages of information just for the teachers. This information relates to the lesson, and often gives an indication of the approach that it could be used in the lesson materials for pupils. There is also a 'Thought for the Teacher', which is always a quotation from some writer, often a poem, which is sometimes helpful and other times not. The theme of each individual lesson is indicated in the form of responses to two questions: What am I trying to do? – and – Why?
❑ Teacher’s Book – Lesson material for each day of each lesson: This material usually includes: Songs, Prayertimes, Stories, Activities, Art, ‘Chatting’ sessions, and Reflecting on the Week. The ‘Chatting’ sessions contain discussion starter questions, to be used at the teacher’s discretion, and also sometimes information, but it is hard to see how this information could reasonably be communicated by the teacher during a discussion session, especially considering there are far more suggested discussion questions than could possibly be used in the time available, and in addition teachers are encouraged to ‘take a back-seat’ and let the pupils lead the discussions themselves. The music and words of all songs are given with each lesson.
❑ Video: Additional illustrative material for some of the lessons is included in a video for classroom use, at the discretion of the teacher.
Nourishment. Term 1: Lesson 6. God nourishes us.
Lesson 7. God sent Jesus to nourish us.
Lesson 8. God Sent the Holy Spirit to Nourish Us.
Summary:
Nourishment can be physical, mental/intellectual, emotional/psychological or spiritual. The most important kind of nourishment is spiritual. All catechesis or religious education should be spiritual nourishment, so there is no real need to pick 'nourishment' as the theme for any one part of catechesis programme, such as Alive-O does with this Book 6. A good Catholic catechesis programme will automatically give spiritual nourishment, and also as a byproduct should also give intellectual/mental and emotional/psychological nourishment.
These three lessons put the major emphasis on physical nourishment. This includes teachings on the body and food, which really belong in biology class, not in the religious education lessons. A secondary emphasis is on emotional and mental nourishment; however, spiritual nourishment, which should be the major emphasis of any catechetical programme, is largely neglected.
The titling and content of these three lessons promote the view that the three persons of the Trinity, are: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, which is not an authentic Christian understanding. In the first lesson it is ‘God’ who nourishes us, while in the second and third lessons it is ‘God’ who sends ‘Jesus’ and the ‘Holy Spirit’ to nourish us. This implies that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not God, and are less than God.
Term 1: Lesson 6. God nourishes us (A6-T1L6).
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has an illustration of some grass and a quiet lake scene. The text says that God nourishes us through air, water and food, while the question speaks of growth in body and mind. This is all limited to the material. Spiritual nourishment, which is the whole purpose of a Catholic catechesis programme, is not mentioned.
‘God’ and ‘God Our Father’ are treated as synonyms, so that the identity of God the Father, the First Person of the Blessed Trinity, tends to be lost and subsumed into ‘God’. This is reinforced by later lesson material which treats the Son and the Holy Spirit as different from, and less than, ‘God’.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a crossword for the pupils, which is purely material and is like a biology lesson.
The text and prayer are also purely material, and also reinforce the idea that 'God' is the first person of the Blessed Trinity, which is in line with Alive-O's spirituality, but is contrary to an authentic Christian understanding of the Trinity.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information concentrates purely on physical and material nourishment. It also has a pantheistic touch talking about 'the creative interaction between God and all living things', without adverting to the unique spiritual nature of human beings, which places us above all other living things.
The theme of the lesson does speak about helping pupils to grow in appreciation of God as the source of all nourishment and sustenance, which has merit, but this theme of God as the source of material things has been covered excessively in earlier Alive-O Book and does not need to be repeated yet again. At the same time Alive-O seriously neglects the spiritual.
The thought for the teacher is a nice story about a miraculous happening, which is fine in itself, but again is limited to the material and does not touch on spiritual nourishment, which should be the main concern of a Catholic catechesis programme.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
The first song is titled, 'The Food of Love', which is limited because it only deals with material things.
The second song is, 'The Apostles' Creed'. This is excellent in itself, but unfortunately the text does not deal with the Creed at all; there is no explanation, development, connection or context, so that the value of the Creed song is largely lost.
There is an experiment, activity, discussion session and prayer time dealing with lungs breathing. It is mostly like a biology lesson, but a negative factor is that the prayer time identifies the Holy Spirit with physical breath, which is unhelpful.
There is a story, 'In God's Hands', (not indicated if true or fictional), which tells of the illness and care for a baby. It is a nice story, but is again limited to the material, and does not address spiritual nourishment. The associated discussion sessions, activity, and prayer time focus on physical things, especially on the gas oxygen, and offer no contribution to spiritual nourishment.
The next day's activities, poems, artwork and prayer time focus on physical food. An undesirable aspect of the prayer time is the use of wording from the Mass to create a kind of para-Eucharistic liturgy out of the children’s lunch (repeating what has been done before in a more elaborate manner in earlier Alive-O Books), which can only serve to undermine the significance of the real Eucharist itself.
The next experiment, artwork and prayer time concentrate on water, and also tend to identify God as water, which is not good. The final, prayer time and discussion session reinforce the idea that God is the source of material things, which is not bad in itself, but it is a theme that has been dealt with many times over in earlier books, to the neglect of the spiritual.
The daily prayer times use a lighted candle, but no Christian symbol. The prayer times consist of the teacher reading out Alive-O written prayers, which are the main part of the prayer time, with the pupils’ involvement limited to repeating Alive-O written responses. The great prayers of the Church do not figure at all, apart from singing of the Apostles' Creed song in some of the prayer times, which is good in itself, but as has been noted above, lacks any kind of context, development or explanation in the lesson material.
Term 1: Lesson 7. God sent Jesus to nourish us (A6-T1L7).
The title of this lesson suggests that Jesus is not God and is less than God. The content of the lesson in Pupil’s Book, Worksheet and the Teacher's Book reinforces this perspective.
Pupil's Book.
The pupil's book has a Scripture based story titled, 'The Parable of the Good Samaritan'. The story is based on Luke 10:25-37, and faithfully represents what is in the Scripture. However, there is no explanation or development of the meaning of this Scripture story given for the pupils; there is some material in the Teacher's Book, but it is of limited value.
There is an Alive-O written prayer, which reinforces Alive-O's own spirituality. Alive-O’s prayer presents the view that the 'whole person' is composed of the body, heart, and mind. Alive-O does not recognize the existence of the spiritual soul, or that the soul is immortal. In place of the soul Alive-O substitutes the 'heart', and the text makes it clear that the ‘heart’ is understood as the emotions and feelings. (This is quite different to the scriptural understanding of the word ‘heart’). In the prayer the heart is associated with 'friendship with God and with others'.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a picture of a man up a tree, presumably Zacchaeus, which is rather strange because there is no reference to Zaccheus in any of the lesson material.
There are four words to be unscrambled. The first word is 'bread', but there is no explicit connection made in the worksheet or in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book with the Eucharist, but bread is just treated as physical bread. The next word is 'forgiveness', but neither in the worksheet nor in the other lesson material is this related to the salvation that Jesus won for us on the cross, but it is just treated as human forgiveness. The next word is 'love’, but this is treated in the lesson in human way, rather than the true love of God which sent Jesus, God the Son, to die for our sins. The fourth word is 'stories', which is consistent with Alive-O's description of Jesus as 'story-teller', which diminishes Jesus because he was above all a great Teacher, and much of his teaching was through parables, not all of which are stories.
The text refers to teaching the children about the Blessed Trinity, but as noted above Alive-O presents in this set of three lessons an idea of the Trinity which is not authentically Christian, which identifies God the Father with 'God', and presents Jesus and the Holy Spirit as different to God and less than God. There is reference to emotional and educational nourishment, but no reference to spiritual nourishment, which reinforces the Alive-O concept that the human person is composed of body, mind, and heart, but there is no spiritual immortal soul. Alive-O's presentation of the human person is not authentically Christian.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There are three excellent quotations from Scripture, the CCC, and the GDC, but in the text of this lesson there is no real reflection of these excellent quotations, but rather a presentation of Alive-O's own spirituality which is fundamentally humanitarian theist.
Alive-O first comes back to the theme of food as required for physical nourishment, and then goes on to say the ‘person is more than just a body and needs nourishment other than food’. This additional nourishment is interpreted by Alive-O, not as anything spiritual, but rather emotional and psychological, in line with its definition of 'heart'; the examples given by Alive-O are friendship, peace, love, healing, and forgiveness. There is no suggestion by Alive-O that human beings are spiritual and need spiritual nourishment. Alive-O only mentions Jesus in the context of physical and emotional nourishment, but not in connection with the spiritual nourishment.
The theme for the lesson reinforces Alive-O's presentation of the human person as composed only of body, mind and heart, when it speaks of exploring the children's experience of physical, emotional and educational nourishment.
The thought for the teacher consists of a joke which is a pun on an Old Testament reference to bread. The joke is amusing, but contributes nothing to an understanding of Jesus bringing spiritual nourishment.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled, 'Eat This Bread', which is an excellent Eucharistic song from the Taizé community. However, the value of this song is greatly undermined by giving only a material interpretation of bread, and omitting to interpret this song in a genuine Catholic way as the Eucharist.
There is an experiment, instruction, discussion session and art session all devoted to physical the ingestion of food, which reads like a biology lesson, and has no religious education value at all. The associated prayer time, along with three other prayer times during the week, have a rather odd and distracting emphasis on physical eating, chewing and digesting, and which are entirely secular and contribute nothing to, but rather distract from, a Christian understanding of nourishment.
There is a story titled, 'Morions and Minions’, which is a piece of fanciful fiction, which teaches nothing about spiritual nourishment, and contributes nothing to religious education.
There are two alternative prayer times, which return to the theme of the human person as composed of body, heart, and mind, and focus mainly on emotional hungers. The prayer times include a poem based on Psalm 23, which features later in lesson 10 of term 1 (see comments on A6-T1L10). The poem is a poor rendition of this great Psalm, and would be much better replaced by any of a number of songs which are sung in church, which are very good renditions of the Psalm. One example of such a good song is given in A6-T2L8 titled, 'The King of Love', which is excellent in itself, but the problem is that Alive-O only gives two of the six verses, and therefore only gives a greatly truncated version of the Psalm (see comments on A6-T2L8).
Jesus does feature in a number of ways in the lesson material. However, there is only mention of Jesus nourishing in physical ways, helping and healing, and giving the physical nourishment of bread. What is omitted is any spiritual nourishment, especially the greatest spiritual nourishment that we receive from Jesus, which is the Eucharist. Also omitted is the greatest gift that Jesus gave us which is salvation from sin through his death on the cross. There is a poem titled, 'The Risen Jesus', which greatly diminishes Jesus, and diminishes the Eucharist too, describing Jesus as simply ‘the Rabbi who understood the hungry must be fed in the blessing and breaking of bread’. This is followed by another poem titled, 'The Road', which is purely secular and it is hard to see any connection with the lesson, or RE.
There is a story titled, 'The Good Samaritan', which tells the story quite well but adds little by way of explanation or development to the scriptural accounts in the Pupil's Book. There is also a poem similarly titled, 'The Good Samaritan', which is featured in a later lesson, A6-T1L11, which also adds little to an understanding of the parable. The following prayer time does not help much either, because it is simply an invitation to let one's imagination range over the scene, and it ends on a New Agey note saying that after going into oneself we can 'feel the energy of life flowing through your body'.
The final reflection on the week calls everything together in a very humanist way linking hungers of different kinds and with how Jesus fed those different hungers, without a spiritual dimension. The summary gives as examples of ways in which God nourishes us: eating a nourishing meal; reading a good story; watching a good TV programme; playing an enjoyable game; remembering the Good Samaritan story and praying.
None of the seven prayer times use a Christian symbol, only a lighted candle. There is no use of made of the great prayers of the Church. A number of the prayer times do call for the singing of the song, 'Eat This Bread', which is an excellent song in itself, but it needs the context of true Catholic teaching on the Eucharist, something which is lacking in this lesson, in which the context is simply physical bread.
Term 1: Lesson 8. God Sent the Holy Spirit to Nourish Us (A6-T1L8).
The title of this lesson gives the impression that the Holy Spirit is not God, and is less than God, an impression which is reinforced in the lesson material that follows. Alive-O’s predominant presentation of the Trinity is composed of: God, Jesus, and the Spirit. No time in this entire lesson does Alive-O teach that the Holy Spirit is God, or use the description 'God the Holy Spirit', only ‘God’s Holy Spirit’ or ‘breath of God’. At the same time Alive-O claims that its own programme is the work of the Holy Spirit, which is an extraordinary contradiction.
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story titled, 'A Chance to Change', which tells the story of a very poor boy in Nicaragua, who has to has to earn money sorting through rubbish in a dump. A man offers a boy the chance to get some education, which will enable him to have a future other than sorting rubbish. It is a touching story of love and care, but is purely humanitarian, and so has a limited value in teaching the pupils about the Holy Spirit.
There are eight illustrations taken from earlier Alive-O books, which relate to one day’s lesson material in the Teacher's Book, in which the pupils are led to revisit and study previous Alive-O stories. The illustrations are as follows:
A picture of the sower (A3-T1L9), which depicts a man wearing an outlandish hat and looking like a clown. This illustration goes with the Parable of the Sower, but serves only to trivialise and undermine the meaning of the parable. Alive-O's presentation of the parable itself is also very poor.
An illustration to go with the healing by Jesus of the Centurion’s servant (A5-T1L5). The illustration is reasonable, but the actual presentation of this miraculous healing in Alive-O is poor.
An illustration to go with Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever (A4-T1L11). The illustration is reasonable, but the account in the Alive-O books is very poor, with a huge amount of fanciful fiction which overpowers the real story of this healing by Jesus, while at the same time part of the Gospel account is omitted.
An illustration to accompany a nonsense story by Alive-O, in which four parables are mixed up (A4-T1L10). The story and illustrations are extremely poor, and serve only to confuse and undermine the meaning of all the parables. The treatment of the Parable of the Sower is particularly bad, because the birds, which in the parable are symbols of Satan, are presented by Alive-O as nice friendly guys who are invited by the Sower (Jesus) to come and eat the harvest (the new Christians); to make matters even worse, the birds in the illustration are crows, which are often used as occult or witchcraft symbols.
A picture of Zaccheus up a tree (A5-T2L7). The illustration is reasonable, but the account in the Alive-O books is weak.
A picture of Jesus calming the storm, which is a good illustration (A5-T1L8). The accompanying narrative in the Alive-O books is reasonable, but omits the key significance of the meaning of this miracle which is Jesus' divinity, because of his power over the forces of nature.
An illustration of the healing by Jesus of the paralytic (A5-T2L9). The illustration is particularly poor because it is based on fanciful fiction, and not on the actual gospel account of this healing. The accompanying account of the miraculous incident in the Alive-O books is poor.
An illustration of the disciples in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, before the coming of the Holy Spirit (A5-T3L6). The illustration is very poor because it gives a completely misleading picture of the situation, quite different to that described in the Acts of the Apostles. The accompanying account in the Alive-O books is weak.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a wordsearch exercise ‘for things that the Holy Spirit guides us to choose as nourishment'. The exercise is very poor, because, while it includes some things that the Church teaches come from the Holy Spirit, many more important things are omitted, and there is the inclusion of a number of ordinary secular things which only serve to confuse and distract attention from the important matters.
The teaching of the Catholic Church on the Holy Spirit is well expressed in the CCC 687-747. The CCC indicates that the principal things that the Holy Spirit brings as ‘nourishment’ would be: grace, guidance, the Word of God in Scripture, inspiration, love, the Incarnation of Jesus in the womb of Mary, prophecy, charisms, ministries, the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, healing, new life, consolation and comfort, Truth, prayer, the grace of all the Sacraments, spiritual energy and power, prayer, the Church, and, very importantly, that the entire salvific mission of Jesus is jointly the work of the Holy Spirit.
Alive-O's list does include some reasonable things: ‘church, love, praying, bible stories, commandments, and forgiving’. However, these fall well short of a full expression of what the Holy Spirit brings, and are greatly undermined by being mixed in with many secular things which are not specifically the work of the Holy Spirit: ‘exercise, effort, food, music, talking together, books, poetry, sharing’. In addition, Alive-O includes itself 'Alive-O', thus claiming to be the work of the Holy Spirit, surely an exercise in self-aggrandizement, and unmerited, because Alive-O diverges from the Magisterial teaching of the Catholic Church on the Holy Spirit (1Tim.6:3-4; Pascendi Dominici Gregis 40-41).
Alive-O teaches a different Trinity to that taught by the Church. The Church teaches that the Blessed Trinity is the fundamental truth of the Faith, the foundation on which all other truths of the faith depend in a 'hierarchy of truths' (CCC 234). So if a religious education programme, such as Alive-O, gets it wrong on the Trinity then the entire programme is likely to be unsound, and instead of a hierarchy of truths we will have a 'hierarchy of errors'. Objective analysis shows that this is indeed the case with Alive-O, whose fundamental spirituality could be well described as ‘humanitarian theism’, rather than authentically Christian
Alive-O’s prayer to the Holy Spirit is reasonable in itself, but it needs the context of sound and authentic Christian teaching on the Trinity and the Holy Spirit, something which is missing from Alive-O.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There are two good Scripture quotations and a good quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but these are not reflected in the lesson material.
The opening paragraph refers to a variety of ways in which God nourishes us, but these are all secular and human, 'horizontal', omitting the spiritual. Alive-O associates ‘the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit' (note: not 'God the Holy Spirit') with these secular things.
Alive-O then puts forward its idea of 'Religious Education' which is a 'collective process when people's minds are opened to honour knowledge' and 'faith is nourished and nurtured'. This concept of religious education is very much in line with the theories of scholars such as James Fowler, which propose the concept that everyone has 'faith', which is essentially one's world-view and understanding of the meaning of life, and does not necessarily imply belief in any God. With this kind of concept of 'faith', religious education becomes a kind of sharing of experience in order to form and develop one’s own understanding of faith. This is radically different to a Catholic Christian understanding of religious education, in which there are truths of faith which have been revealed by God, and which must be safeguarded carefully and faithfully passed on in accordance with the command of Jesus Christ. Alive-O effectively takes the Fowler concept of faith and religious education, and gives it a kind of ‘sanctification’, an appearance of being Christian, by referring to the Holy Spirit and baptism. However, this is only an outward appearance, and at heart Alive-O’s concept of religious education diverges significantly from Catholic Christian RE / catechesis.
This 'sanctification' of 'religious education' is further reinforced in the theme of the lesson which is given as: ‘to explore the children's experience of Religious Education, so that they may grow in appreciation of it as a source of the nourishing action of the Holy Spirit'. Alive-O does not mention Catholic religious education, or Catholic catechesis. Alive-O only claims to be giving 'religious education', but not ‘Catholic religious education’ or ‘Catholic catechesis’.
The thought for the teacher is about food and cooking, which further reinforces the concept of religious education as being about the secular and human, not the spiritual.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is an Alive-O written song titled, 'Gather Round', which is very poor. It takes one of the great prayers of the Mass, 'through him, with him and in him', which refers to Christ being the centre of everything that is in creation, and inverts the meaning by changing it to, 'through us, with us and in us'. This effectively turns Christian teaching upside down, by making us human beings, not Christ, the centre of the universe. This also undermines the Mass, taking and changing one of its great prayers to make the prayer mean whatever Alive-O wants it to mean.
There is a second song titled, 'Christ to Be Our Light', which is quite reasonable, except that the thoughts expressed are nearly all 'horizontal'; the song would need the context of clear and authentic teaching on Jesus, something which is lacking in Alive-O.
The first prayer time is titled, 'Another Breath-Beginning Ritual'. This prayer time is well described as a 'ritual', because it is very much in a New Age style, rather than an expression of Christian prayer. There is no Christian symbol used, just a lighted candle in the middle of the room, around which the pupils sit in a circle each with their own nightlight. The accompanying song is the very poor 'Gather Round'. There is mention of the Holy Spirit nourishing our lives and doing God's work in the world, but the Holy Spirit is not recognized as God, the Third Divine Person of the Blessed Trinity, not described as ‘God the Holy Spirit’. The Holy Spirit is identified as ‘breath’, implying at most some kind of godly presence, while the spirituality is very much Alive-O's ‘humanitarian theism’.
The story from the Pupil's Book, 'A Chance to Change', is repeated in the Teacher's Book. The subsequent discussion sessions, activity and prayer times reinforce the humanitarianism of the story, without any spiritual element.
There is an activity in which the pupils are invited to consider a range of different jobs and roles, and to choose one that they would like to be. Alive-O's range is entirely human and secular, without any spiritual element; omitted from the list is any kind of spiritual vocation or job, such as priest, religious sister or brother, saint, missionary, evangelist, or catechist. As this is part of a teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit, the pupils must be led to conclude that the work of the Holy Spirit is entirely secular and humanitarian, without any spiritual dimension or element, in particular nothing whatsoever to do with the eternal and eschatological.
The next day's material refers to Alive-O itself, and relates to the illustrations in the Pupil's Book. The pupils are invited to look at these illustrations, find the appropriate lessons in earlier Alive-O pupil books, and choose a favourite story or memory from Alive-O to share with the class. As has been noted above, none of the illustrations/stories as presented by Alive-O is without limitations, while some of them are poor.
Alive-O further states, 'One of the ways in which the Holy Spirit nourishes us is through sharing in Religion classes'. Again we have Alive-O referring to the class simply as 'religion', without any mention that this is, or it is at least it should be’ Catholic catechesis. Alive-O never describes its programme as Catholic or Catholic catechesis. The teacher is instructed to write a number of words on the blackboard, starting with: ‘God, Jesus, Holy Spirit’. This reinforces yet again Alive-O’s erroneous take on the Trinity, in which God is the first person, so that Jesus and the Spirit cannot be God, and are less than God.
The artwork exercise for the children involves drawing a letter from the title of Alive-O. This reinforces Alive-O's promotion of itself and its image as 'Alive-O'. The very title ‘Alive-O’ is secular and the ‘branding’ of the programme is heavily ‘Alive-O’ or the ‘Alive-O religion programme’, without any accompanying description or symbol as Catholic or Christian.
The final day the week’s lesson is a reflection not only on the past week, but on the last three weeks, in which Alive-O presented its concept of 'nourishment'. The bullet points that are given actually do summarise quite well the previous three weeks. Alive-O refers to nourishment and hungers, but only in terms of food and humanitarian help, and the nourishing of bodies and minds. Alive-O says that the religion class helps in nourishing of bodies and minds, but it omits any kind of spiritual hunger or nourishment. This indicates how Alive-O sees 'religion class'; it is only concerned with bodies and minds, but not with souls or anything spiritual. This is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of the existence of the spiritual immortal soul in each human being.
The final prayer time repeats the kind of New-Age spirituality of the opening prayer time. The pupils are instructed to sit in a circle in the dark with the blinds closed and the lights turned off, with some lighted candles in the centre of the circle and incense burning. The teacher reads out an Alive-O set of prayers which focus very much on self, and identifies God and the Holy Spirit with the breath that we breathe in and out. The final part of the prayer reinforces Alive-O's erroneous concept of the Trinity, as ‘God, Son and Spirit’.
None of the prayer times use any Christian symbol, only lighted candles, and at times incense sticks. As has been noted above, the opening and closing prayer times are extremely New-Age in structure and style. No use is made of the great prayers of the Church. The prayer times use the two songs for this lesson, but as has been noted above one of them 'Gather Round' is very poor and the other one 'Christ to Be Our Light', is reasonable but only in the context of good Christian teaching which is lacking in Alive-O. As is the normal practice, the prayer times consist of an Alive-O written text to be read out by the teacher, with the pupils participation limited to making Alive-O written responses.
Revelation of God in Scripture.
Term 3: Lesson 3. Under God's Wing.
Lesson 4. Under God's Guidance.
Lesson 5. In God's Family.
Summary.
These three lessons set out to give an account of Scripture in general, the Old Testament in particular. They do contain some reasonable information about the Scriptures, and about four separate episodes from the Old Testament, but overall they fall far short of an authentic Catholic understanding of the Scriptures, the Old Testament in particular. There are some good points in the presentation of the Old Testament episodes, but also significant weaknesses.
Alive-O presents the Old Testament as simply the story of the Jewish people before the birth of Jesus, which shows how God loved his people and cared for them. From this we can learn that God continues to care for us now in just the same way as he cared for people of Old Testament times. Jesus knew the stories of the Old Testament, and was nourished by them, in the same way that we can be nourished by those stories now.
There is of course much truth in the foregoing, but the problem is in what Alive-O omits. Alive-O completely omits the dimension of salvation history from its understanding of the Old Testament. There is no sense that the Old Testament is God's loving plan, first of all for the creation of the human race, and then for the salvation of the human race after the Fall of Adam and Eve, in preparation for the sending of the Messiah, who is Jesus, God the Son, who became man in order to give his life for the salvation of the human race from sin.
Also, Alive-O presents Jesus as no more than a human being, who learnt from the stories of the Old Testament in the same way that we can learn from them today. What is omitted is that the Old Testament tells of Jesus (as he explained to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke24:13-35; see also John5:39,46) and that his coming is the fulfilment of all God’s loving plans and promises which we find in the Old Testament.
The various episodes from the Old Testament which are presented in this lesson (Ruth, Rebekah, Joseph, and David) appear as isolated incidents, without context or connection, out of sequence, and not part of any plan, because there is no reference to the plan of salvation history. However, this is consistent with Alive-O's omission of salvation history, because if the various events of the Old Testament show no more than that God loved his people then there is no need to have any logical connection or sequence.
Alive-O does teach that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, but its treatment of divine inspiration falls short of the Catholic Church's teaching. Also, Alive-O makes no mention whatsoever of the Church's Magisterium or of Sacred Tradition; by contrast, the Church teaches of the unbreakable connection between these three: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Church’s Magisterium.
There is some good information in the lessons on the Bible in general, and on the Old Testament in particular, but it is quite limited, and its value is greatly diminished by the inclusion of a large amount of distracting and irrelevant material.
The four episodes from the Old Testament which are presented in the lesson vary in quality, but in general they suffer from being presented as isolated incidents, lacking context and connection, out of sequence, and without any mention of salvation history and the part they play in that great plan of God the Father's love for the human race.
There is a reasonable presentation of the story of Ruth, but it only appears in the Teacher's Book, and not in the Pupil's Book, which lessens its value. The same applies to the story of the finding of Rebekah, which is also reasonably presented, but only appears in the Teacher's Book, and not in the Pupil's Book. In relation to the story of Joseph, there is again a reasonable presentation (apart from one serious weakness) appearing in the Teacher's Book, but in this case an extremely unsatisfactory poem appears in the Pupil's Book, which serves more to diminish and trivialise Joseph, rather than give the pupils worthwhile information about him.
One episode about David appears in the Teacher's Book as a Scripture reading and as a song, which serve to give a very limited insight into the life of David. However, this episode is not dramatic and is presented without context, while the really dramatic and inspiring stories of David’s life are omitted. Also omitted is the significance of David in salvation history and his relationship to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.
One of the lessons introduces an Alive-O written prayer to the Guardian Angel, which is not unreasonable in itself, but is different from, and is not as good as, the traditional Guardian Angel prayer. This will serve to separate the pupils from home and parish, and isolate them in a unique Alive-O environment.
Term 3: Lesson 3. Under God's Wing. (A6-T3L3)
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book has some background information about the Bible. It also has an illustration taken from the story of Ruth, showing a girl gleaning the field while the workers reap the grain and a man looks on. The title of the lesson 'Under God's Wing' will not mean much to the pupils, because this title refers to one element of the story of Ruth, which is not in the Pupil's Book.
There is some good information on the Bible here, but overall it is less than satisfactory because it makes no reference to the context of salvation history. Nor does it adequately address the question of divine inspiration of the Bible. The information merely says that, 'In the Old Testament we can read the story of God's people before Jesus was born'. This completely fails to express the reality of salvation history, and that the Old Testament is a preparation for and a foretelling of the coming of Jesus to redeem the human race from sin, which resulted from the Original Sin of Adam and Eve.
One of the most famous quotations concerning the Scriptures, which the Church uses often, is from St Jerome, 'Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ'. When St Jerome refers to Scripture he is referring to both Old and New Testaments. Another very important quotation is from Augustine, 'The New Testament is buried in the Old, and the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New'. Alive-O gives the impression that the Old Testament is simply the stories about how God loved the Jewish people before Jesus was born. This falls far short of an authentic Christian understanding of the Old Testament, and indeed of the entire Bible.
The information also says that, 'Jesus read their stories too'. This is unsatisfactory, because it treats Jesus just as a human person, and ignores his divine nature. This theme recurs many times in these three Alive-O lessons dealing with the Scripture.
This lesson has a question and answer as follows: Q. Why do Christians love and reverence the Bible? A. Christians love and reverence the Bible because it is the Word of God. This answer is satisfactory, as far as it goes, but it needs development and teaching on what is exactly the meaning of the term 'Word of God', the kind of teaching which is lacking in this lesson.
Worksheet.
The worksheet contains a number of sentences with a blank to be filled in, and a word list from which to select words to fill in the blanks. The sentences are less than satisfactory, because they reinforce Alive-O's limited presentation on the Old Testament and the Bible. One sentence reads, 'The Bible tells the story of God's love for people'; this is fine as far as it goes, but Alive-O omits the fullness of God's love, which is expressed in salvation history, which Alive-O does not teach.
It also reinforces Alive-O’s presentation of Jesus as somebody who is merely human, who learnt from the Old Testament in a way no different to any other human being. This reinforcement occurs in one of the sentences to be filled in which reads as follows, ‘When Jesus was small, he heard stories from what we now call the Old Testament'. Alive-O also refers to the Old Testament nourishing us just as it is nourished Jesus; this reinforces the idea that Jesus was just a human being who learnt from the stories of the Jewish people in a way no different to what people might do today. This is failing to present an authentic Christian understanding of Jesus, his divinity and his mission of salvation.
Information for teachers.
The information for teachers has some information about the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. There is some reasonable information but it also suffers from the same limitations that have been noted above in relation to the material in the Pupil's Book.
Alive-O refers to the Old Testament as being ‘the old covenant of Sinai', which is quite inadequate, because the Old Testament tells the story of a series of covenants that God made with human beings. The first covenant was with Adam and Eve, the second covenant was with Noah, the third with Abraham, the fourth with Moses, and the fifth with David. An understanding of all the covenants is key to an understanding of salvation history, which is fulfilled in the New Covenant in Jesus, which reaches its final fulfilment in the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of time.
This information for teachers also reinforces the idea that Jesus was only a human being, who found nourishment and inspiration from the Scriptures of the Old Testament in the same way that we can now find nourishment and inspiration from the same stories. This seriously diminishes both Jesus and the Old Testament.
The theme of the lesson is to help the children get information about the nature and structure of the Old Testament, and to acquaint them more intimately with some of its content, so that they will see it as the inspired Word of God, which nourished Jesus and can nourish us too. The first part of this theme is satisfactory, though it is not well realised in the lesson material. The final phrase about nourishing Jesus and nourishing us serves to diminish Jesus to the level of an ordinary human being, and also to diminish the meaning of the Old Testament.
The thought for the teacher in this lesson focuses attention on books in general, which is a foretaste of the lesson material for the pupils, where there is considerable focus on books in general, which takes the attention away from the Bible and encourages pupils to see the Bible as just one book among many.
Lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
This lesson has one song titled, 'That Wonderful Book'. The song has a number of problems associated with it. The song is about the Bible, and therefore the title is insufficient to convey what Christians think about the Bible, which is much more than just a ‘wonderful book’. The chorus of the song refers to the this wonderful book containing 'history, proverbs and psalms'; a vital part of the of Old Testament is the Law of Moses and the Prophets, in fact this is how Jesus actually refers to the Old Testament in the Gospels as 'the Law and Prophets'. This is a serious omission.
The three verses in the song refer to the story of Ruth, the finding of Rebecca as a wife for Isaac, and the story of Joseph of Egypt. The three accounts, though necessarily brief accounts as verses in a song, are only fair in giving an idea of the actual Bible stories. Also there is no sense of salvation history, the great plan of God to redeem us from sin, but the three accounts are presented as unconnected episodes, and out of sequence, because Ruth comes after Joseph, whereas in the song she is put before Abraham.
The lesson material starts with a discussion session, activity and prayer time which put the focus on books in general, mostly secular books. This takes the focus away from the Bible as a unique book which is unlike any other book.
There is a 'Bible Search' activity which involves looking at the Bible to identify the Old and New Testaments and some of the books in the Bible. This is of very limited value in helping the children to understand the Bible. A much more useful exercise would be to provide the kind of 'Bible Bookshelf' illustration which is very popular with Protestant teaching on the Bible, which shows the various divisions of books in the Old and New Testaments, as follows: in the Old Testament we have the Pentateuch, History books, the Wisdom literature, the Major Prophets, and the Minor Prophets. In the New Testament we have the Gospels (the life of Jesus), the Acts of the Apostles (Church history), the Epistles, and the Book of Revelation (prophecy). When these various divisions of the Bible can be seen in the context of salvation history, into which they naturally fit, then the whole Bible hangs together and inspires the imagination as God's wonderful plan, going from creation through redemption to the end of the world when all will be brought together in Christ.
The prayer time following the ‘Bible Search' activity is unsatisfactory from a number of points of view. The prayers on the Opening and Closing the Bible encourage reduction of Jesus to a human being just like any other human being, and fail completely to express the unique position of Jesus in relation to the Bible, because all of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, speaks of Jesus; as St Jerome said, 'Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ'. (The unsatisfactory prayers on Opening and Closing the Bible are repeated twice again in this week's lesson).
The prayer time also includes a reading from 2 Samuel 5:1-3, which tells of the anointing of David at Hebron. This is not the most interesting or exciting episode in the life of David, which would inspire the imaginations of the children, whereas the anointing of David by Samuel or his defeat of the giant Goliath would be much more interesting. The next prayer by the teacher sums up Alive-O's defective understanding of the Bible and undermines the concept of salvation history. 'God guided David. God also guided Moses and the people of Israel. The stories of the Bible promise that just as God guided people long ago, God continues to guide us too'. (This defective understanding was also exemplified in Alive-O book 5 in the term 3 lessons 3 in the story of Jesus meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus; the gospel of Luke tells that Jesus explained to the disciples how the Old Testament spoke of him, but Alive-O’s account omits this part of Scripture and says instead that Jesus merely said to them they should remember the great stories of God's love from the past).
The activity on making paper further distracts time and attention from learning about the Bible.
There is a story titled, 'At Home under God's Wing', which is the story of Ruth and Naomi. The story is reasonably well told, and it is indeed one of the most touching and inspiring stories in the Bible. However, there is a very important dimension to the story which Alive-O omits, and that is its part in salvation history. This is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of salvation history. The final part of the story from the Book of Ruth notes that Ruth is a direct ancestor of the great King David, she is his great-grandmother. The importance of Ruth in salvation history is highlighted in the gospel of Matthew where she is one of the four women who are specially mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.
There is a second story titled, 'Elvira's Story', which is the story of a young girl who suffered dreadfully in the trouble in Rwanda and eventually was brought to Ireland. It is a very touching story, but does not really help in this lesson to an understanding of the Old Testament. In fact, in the way it is presented by Alive-O it actually detracts from a correct understanding of the Old Testament, because the parallel is encouraged between the story of Ruth and the story of Elvira, seeing no essential difference between the two; in other words, God took care of Ruth way back then just in exactly the same way as he takes care of Elvira today. While there is certainly truth in this, it does take attention away from the story of Ruth as part of God's great plan of salvation as seen in the Old Testament.
Video.
The video shows a group of children visiting the Chester Beatty library, which has a fascinating collection of ancient manuscripts and clay tablets. The children are shown some of the old manuscripts, and use of papyrus and parchment, which is well explained and demonstrated. This part of the video would be very helpful to a better understanding of the Bible. The next part of the video goes on to focus on current books, mostly secular books, which is certainly not helpful at all in understanding the Bible, especially a comic book titled 'Captain Underpants'.
Term 3, Lesson 4: Under God’s Guidance (A6-T3L4)
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book contains an illustration of the story of the finding of Rebekah as a wife for Isaac. The illustration is good.
There is a short amount of information on the Bible and the Old Testament, some of which is reasonable, but it also contains a significant deficiencies. A major deficiency is that there is no sense of salvation history, which gives context and meaning to the entire Old Testament, and without which the Old Testament becomes exactly as Alive-O describes it, as follows, 'The writers of the Bible gathered together many stories, songs, poems and prayers about God's dealings with his people. When these were all put together they became the Bible'. This makes the Bible sounds like no different to the writings of other religions, which often consisted mainly of mythological stories.
The Pupil’s Book information is also seriously deficient in referring to the contents of the Old Testament as 'stories, songs, poems and prayers'. This omits what is absolutely vital in the Old Testament, which is the Law of God as given to Moses and the writings of the prophets. This is so important that Jesus described the Old Testament as 'the Law and the Prophets'. (Matthew 7:12).
The information also fails to convey adequately the divine inspiration of the Old Testament and the inerrancy of the Bible, when it says, 'The Spirit of God was in the hearts and minds of those who worked to make the Bible'. It could truly be said that the Spirit of God is in the hearts and minds of all those who seek God and seek to follow his way, so this falls far short of explaining the inspiration of Scripture and why we revere it as the Word of God.
Alive-O’s information also falls far short of explaining the role of the Church in relation to the Bible, when it says, 'Today, the Church helps us to understand how the Bible can teach us the way to live our lives'. The Church teaches that the Bible, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church are inseparable; it was the Church who discerned the Canon of Scripture, and who gives the authoritative teaching on the meaning of Scripture. Any view of the Bible which omits the connection with the Magisterium of the Church and Sacred Tradition is not authentically Catholic.
The information tells of the stories of God's care for people who were Jesus' ancestors, how good God was to people in need, and how Jesus knew these stories well. This deprives the Old Testament of its real meaning as the story of salvation history, and also deprives Jesus of meaning by treating him as just an ordinary human being. One could say that this is a theist understanding of the Old Testament and of Jesus.
The information describes the story of Abraham's servant finding Rebekah as simply a story of Jesus' ancestors and how God helps people in need. The pupils will find it hard to give much meaning to the story because it is presented as simply a disconnected episode, not connected to any other part of the Old Testament, and not part of God's great plan of salvation.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a drawing of a clay tablet, a scroll, and parchment, and beside them Hebrew characters for the words, 'God. Blessed are you. Peace.' The activity for the pupils is to inscribe the Hebrew characters onto the three parts of the drawing. The exercise is helpful in giving pupils some understanding of the alphabet that was used in the Hebrew language, (though it was uncommon to write Hebrew on clay tablets, which were the normal medium for cuneiform writing in Biblical times).
The information given reinforces the idea that Jesus was just a human being like us; it diminishes the Old Testament and diminishes Jesus.
The worksheet also introduces a, 'Prayer to the Guardian Angel'. This is an Alive-O written prayer, which is not unreasonable, but it is different to the traditional Prayer to the Guardian Angel, and not as good as the traditional prayer. Giving the pupils a unique Alive-O written prayer tends to separate them from home and Church. Also there is no teaching or explanation of what a Guardian Angel is, nor even what an Angel is. There has been no teaching in any of the earlier Alive-O books on what an Angel is. This is a serious deficiency.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information states that, 'We want the children to come away with a sense of the Old Testament as a piece of writing in which God communicates with people'. This is fine as far as it goes, but the meaning of the Old Testament needs to be developed in the context of salvation history. The information goes on to explain simply that the Old Testament shows how God cared for the Chosen People back then, which gives us a sense of how God cares for us now. There is no recognition given of the difference that has been made by the most important event in human history, which is the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, God the Son, who became man in order to give his life for the salvation of the human race from sin.
Alive-O says the theme of the lesson is to help the children get information about the nature and structure of the Old Testament, and to acquaint them more intimately with some of its content, so that they will see it as the inspired Word of God, which nourished Jesus and can nourish us too. The first part of this theme is satisfactory, (though it is not well realised in the lesson material). The final phrase about nourishing Jesus and nourishing us serves to diminish Jesus to the level of an ordinary human being, and also to diminish the meaning of the Old Testament.
Lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
There is a repeat of the song, 'That Wonderful Book', which has one verse on the finding of Rebekah which is relevant to this particular lesson. The verse is fine just as part of a song, but it lacks the context of good teaching on the Old Testament and salvation history which would give it real meaning. As it is, it appears just as a disconnected episode.
The subsequent discussion sessions and activity focus on secular guidebooks and road signs, and draw the parallel between them and the Bible, in particular the Old Testament. This secularising of the Old Testament will not help the pupils understand the Bible. There is a 'Bible Search' activity involving finding three passages from the Bible, which is good in itself in principle, but lacks the context and sequence to bring out the meaning. The first one is the call of Moses, the second the anointing of David at Hebron as king of Israel, and the third one is the call of Abraham. These passages are out of sequence, and no attempt is made to teach the children connections between them and their meaning in the context of the whole of the Old Testament, and the context of salvation history. The passage about David has appeared already a number of times in earlier Alive-O books and actually diminishes David by giving the impression that he is no more than a human king selected by another group of human beings. Alive-O completely omits God's choice of David as king, God’s special blessing on David, God's covenant with David, and his special place in salvation history.
There is a story titled, 'The Servants Task', based on Genesis 24, which is the story of Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. The story is quite well told, and could have benefited from being included in the Pupil's Book. However, the story is treated just as a single isolated episode, and no attempt made to give the context of the story in the Old Testament and in salvation history. Therefore, the story will lack meaning for the pupils.
The story is followed by a couple of discussion sessions and activity sessions which could have been used to draw out the meaning of the story and make connections with the Old Testament and salvation history, but instead there is a focus on finding the right person in the secular sense, and road signs and maps on a journey. There is also the extraordinary claim that God does not give us road-signs or maps for the journey of life, but that he is always good and is always with us guiding us; that God only gives special people to guide us. Alive-O omits the Bible as a clear road sign and map for the journey of life, and also completely omits the Church which God has given us as a sure guide. This information of Alive-O is seriously deficient.
Alive-O's own prayer to the Guardian Angel is included three times, but there is no explanation of what an Angel is, and little on the Guardian Angel as such. As has been noted above, Alive-O's own guardian angel prayer is different from, and not as good as, the traditional prayer, and this will serve to isolate the children from home and parish. A parallel is drawn between the Guardian Angel and the Angel which God sent to help Abraham's servant finding Rebekah as a wife for Isaac. This is not the best parallel, because the Scripture does not say that this Angel stayed with the servants and guided him all the way on his journey, but simply that the Angel went ahead of the servant, presumably to help prepare Rebekah to respond to the request of the servant. A better Scripture reference from the Old Testament would be the Book of Tobit, where the Angel Raphael accompanied and guided Tobias all the way on his journey. And the best Scripture reference of all for the Guardian Angel is Matthew 18:10, where Jesus said, 'See that you never despise any of these little ones, for I tell you that their Angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven'.
Term 3, Lesson 5: In God's Family (A6-T3L5)
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a poem titled, 'Joseph's Multi-coloured Dream'. This is accompanied with an illustration showing a boy asleep, surrounded by swathes of many different colours. The story of the poem is all extremely fanciful imaginative fiction, which teaches almost nothing about Joseph, except that his name was Joseph, he had a father called Jacob, and eleven brothers who are named. There are additional unsatisfactory dimensions to this poem.
Joseph is described in the poem as 'the dreamer', which normally implies someone who is impractical, and goes around with his head in the clouds. This is radically contrary to what the Bible teaches about Joseph. The book of Genesis recounts that Joseph had only two dreams, and these were given to him by God for a very special purpose. The story of Joseph in Egypt shows him to be an extremely practical, dynamic and pragmatic person, who is a real man of action, and anything but 'a dreamer'.
The poem describes a dream of Joseph as 'like a clever magician's surprise’ and 'like a magic handkerchief'. This gives the impression that Joseph's dreams were all matter of magic, which comes from the occult, rather than from God.
This is an unsatisfactory poem; it teaches little about Joseph, but serves more to diminish and trivialize him.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a picture of Joseph in a multicoloured coat to be coloured in, and places to write in the name of his father Jacob, and his eleven brothers. This exercise will have some value in helping the pupils to learn the names of the 12 sons of Jacob.
There is a prayer which speaks of God loving our family at all times, as he did with Jacob and his sons, and says that God loves us all even though we are all different. Now it is perfectly true that God loves us all equally in our individual differences, but this does not help in any way to understand the story of Joseph, or of the Old Testament. It serves only to distract attention from the full meaning of the story of Joseph and his brothers, and of the vital parts that they play in salvation history.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information here continues the earlier Alive-O presentation of the Old Testament as simply the account of how God loved his people in the time before Jesus, how Jesus learned about the stories of God love for his people, and how we can now understand that God is still speaking to us. There is no sense of salvation history, or that the entire Old Testament is a preparation for the coming of Jesus, our Saviour from sin, and that the Old Testament constantly prophesied and spoke about Jesus, as Jesus himself explained to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Alive-O's approach diminishes the Old Testament and also diminishes Jesus to the level of an ordinary human being.
The thought for the teacher for this lesson is short poem about a bookworm (animal, not human) which has no relevance or value in relation to learning about the Bible or the Old Testament.
Lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
The lesson has a song titled, 'The Twelve Tribes', which is repeated from Alive-O Books 4 and 5. The song deals with the anointing of David as King of Israel at Hebron. The last line says, 'That is the story of David’s special life, from shepherd boy to king of Israel's twelve Tribes'. However, the song does not give a satisfactory account of David’s life, from either a human historical point of view or from salvation history. The chorus consists of the names of the 12 sons of Jacob, which includes Joseph, and implies that these are the twelve Tribes of Israel. However, the Bible does not talk about the tribe of Joseph, but the two half-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who were the sons of Joseph.
The song says, ' Twelve Tribes of Israel were lost without a king. Samuel had died.' this suggests that Samuel had been the King, which is incorrect, because it was Saul who had been the king of Israel before David, while Samuel was a Judge before Saul. The words of the song convey no more than that all twelve Tribes of Israel suddenly decided by themselves that they would select a shepherd, David, to be their king. This is unlikely to mean much to the pupils, because there is no context given, no explanation of who David was or how he came to be chosen as King. Also this is one of the less dramatic events in the life of David, while there are many other events which were extremely dramatic and much more likely to arouse the interest and inspire the imaginations of the pupils. It would have been much better to include the dramatic story of God's choice of David as King, when he sent Samuel to anoint one of the sons of Jesse who turned out by surprise to be the youngest David; David's courageous slaying of the giant Goliath and the defeat of the Philistines; David’s often troubled relationship with King Saul; David achievements as a military leader which led him to be chosen as king of Judah, where he reigned for seven years before being accepted by the Northern Tribes to be king of all Israel; David’s subsequent defeat of the Philistines and other enemies of Israel to establish an extensive and peaceful kingdom. Also the song says that ‘they prayed for God to send a leader who would guide them, someone like Samuel's friend’; one does not know who was 'Samuel’s friend'.
This song diminishes David and fails to acknowledge the extremely important role he played in the Old Testament, and also his very key role in salvation history, including God’s covenant with David. David is referred to 58 times in the New Testament, and Jesus is described many times as 'Son of David'.
The second song given in this lesson is a repeat of, 'That Wonderful Book'. The verse that is relevant to this lesson, which refers to Joseph, is very limited. It is also unsatisfactory in describing Joseph as 'a dreamer, an unusual guy', which greatly diminishes Joseph. As has been noted above, Joseph was in fact the complete opposite of 'a dreamer', in the usual meaning given to that word.
In the subsequent discussion sessions, activities, and prayer time the emphasis is on the pupil's own family, which deflects attention away from the Bible and tends to diminish the significance of the biblical stories.
There is a two-part story titled, 'Joseph and his Brothers'. Most of the story is good and is based faithfully on Genesis 37-45. It would have been far better to include this story in the Pupil's Book instead of the fanciful poem, which teaches little about Joseph. An unsatisfactory aspect of the story is the continuing description of Joseph as a 'dreamer', as Jacob's 'dreamy son', who was 'always dreaming'. This gives a completely wrong impression of Joseph, the direct opposite to the industrious, dependable and capable man of action that we see in the Bible: in the house of Potiphar, in the prison, and as Pharaoh's right-hand man. Also, it would have been better to use the title 'Pharaoh', rather than 'King' of Egypt.
The discussion sessions and prayer times that follow the story focus on families in general and some trivial aspects of the story of Joseph, and fail to bring out the significance and meaning of the story of Joseph and the move of the Chosen People to go and live in Egypt.
The final prayer time seeks to summarise various stories from the Old Testament dealing with Abraham, Moses, David, Rebekah, Joseph and Ruth. However, this will serve little to teach the children about the Old Testament, because they are treated as disconnected episodes which are out of sequence, with no continuity or context, and no sense of salvation history. Also each episode is given a colour, which comes across as rather contrived and artificial, and does not contribute to an understanding of the individual episodes, or the Old Testament.
Creation.
Term 1: Lesson 1. Within God's Creation.
Lesson 2. And God said……
Lesson 3. Jesus and Creation.
Lesson 4. St Francis Cares for Creation.
Summary.
The presentation of creation in these lessons is entirely material, and there is no mention at all of God's unseen creation: the immortal soul of every human being, angels (including the angels who fell from grace and became devils), and heaven. Therefore, the teachings in the lessons fall seriously short of authentic Christian teaching on creation.
The Church stresses the critical importance of authentic catechesis on Creation. ‘Creation is the foundation of all God’s saving plans, the beginning of the history of salvation that culminates in Christ. ……Catechesis on creation is of major importance. It concerns the very foundations of human and Christian life. ………Since the beginning the Christian faith has been challenged by responses to the question of origins that differ from its own.’ (CCC 280, 282, 285). Alive-O’s deficient teaching on Creation therefore leads on the many other consequent deficiencies, in a kind of ‘hierarchy of errors’.
Alive-O’s principal emphasis is on inductive learning, that is, coming to know about God from observing material creation, both the natural world and human beings. The Church teaches that there is certainly a place for inductive learning in religious education, but the main emphasis in learning about God must come from deductive learning, that is, based on Divine Revelation. Inductive learning and deductive learning support one another and are best used in combination.
The first lesson relies solely on inductive learning, but does it in a way which could not go beyond theism, that is learning of the existence of God but without any understanding of Christianity. The second lesson does move on to deductive learning, presenting an account of creation from the first chapter of Genesis. However, Alive-O's presentation of creation as given in the book of Genesis is far from satisfactory; it is good up to and including the creation of the animals and other living creatures, but is not satisfactory for the creation of human beings. It falls short of giving a genuine Christian understanding of the creation of human beings, and also omits God's unseen creation or any spiritual dimension to creation. Another serious omission is God’s command to our first parents to increase and multiply, and the place of marriage and family in God’s purpose in creating male and female. The second lesson also contains some disturbing information on Alive-O's understanding of salvation as something purely material; also, that Alive-O does not simply implicitly deny Original Sin by omission, but actually teaches that original sin is an impossibility.
The lesson which addresses Jesus and creation is most unsatisfactory. Creation is the work of the Trinity and Jesus is the centre of creation. Everything that has been created, both seen and unseen, has been created in and through Jesus. The salvation which Jesus brought to the human race will in some way be shared by all of material creation at the end of time. This is beautifully expressed in the following Scripture quotations:
Colossians 1:15-20. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Ephesians 1:9-10. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Romans 8:19-21. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Alive-O completely fails to present this beautiful Christian understanding in its lesson on Jesus and creation, and instead presents a view of Jesus as just an ordinary human being who was greatly impressed by God's creation, limited to the material creation only without any reference to the unseen or spiritual creation. In addition, Alive-O gives great attention to a most unsatisfactory New Age song and dance (‘Celtic Blessing’), which is not remotely Christian.
There is a presentation on St Francis and creation, which has some good aspects concerning Francis’ great love and care for material creation as a gift of God. However the presentation falls far short of genuine picture of St Francis, because the spiritual dimension is completely omitted. Francis is presented rather like a theist-humanitarian who is also a caring naturalist. Omitted is Francis’ passionate love for Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, his response to the Lord's call to 'Rebuild My Church', and his total dedication to the Catholic Church, which were all the wellspring and sources for his great love for human beings and God’s created natural world.
Term 1, Lesson 1: Within God's Creation. (A6-T1L1)
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story titled, 'Five Friends'. The story is about five young friends who decide to go out into life when they grow up and do something with their lives. The first one wants to be a naturalist, the second a scientist, the third an artist, and the fourth wants to be a politician. All the aspirations they express are very understandable, but all purely secular. The fifth one has rather different aspirations, and it is not at all clear from the text what he wants to do. He says, 'I would look very closely, listen very attentively, speak when I have something worth saying, reach out to what is all around me and love it all, as deeply as I can'.
Alive-O says this lesson is all about creation, but it is hard to see that the story will teach the pupils anything meaningful about God's creation from a Christian point of view.
Worksheet.
The worksheet asks the pupils to read the words of the song, 'Within God's Creation', and then to draw something of the different worlds that are mentioned in the song. The song (analysed further below) mentions various things in the world, which are all purely secular, but does not say anything at all about the creation of all that is, both seen and unseen, by God. The exercise is unlikely therefore to teach the pupils a Christian understanding of Creation.
There is a prayer which speaks of God putting me together inside my mother's body, and thanking God for creating me in this way. It is reasonable as far as it goes, but teaches very little about God's creation of the seen universe and the unseen creation – angels, heaven and human soul.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information speaks about the pupil’s experience of material creation leading them to a sense of awe and wonder in the presence of God the Creator. Alive-O says this is built on the foundations laid in previous years, 'From their earliest days at school children have been taught to see how their experience of the world leads to a greater awareness of who and what God is'. This expresses quite well Alive-O's approach here, which is entirely 'inductive' learning.
There is merit in inductive learning, but it is must be combined with deductive learning. This is particularly so in relation to religious education, which is well expressed in GDC 150-151. (See also GCD 72-74). What this means in relation to the experience of creation and coming to know of the existence of God is well expressed in CCC 31-38. We can come to know of the existence of a personal God through the use of reason, by observation of the natural world and the human person. However there are many obstacles, due to the limitations of human ability, and weaknesses due to original sin. We need the revelation of God to overcome these limitations and weaknesses, but also to go beyond knowing the mere existence of God to knowing about the Trinity, Jesus Christ, and the truths of Christian faith. This involves deductive learning based on the truths of Revelation, which is ideally combined with inductive learning, to come to the fullest understanding we can of God as expressed by the Christian faith.
Simply relying on the use of reason and observation of God's creation can bring us no further than theism. Therefore, Alive-O's approach of relying almost exclusively on inductive learning means that the pupils can get no further than a theist understanding of God, which is entirely consistent with Alive-O's approach right through the programme, which is fundamentally theist rather than Christian. If even adults experience problems in learning about God from inductive learning alone, then much more so do children need deductive learning as well as inductive.
The thought for the teacher is a poem about cactus and caterpillars. The poem does express some nice thoughts about the cactus being able to produce flowers and the caterpillar being able to turn into a butterfly, but it also undermines the goodness of God’s creation of the cactus and caterpillar, by describing them as ‘ugly and obscene’, whereas in fact they possess their own inherent beauty, quite apart from their ability to produce flowers and butterflies.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There are two songs given for this lesson. The first song is titled, 'Gather Round'. This song is taken from Alive-O book 4 which has an extremely poor teaching on the Holy Spirit, which is very New-Age in approach (A4-T1L4). Alive-O Book 4’s Lesson speaks about the spirit of God in the earth, it has the children do a New-Age ritual type dance while chanting, 'We belong to the earth, and the earth belongs to us', and the accompanying illustration for the Holy Spirit is a spider in her web.
The ‘Gather Round’ song is very poor. It speaks of gathering in body and mind, but omits the soul and the spirit. It speaks of 'God's Holy Spirit', not God the Holy Spirit. It then closes with the words that God’s Holy Spirit is 'through us, with us and in the us'. This is taking a prayer from the Mass, and changing it to an entirely different context. The prayer in the Mass is an entirely Trinitarian prayer, 'Through him (Jesus), with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, almighty Father, forever and ever.' Alive-O’s song is a kind of parody on this prayer, taking some of the words and turning them round so that they speak, not of Jesus, but of us human beings. This is changing a Trinitarian prayer into a New Age prayer, and must surely undermine the meaning of the prayers in relation to the Mass.
The second song is titled, 'Within God's Creation'. It speaks of different worlds which are entirely secular, and it would take a great leap of inductive reasoning for the pupils to get close to a Christian understanding about God and creation. The song closes with a pantheistic touch, with the words, 'I've an inner world, I sometimes go there when I pray', but even this slight spiritual touch is undermined by the next line which says, 'But my favourite world of all is in our playground each day'.
The first prayer time starts well by having the teacher read out from Genesis 1:1-4 about the creation of light. However the value of this opening is immediately undermined and negated, by comparing the creation of the world with the beginning of the new school year in an entirely secular way, and going on to lead the children to breathe the Spirit of God, who is in each one of them, out over the school to bring it to life. The creative power of God in bringing the universe into being out of nothing is thereby diminished, secularised and trivialised by equating it with the children breathing out the Holy Spirit into their school to bring it to life for the new school year.
The Teacher's Book also has the story about the Five Friends that is in the Pupil's Book. There are two activity sessions and one discussion session associated with this story, which are no help whatsoever in drawing out the meaning of creation by God, and merely dwell on the secular aspects of the story.
There is prayer time which repeats the prayer from the worksheet, which is reasonable as far as it goes, but falls short of full teaching about the creation of human beings by God, and what makes human beings different from the rest of material creation. Part of the teacher’s prayer speaks of the mind, the heart, and the soul. It is good that the soul does get a mention, however it is very far from being a satisfactory teaching about the soul for a number of reasons. The prayer simply describes the soul as, 'your way of sensing God, you're way of praying'. This falls far short of a correct Christian teaching about the soul. Also its value as a teaching for the pupils is likely to be minimal, because it is just one line in a long prayer to be read out by the teacher, and is given no particular emphasis, and may not even be read out by the teacher, because there is so much material provided by Alive-O for the lesson that the teacher cannot use it all.
There are two poems, which may be read out by the teacher. First, there is the well-known poem, 'Trees', which would be excellent in the context of good Christian teaching on creation, something which is lacking in Alive-O. The second poem is purely secular, and does not help teach about God's creation.
Examples are given of four people who achieved something worthwhile in their professional lives: a scientist, a doctor, an artist and a politician. These are reasonable in themselves, though the information on the scientist gives unscientific certitude to propositions based on fragmentary fossil finds. The ensuing discussion session, activity and work sheet are based on these secular stories, which add only minimally to a Christian understanding of God's creation.
There are three prayer times which emphasise again the inductive learning process exclusively, in which the pupils are supposed to learn about God and creation simply from looking at the created world and human activity. As noted above this approach has some merit, but has serious limitations, especially for children, and should only be used in combination with deductive learning based on Divine Revelation concerning the nature of God's creation. Alive-O also continues the bad practice from an earlier prayer time of taking words from the prayers of the Mass, and using them in an entirely different context, which can only serve to diminish the significance and importance of these prayers in the context where they belong, which is the Mass.
The principal Mass prayer that is misused in this way is the Eucharistic Prayer, when the whole congregation joins Christ in acknowledging the works of God, and in offering the sacrifice: 'Lift up your hearts. We left them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give him thanks and praise'. The other instance is when, after a very brief quotation from the gospel of Matthew, the pupils are led to pray, 'Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ'. It is not normal Catholic practice to give this reply for the reading of a piece from the gospel in any situation other than the solemn proclamation of the gospel by the priest during the Mass. Using this response in the context of an ordinary prayer time can only diminish the significance of the solemn proclamation of the gospel by the priest in the context of the Mass.
As is normal practice for Alive-O, there is a prayer time for each day of the week, which is excellent -- in principle. However there is minimal use of the great prayers of the Church, and Alive-O does not teach the meaning of the great prayers of the Church. The only use of the great prayers of the church during the entire week, apart from the Sign of the Cross, is to pray the 'Glory be to the Father' just once. The prayer times consists almost entirely of the teacher reading out lengthy Alive-O scripted prayers, which are in harmony with Alive-O’s lesson content. The pupils are only involved in the prayers in a very passive way, as they sometimes repeat Alive-O scripted responses after the teacher, or sing the very unsatisfactory Alive-O written songs. The only symbol used in the prayer times is a lighted candle, and no Christian symbol is used at any time. As has been noted earlier, use of candles is very common in Christian prayer practice, but only in association with a Christian symbol, whereas in Alive-O the prayer focuses on the candle itself. This latter is not a Christian practice, but is much more in tune with New Age practice.
Video.
The video segment for this lesson is just over 21 minutes long, and consists of five sections. The video parallels the lesson material, and focuses on the world of nature, and of human activity. It continues the focus of the lesson on purely inductive learning, where the pupils are expected to draw conclusions about God's creation from observing the world of nature and human activity. As has been noted above, this approach of purely inductive learning has serious limitations from a Christian point of view. A Christian approach would approach the topic from a deductive learning point of view primarily, to be supplemented with the kind of inductive learning that is covered in this lesson. However this reliance purely on inductive learning fits very well with a theistic understanding of God.
The video is well presented and shows initially a visit to an organic farm, then a visit to Met Eireann, a visit to an artist who shows pupils her work and many beautiful religious statues, a brief presentation by a politician on his work to provide Traveller accommodation, and finally a brief summing up as to how the world of God's creation can be seen in each person. The video is very good as far as it goes, but would only be useful in Christian religious education in the context of sound teaching on what revelation teaches us about creation by God.
Term1, Lesson 2: And God said…… (A6-T1L2)
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book has the words of a song, titled, 'Creation', which also appears at the back of the book in a slightly different version. The Teacher's Book also has the words of the same song, in the two different versions.
The song is the story of creation, based on the first chapter of Genesis. The first five verses of the song are good, and faithful to the Scripture original, but the final three verses of the song are not satisfactory, and depart in significant ways from the Scripture original. This is consistent with Alive-O's frequent treatment of Scripture like 'spiritual putty’, which can be added to, subtracted from, or reshaped at will.
The first five verses of the song cover the first 5 1/2 days of creation, as recounted in Genesis chapter 1, which covers the creation of all the inanimate things of the earth, the plants and all living creatures except human beings. The sixth and seventh verses of the song depart radically from Scripture, saying that, 'when all was done' God searched for someone to share this world with him; the Scripture account says that creation was only complete after the creation of human beings. Alive-O’s poem gives the impression that the main purpose of God's creation was to create the entire universe without man, and that man was some kind of afterthought, not the central purpose of God's creation, just an additional extra that God thought about to share his wonderful material creation. This is radically contrary to the Scripture, which shows that the creation of man was the whole purpose of God creating the universe. Man as the central purpose of God’s creation of the universe is brought out even more clearly in the second account of creation in Genesis chapter 2.
Alive-O's departure from Scripture continues in the eighth and final verse of its song when it says that the purpose of God creating man and woman was so that they could 'love the earth, the sea, the sky, the creatures, fish and birds that fly'. This says that God created human beings for the purpose of loving his material creation, which is radically contrary to a Christian view of creation, which understands that God created human beings primarily to love him, to serve him, and eventually to be happy with him forever in heaven. Alive-O changes this Christian perspective into one that is entirely 'horizontal' which is compatible with a theist-humanist spirituality, but not a Christian spirituality. At the same time Alive-O also omits the command of God to our first parents to increase and multiply (this is the foundation for teaching on marriage and family – weak in Alive-O).
The final two lines of the song in the Pupil's Book read, 'God gave them all that we would know God’s special love, long long ago'. This omits what is in Scripture, which says that the entire creation was given to man for his use and benefit, which is actually included in the other version of the song at the end of the book which states, 'God gave them all to man to show a special love, long long ago'.
The song also omits the final part of the account of creation in the book of Genesis, which is pretty vital for a true Christian understanding of creation. When God had created human beings, male and female, then his work of creation was complete, and He saw it was very good. This was the end of the sixth day of creation, and then there came the seventh day, when God rested and blessed the seventh day. God's completion of creation when he created human beings, and His seventh day, or Sabbath day, of rest are key elements in the Judeo-Christian tradition, but are omitted by Alive-O.
The Pupil's Book also has a brightly coloured illustration of creation, showing man and woman, along with plants, trees, animals, birds and fish, which is good.
There are two questions with answers to be learned as follows: Q. Who is the creator of the world? A. God is the creator of the whole world and of all the people in it.
Q. How should we look on the world? A. We should look on the world as a gift from God and as a sign of God's love and power.
These questions and answers are reasonable, as far as they go.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a wordsearch activity for various words that have occurred in the song about creation. The pupils might enjoy this exercise, but it will not add anything significant to their Christian understanding of creation.
The worksheet next has a prayer taken from the Mass, which is the acclamation at the end of the Preface. This continues Alive-O’s practice of taking prayers from the Mass, and using them for a different purpose out of context of Mass, which can only diminish the significance and importance of these prayers as part of the Mass, and will also undermine the Mass itself.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There is some reasonable information for teachers about God and creation, especially that God created everything out of nothing. However, God’s eternity (always was, is, and always will be), and his utter transcendence outside of creation, are omitted and implicitly denied, with a resulting danger of a pantheistic understanding that God and creation are one. Alive-O says, ‘Before this (creation) there was nothing. There was no story. Creation was “new” in the most absolute sense of the word. It comes from nothing’. Christianity believes that before creation there was most definitely something, there was a story, there was God, the Most Blessed Trinity. Creation was not ‘new’ in the most absolute sense of the sense of the word – only God is absolutely ‘new’ because He is eternally existent, eternally ‘new’.
It is also good that the information stresses that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, and that in this they differ from all else that God has created; however, the information is deficient in failing to bring out the significance of this. There is no mention that God created an eternal, immortal human soul in each person, and that we have an eternal destiny which transcends beyond measure our material existence in this world.
Alive-O also omits God's unseen creation, that is the creation of Angels and heaven, in addition to creation of the human soul. Also omitted is the Fall of the Angels led by Satan, and the Fall of our first parents Adam and Eve, and God's promise of a Saviour. Salvation history cannot be understood if these basics are omitted from the account of creation, but this is entirely consistent with Alive-O’s normal practice of not recognizing salvation history at all.
Alive-O only introduces this (deficient) teaching on Creation in the sixth year of the programme. It is of such basic importance that it should not have been withheld for so long from the pupils, it should have been given years earlier.
The thought for the teacher for the lesson is a poem, which is very attractive, but focuses mostly on material creation, while the part in the middle which does deal with the spiritual dimension is presented in language which is rather vague and falls short of a clear presentation of a Christian view of creation. However, at least this poem does include some spiritual dimension to creation, which is good, because the spiritual dimension is substantially lacking from Alive-O's presentation.
The teachers are also given instructions as to how to get the pupils themselves to lead the discussion sessions. It would be difficult enough for teachers to manage meaningful discussion sessions among young children when there are 30 pupils in the class; to try and get the children to lead the discussion themselves and still have something meaningful come out of it, is very impractical. Even with the group of 30 mature adults a discussion session without a skilled discussion leader is unlikely to be productive, and would most likely wander all over the place in circles. If this is the case with adults, it would apply much more to 9/10 year old children.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a repeat of the song, 'Creation', that is in the Pupil's Book. The following activities, discussion session and prayer times focus on odds and ends, and other dimensions of material creation, and add nothing to a Christian understanding of creation.
In a Note on Day 3 Alive-O has some very significant things to say concerning Alive-O’s own particular understanding of salvation and original sin. Alive-O says that ‘God saves (makes the world a safe place to live in)’. Normally Alive-O omits salvation and does not recognize the existence of salvation at all, but this seems to be Alive-O giving its own version of what it is to be saved, which is something understood in purely material terms, about being safe in this world. This is radically contrary to the Christian understanding of salvation from sin which has brought about by the death of Christ. Alive-O's understanding of salvation is consistent with its theist-humanist spirituality, which diverges significantly from an authentic Christian spirituality.
In the same Note Alive-O says, 'The goodness of what God has created can be disturbed only by the Creator'. Alive-O omits the Fall of Adam and Eve, and also omits any reference to original sin, but the statement goes beyond mere omission to effectively deny the possibility of original sin. The Church on the contrary teaches that the goodness of creation has indeed been disturbed by the Fall of Adam and Eve, and that original sin has not only weakened human beings, but has in some way also disturbed material creation, which in some way that we do not understand will also be restored to wholeness at the Second Coming of Jesus at the end of time. It is also wrong to say that the goodness of what God has created can be disturbed only by the Creator, because God is all goodness and cannot do wrong, therefore He cannot disturb goodness. Only what is evil can disturb goodness, which is just what happened when Satan tempted man and woman to disobey God, which disturbed the goodness of all creation.
Then there is a story titled, 'The Beginning of the World', which, like the song, is an account of creation based on the first chapter of Genesis. It is rather more extensive than the poem, but like the poem it is quite good up to the creation of human beings, but then it breaks down with many significant omissions, thereby failing to give an authentic account of what is in the Scripture. For a start, Alive-O states that the story is based on Genesis 1:1-27 which is true, but Genesis’ first account of creation does not stop at 1:27 but only ends with verse 4 of chapter 2. The following are some of the problems in Alive-O's story.
In Alive-O’s story God says that human beings will be ‘stewards’ of creation. This is a weakening of the Hebrew word ‘radah’, which is more correctly translated as human beings having ‘dominion over’, or being ‘masters of’, material creation. Alive-O's account correctly notes that God gave a command to flying creatures and creatures of the sea to increase and multiply upon the earth, but Alive-O omits God's command to human beings to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it; the omission of the command to Adam and Eve to increase and multiply is serious – this would provide the foundation for teaching on marriage and family, something which is generally weak in Alive-O. Alive-O also omits that God has given all of creation to man for his use. Alive-O further omits that after creating human beings God saw all that he had made, and indeed it was very good. The final and serious omission from Alive-O's story is the final day of creation, the seventh day, when God completed his work of creation, rested, and blessed the seventh day making it holy. These omissions of Alive-O result in depriving the pupils of a full Christian understanding of creation.
The discussion session after this story does not add to or develop the story of creation from a Christian point of view, but in fact diminishes it by relating it to human beings’ ability to make things.
There is a second story to be read out by the teacher, titled, 'Jumbledyjo’; the story is rather silly because it has a girl thinking that she can make things out of nothing just like God, which is surely beneath the intelligence of a 10 year old. While the story does go on to show that this is not possible, it then has a rather complex concept that the girl has in fact ‘created something’ which is the story. It is hard to see how this story could contribute anything significant to the pupil’s understanding of the Christian view of creation.
The subsequent discussion session does not contribute much. Then there is a poem titled, 'Good God', which is good in essence, but the language and presentation would not be easy for the pupils to follow. The next prayer time has a good prayer based on Psalm 95.
All the prayer times this week focus on a lighted candle, New Age style, and no Christian symbol is used. The prayer times are all scripted by Alive-O, consisting mainly of prayers led by the teacher, and where the pupils’ participation is limited to repeating Alive-O written prayers after the teacher. The great prayers of the Church feature only once, with a single Glory be to the Father. There is a reasonable Alive-O adaptation of Psalm 95, which the pupils are asked to repeat after the teacher on three occasions; however, the problem is that the prayer only speaks of material creation, not of the spiritual. Prayers from the Mass are used on five occasions, which is not satisfactory because taking prayers from the mass out of context in this way undermines the significance of the prayers and of the Mass. On two occasions the pupils are lead to sing the unsatisfactory Alive-O written song, 'Creation'.
Term 1, Lesson 3: Jesus and Creation. (A6-T1L3)
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has two short passages from Scripture, Matthew 6:25-26; 28-30, under the title, 'Don't Worry'. These two quotations from Scripture are excellent, and well selected to teach that one should not worry. However the way they are presented by Alive-O has serious problems. The introductory paragraph reads, 'Jesus saw things in the world around him that reminded him of God. He pointed these things out to his friends and disciples'.
This presents Jesus as if he were just a normal human being, who looked around at created things, thought about God, and pointed this out to his friends. This is radically contrary to the Christian understanding. Jesus was God, and he used references to things in the world around them as ways of teaching his disciples, and everyone, truths about God and our relationship with him. The key point about these teachings is omitted by Alive-O, which comes in Mt.6:32-33, where Jesus teaches that we should first and foremost seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the things of the earth would be given to us as well by our Father in heaven. In other words, we will have no need to worry – if, and only if, we put God first.
There is a poem titled, 'The Mustard Seed', which is nice enough, but does not contribute to a Christian understanding of creation. It is rather pantheistic in presenting personified talking seeds, including a mustard seed. It contributes nothing to an understanding of the two ways that the mustard seed is used in the Gospels: the parable in Matthew 13:31 which compares the growth of the mustard seed with the kingdom of God; and Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 17:20 where he upbraids the disciples for their lack of faith, and says how much could be done if their faith was even as small as a mustard seed.
There is a colourful illustration of Jesus surrounded by various plants, birds and animals, which is attractive, but teaches nothing more than to support the general thrust of this lesson, which presents Jesus as no more than a human being who liked God's creation.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a drawing to be coloured in, which is almost the same as the illustration in the Pupil's Book. The exercise for the pupils, asking them to write down the various things that reminded Jesus of God, reinforces Alive-O's presentation of Jesus as just a human being.
The prayer in the worksheet first asks Jesus to care for me like a gardener, and to shelter me like the mustard tree sheltered the birds. This is fine, but the last line is odd to say the least, because it asks that I would grow so that in all I do and say God will look on me and see that I am good. God knows very well that I am created good, that I am a fallen human being through original sin, that I am redeemed in Christ, and he does not have to look at what I do and say in order to know the state of my soul, because he can even read the innermost thoughts of my heart.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information here presents Jesus as if he were just an ordinary human being, who observed the world of nature, which reminded him of God, in the same way that we ordinary human beings can look at nature and be reminded of God.
Alive-O only speaks of the material and human creation, there is nothing spiritual involved. Even Jesus is not granted a spiritual side to him, saying that he was refreshed within himself, attuned to his values, his aspirations and his hopes. In relation to us human beings Alive-O refers to 'our inner world -- our moods and feelings'. In other words, we have no inner world of the spiritual, no immortal soul, only moods and feelings.
The thought for the teacher is an attractive poem, which also is purely material, which reinforces Alive-O's presentation of creation as material only, without a spiritual dimension.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
The lesson opens with a song and dance titled, 'Celtic Blessing'. The words and music are given in the Teacher's Book, and the video demonstrates the singing of the song and the accompanying dance. This is a New Age song and dance, which will contribute nothing to a Christian understanding of Jesus and creation.
The song and dance are taken from the 'Dances of Universal Peace', published by PeaceWorks Publications of Seattle USA. The dances are originated by a New Age teacher, Samuel L Lewis, who was a Sufi Murshid (teacher of Sufism – a mystical form of Islam, some westernized derivations of which tend towards New Age pantheism) and Rinzai Zen Master. It is claimed the dances draw on timeless traditions of Sacred Dance, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Native American, Celtic, Native African, and Goddess traditions. The PeaceWorks ‘Dances of Universal Peace’ feature, in addition to the ‘Celtic blessing’ dance, other dances such as: Dervish Zikr Dance, Allah Snake Dance, Alloha Albar Line Dance, Hare Rama Hare Krishna Dance, Hallelujah Snake Dance, Om Nama Shiva, and I Am a Circle ().
There is a story called, 'Trees', based on Judges 9:8-15. The story features an olive tree, a fig tree, a vine, and thorn bush, and a discussion as to who is going to be king. Alive-O changes the Scripture original and presents a story, reinforced in the following discussion sessions, which teaches that God wants each plant and each person to be what they are created to be. This is a good principle to teach, but it is not at all the meaning of the original passage in Scripture. This is another example of Alive-O's tendency to approach Scripture as 'spiritual putty’ which may be added to, subtracted from, or reshaped at will, to make it to say whatever Alive-O wants it to say.
The real meaning of the Scripture original in Judges 9:8-15 is a parable spoken by Jotham, who was one of Gideon’s sons. Gideon had refused the request of the people of Israel for himself, his sons and grandsons to rule over them, because he said that God should be their only Lord (Judges 8:22-23). Abimelech, Gideon's illegitimate son, had murdered his half-brothers and sought to be king. In Jotham's parable the olive tree, fig tree, and vine, who all refused to be king, resemble Gideon, his sons and grandsons. The thorn bush who wanted to be king is an obvious reference to Abimelech, who did indeed become King. Jotham's warning finally comes to pass when Abimelech is rejected by the people and killed (Judges 9:57).
The next story is, 'The Parable of the Fig Tree' (Luke13:6-10; also Mt.21:18-22), which is given straight from Scripture with no alterations or changes. This is not an easy parable to understand, and so its value is very doubtful for the pupils at their age and stage. The following discussion session does not even attempt to give an explanation of the parable, but merely talks about material creation.
The Teacher's Book also includes the two Scripture stories that appear in the Pupil's Book titled, 'Don't Worry'. The discussion sessions, artwork session, and prayer times that follow the stories simply reinforce the idea that Jesus was just an ordinary human being who was reminded of God by what he saw in the created natural world, and reminded his followers of this in his teachings. In one of the prayer times the Parable of the Sower is given, straight from Scripture, which is good in principle, but no explanation is given, which is not good. The pupils have earlier met this parable in Alive-O Book 3, where the parable is given but with no explanation or meaning (A3-T1 L9). The pupils meet the parable of the Sower again in Alive-O Book 4 (T1L10), but this time the parable is mixed up with four other parables in a nonsense story, which would thoroughly confuse any meaning they had taken out of the parable of the Sower and the other parables as well.
The final prayer time is supposed to be taken outdoors if at all possible, and serves only to reinforce yet again the idea of Jesus as a human being who was reminded of God by material creation. At the same time God’s unseen or spiritual creation is omitted as if it did not exist, as if material creation is all that there is.
The prayer times in this lesson focus on the lighted candle (apart from the prayer time which is held outdoors), no Christian symbol is used, so that the approach is more New Age than Christian. The Alive-O scripted prayer times are conducted almost entirely by the teacher, with minimal participation by the pupils, and when they do participate it is mostly to repeat something that the teacher tells them or to read a prayer from the worksheet. In one prayer time the children are invited to pray aloud prayer about a bird, and in another they are invited to remember stories about Jesus. In two prayer times the children are lead to sing the New Age prayer, 'Celtic Blessing'. The great prayers of the Church are used only twice, one Our Father, and one Glory be to the Father.
Video.
The video has been referred to briefly above, noting that it presents a New Age song and dance titled, 'Celtic Blessing'. The video presentation involves a small group of children, mostly girls, led by a dance teacher, and runs for 12 minutes. There are a series of strictly choreographed, ritualistic type movements, while moving round in a circle, which are performed firstly indoors and then outdoors. Apart from the many non-Christian and undesirable aspect of this whole New Age dance ritual, it would also be most impractical in a normal classroom of 30 children.
There is a big emphasis on nature, with flowers, pebbles and candles. The children are lead to 'bless each other with nature -- because nature is a great healer and peace-giver'. The children are also lead to bless each other with a 'special Celtic blessing', as follows, 'May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, forgiveness and feeling. May you treasure your friends, may you be good to them and may you be there for them. May they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truths and light, that you need for your journey'. There are some nice warm thoughts in this blessing, but it is not Christian and is entirely in harmony with a New Age spirituality.
Term 1, Lesson 4: St Francis Cares for Creation. (A6-T1L4)
Pupil's Book.
There is a short poem titled, 'Jesus, the Birds and Francis ', which is all fanciful fiction. The poem could only add to the pupils’ original confusion about the meaning of the Parable of the Sower, resulting from their earlier meeting with the Parable in Alive-O Book 4, Term 1, Lesson 10, when the Sower parable and four other parables were mixed up in a nonsense story. The poem and the accompanying illustration will also serve to reinforce the way that St Francis is presented in this lesson as a combination of a theist-humanitarian and caring naturalist like a Dr Dolittle.
There is also a question and answer to be learned, which is good: Q. How does God wants us to treat the world? A. God wants us to treat the world with respect and love because he created it for our use and enjoyment.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a picture of St Francis to be coloured in, and an exercise, which will reinforce the lesson’s presentation of St Francis as a caring naturalist. There is a prayer which speaks of caring for the world, which is good as far as it goes.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There is a good quotation from Scripture, and another from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
There is some good information about how Christians have inherited from the people of Israel and the Old Testament a great care for creation. This same care is shown by Jesus in the Gospels, and by many Christians since then, like St Francis.
The theme of the lesson is expressed as, ‘to help the children become aware of the Spirit of God in us and in others, especially in St Francis of Assisi, to inspire a similar at-oneness with the Spirit of God in the world of nature’. This wording is very open to a pantheistic interpretation, especially building on the thoroughly pantheistic New Age style teaching on the Holy Spirit, titled 'Earthed in the Spirit', from Alive-O Book 4, Term 1, Lesson 4.
The thought for the teacher is the 'Canticle of the Sun' of St Francis of Assisi. This is excellent. However, in the lesson itself Alive-O focuses only on the earlier verses which refer to material creation, and completely omits the final two verses which have inspiring and vitally important spiritual content relating to God’s unseen creation – the immortal soul and heaven.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There are two songs in this lesson, which are both based on Scripture, and are excellent. It would have been helpful if Alive-O had included the Scripture references. The first song, ' Bless the Lord' is based on Psalm 145. The second song is titled, 'Time and Time and Time Again', and is based on the Canticle of the three young men in the fiery furnace in Daniel chapter 3.
The Lesson presents a 'Story of St Francis of Assisi', which initially gives a reasonable account of the early life of St Francis up to the time of his conversion. However, from there on the story seriously misrepresents Francis, (and St Clare also) as a good theist-humanitarian who followed the example of that other theist-humanitarian, Jesus. The story omits the fundamental spiritual nature of St Francis' conversion, his burning and unconditional love for Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, whose call to Francis to ‘Re-build My Church’ was the wellspring for his care for people and the created world, and above all for his passionate dedication and obedience to the Catholic Church as the body of Christ.
The activity associated with the story focuses attention entirely on material creation, but the prayer time is very good as it features the great prayer of St Francis, 'Make me an instrument of your peace'.
There are four stories of St Francis, drawing on the tradition of Franciscan stories, which tell of his love for a bird, a swallow, a fish, a sheep and two lambs. These are all fascinating and touching stories, but unfortunately the stories and the accompanying discussion sessions and prayer times give a very unbalanced picture of St Francis, showing him as just a very caring naturalist (like a holy Doctor Doolittle), not as the passionate lover of Jesus Christ and his Church.
The prayer times in this lesson are again devoid of Christian symbols, focusing attention, New Age style, on a single lighted candle. It is not good that the great prayers of the Church feature only once, with a single Glory be to the Father. One of the two excellent songs for this lesson is sung at each prayer time, which is very good. The prayer of St Francis (Make me an instrument of your peace) and a prayer based on Psalm 148 are included, which are both very good.
What is not good is the inclusion again of many responses from the Mass, which taken this way out of context can only diminish the significance of the prayers and of the Mass itself.
The final prayer time is a 'Prayer Service for a Blessing of Animals', which has several problems associated with it. While there is a suggestion that this prayer service may be held in the parish, it is obvious that it is intended to be held in the school classroom. The script calls for a Leader (who will normally be the teacher) to act in exactly the same way that the priest would in a normal Catholic blessing ceremony, including performing the blessings with 'holy water'. This is not an appropriate Catholic practice and undermines the significance of the role of the priest in Catholic sacramentals.
There is a gospel reading to be read by a 'Reader', with preceding and following prayers exactly as they are in the Mass; this is not appropriate to take this form of solemn proclamation of the gospel out of its context in the Mass, when it can only be proclaimed by an ordained priest, and put it in a completely different setting of a prayer meeting with laypeople only, and not in a church; this amounts to a kind of parody of the Mass.
A further problem arises in relation to the Parable of the Lost Sheep. This parable has already been addressed twice by Alive-O (in Book 3, term 2, lesson 5, and in book 4, term 2, lesson 5), and in both cases the parable is badly presented, undermining the gospel meaning, and presenting the lost sheep not as a repentant sinner, but as simply someone who has got physically lost, while the 99 virtuous sheep are the sinners who must repent. Alive-O does not use the opportunity to put good these past mistakes by giving correct rendition of the parable in this lesson; rather the mistake is continued.
The version of the parable taken from the Gospel of Luke is included in the prayer time on Day 4, but the final verse (Luke 15:7), which explains that the lost sheep is a sinner whose repentance leads to rejoicing, is omitted. The prayer service for the Blessing of Animals uses the version of the Parable from the Gospel of Matthew, but again the final verse which gives meaning to the parable (Matthew 18:14) is omitted by Alive-O.
The Holy Spirit
Term 3: Lesson 6. The Holy Spirit (A6-T3L6)
Summary.
This lesson has some reasonable information about the Holy Spirit, but is not satisfactory because of the dominant impression given that the Holy Spirit is not God, but only some kind of presence of God, and therefore less than God. A most unsatisfactory feature is the changing of Scripture in relation to Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost, omitting parts of the speech which are authentically Christian, and substituting material which fits in with Alive-O's theistic spirituality.
There is one brief but good teaching on the Trinity, but it is greatly de-emphasised and effectively 'buried' in the middle of an optional discussion session.
Pupil’s Book.
A traditional 'Prayer to the Holy Spirit' is included, which is excellent.
There is an illustration which shows men, women and children of different nationalities all with tongues of fire over their heads. The illustration may help pupils to understand that the Holy Spirit is poured out on all people. However, the illustration is potentially confusing here because the experience of tongues of fire was unique to Pentecost, and was never repeated in any other situation where the Holy Spirit came in power on people.
There are five questions with answers, which contain some good information about the Holy Spirit: the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles at Pentecost; is the third person of the Blessed Trinity; comes to us when we are baptised and confirmed; helps us to live like Jesus and remember his words; brings the fruit of the Spirit. However, there are several important things about the Holy Spirit which are omitted, and above all the one absolutely essential thing is omitted, and that is that the Holy Spirit is God. This is consistent with Alive-O's incorrect presentation of the Trinity, in which the first person of the Trinity is God, and the second and third persons, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, are not God and somehow less than God. This most serious of omissions undermines the Christian credibility of this lesson.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a brief story of the day of Pentecost, which is not satisfactory because it diminishes the key message that Peter gave in his preaching on the day of Pentecost. This diminishing of Peter's message is repeated in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book, and is commented on further below.
There is another 'Prayer to the Holy Spirit', this time written by Alive-O. The prayer is not satisfactory because it gives the impression that the Holy Spirit is no more than a presence of God which is everywhere.
Information for teachers in the Teacher's Book.
The information here is most unsatisfactory, because it has the same omission as in the Pupil's Book of the one essential truth about the Holy Spirit, and that is that he is God. The information reinforces the concept that the Holy Spirit is no more than a godly presence, as follows, 'The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God in others, in the world, in peoples lives'. The thought for the teacher is unsatisfactory in that it reinforces this incorrect concept of the Holy Spirit.
Lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
There is a song, 'Come Holy Spirit' which is reasonable, but only in the context of sound Christian teaching on the Holy Spirit, something which is missing from Alive-O.
There is a story titled, 'Our Very Un-Silly Goat!' The story is about children sending out a goat to the Third World via the programme offered by the charity Bothar. In itself the story is fine, and this charity does excellent work in helping poor people in the Third World. However, its value in teaching the pupils about the Holy Spirit is minimal, and it takes up lesson time that could have been used to give authentic teaching about the Holy Spirit.
There is a dramatised version of the day of Pentecost, which is reasonable apart from two flaws, one minor and the other very serious. Alive-O's script describes the disciples as being sad and frightened after Jesus' Ascension, but this is contrary to the account in the Acts of the Apostles, which simply says that the disciples gathered together in prayer after the Ascension, apparently in a quiet confidence that Jesus' promise would be fulfilled and that they would receive the Holy Spirit.
The other flaw is much more serious. Peter’s speech to the crowd on the day of Pentecost (Acts2:14-41) is the first proclamation of the Kerygma, the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. Alive-O's Pentecost drama changes the Scripture to fit in with its own spirituality. Key points in Peters speech were that the prophets of the Old Testament foretold what was happening, that Jesus is both Lord and Christ, and when the people asked what they should do Peter told them they must repent, be baptised and they will receive the Holy Spirit. Alive-O omits all these key points, and instead has Peter telling the crowd that they should follow Jesus, listen to him, live in the way he asked, which is to love God and neighbour; this fits in with Alive-O's spirituality, in which Jesus is simply a great man whose mission was to teach us that we should love God and love one another.
In a 'Chatting' or discussion session Alive-O does present a brief but good teaching on the Trinity. However the value of this good teaching is greatly diminished by the way it is placed along with discussion starter questions in this optional session. It could hardly be more de-emphasised, and is effectively 'buried'. The optional 'Chatting' sessions are not designed for the imparting of information to the pupils, but merely as suggestions to the teacher as to how the discussion might go; the teachers have also been recommended by Alive-O not to lead the discussion sessions at all, but leave the leading to the children themselves, and so if the teacher follows this advice this good teaching on the Trinity would be totally lost.
The prayer times for this week's lesson do not use any Christian symbols, only a lighted candle. The good 'Prayer to the Holy Spirit' is used twice. The great prayers of the Church are not used at all. The other prayers are all Alive-O written with the pupils making Alive-O written responses; these prayers are not unreasonable in themselves, but are limited to fit in with Alive-O's own spirituality.
Mary.
Term 1: Lesson 5. Mary. (A6-T1L5)
Summary.
The wedding feast at Cana is featured in the Pupil's Book and the Worksheet. However the presentation is poor, with many imaginative fictional additions which overwhelm the story, some key omissions and a most unfortunate presentation of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as if they were 'an item'. Mary is described as mother of Jesus, but not as mother of God. There is a good summary of the Assumption, but it lacks backup information and explanation. The Hail Mary is presented, which is good, but there is no explanation of the meaning of the prayer, which is not good.
The video segment presents images of Mary, which are excellent. The only pity is that these excellent images are not reflected in the illustrations in the Pupil's Book, which tend to show the ordinariness of Mary, rather than following the great Christian tradition of presenting Mary as someone who was really special, worthy of our greatest respect and devotion.
The other lesson material in the Teacher's Book deals with the miracle of Cana, but does not adequately develop the meaning of the miracle. There is material on the Rosary, which is excellent in principle. However, the actual material presented is rather mixed. There is an excellent instruction for the teachers on how to pray the rosary, but it would have been better if this material was incorporated in some way in the pupil texts. There is a poem on the Sorrowful Mysteries, which is most unsatisfactory in that it omits from the Crucifixion any reference to Jesus’ death on the cross winning our salvation from sin; this is consistent with the Alive-O’s normal practice of nonrecognition of Jesus as our divine Saviour from sin.
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story-poem titled, 'How Was the Wedding?', about the wedding feast at Cana, based on John 2: 1-11. The story does contain most of the happenings at this wedding feast, but is not satisfactory as a Christian teaching for a number of reasons. Most of the story is fictional trivia, which will only overwhelm and distract attention from the gospel account and its meaning.
The gospel explains the significance of this event in the final verse 11, as follows: 'This was the first of the signs given by Jesus; it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him'.
Alive-O omits this final verse 11, and also omits explaining any other significance of the story. This was Jesus' first miracle, which was a demonstration of his divine power and led his disciples to believe in him. The changing of water into wine is also seen by the Church as prefiguring of the Eucharist. The miracle is also seen by the Church as a sign that marriage has been blessed by Jesus as a sacrament. The event also demonstrates the extraordinary intercessory power of Mary, because not only did Jesus perform a miracle at her request, but having initially told her the appointed time for him to begin his public ministry had not yet come, 'My hour has not come yet', he changed that plan and started his public ministry in response to her promptings. Alive-O's story omits all these important significances, and at the same time includes a considerable amount of trivial fiction which distracts from a correct understanding of the miracle.
There are other unsatisfactory aspects in Alive-O's story-poem. The Scripture says that Jesus was accompanied at the wedding feast by ‘his disciples’, of which four are named in the immediately preceding passage John 1:35-51 as the apostles Peter, Andrew, Philip and Nathanael. Of these disciples Alive-O’s story-poem omits Philip and Nathanael and only mentions Peter and Andrew, after saying that Martha, Mary and Mary Magdalene were there. Scripture does not mention these women as present in Cana, and it is unlikely they were present because they do not appear in the Gospels until later in Jesus' public ministry; Alive-O’s fictional account could also give the impression that these women were also apostles. It is particularly objectionable that the story-poem presents 'Jesus and Mary Magdalene' together as if they were ‘an item’. Also when Jesus responds to his mother Mary's initial request Alive-O says that 'he answered nervously', giving the impression that he was merely personally too embarrassed or shy to do anything, rather than, as in the Scripture, he was stating that the appointed time for starting his public ministry had not yet arrived.
There are two questions and answers to be learned. The first one reads, Q. Why do Christians honour Mary? A. Christians honour Mary because she is the mother of Jesus and our mother. This is not incorrect, but it does not go far enough, because it could be understood that Mary was simply the mother of a very special human being Jesus, and not Mother of God, because Jesus is the Second Divine Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The second question on the Assumption is satisfactory.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a picture of six large stone water jars, and the instruction to the pupils is to write on each a memory that Mary has of Jesus. This is a reasonable exercise, but it would have been more appropriate to have an exercise that helped the pupils understand the miracle of Cana. The Worksheet also has the text of the Hail Mary, which is good, but there is no explanation of the prayer, which is not good.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There are two good quotations from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The other information for teachers outlines what is in the rest of the lesson content, including introduction to the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, and the story of the wedding feast at Cana. The aim of the lesson is given as to deepen the children's appreciation of Mary, so that through her and like her they, too, will honour Jesus. As noted above, the lesson material that the pupils will actually see in the Pupil's Book and Worksheet will contribute very little to this aim, while the lesson material in the Teacher's Book is mixed, some good and some not so good.
The thought for the teacher is a poem which is an adaptation of the Magnificat, but not a good adaptation; the Scripture original is far superior.
This Teacher's Book 6 gives at the end of the lesson material a brief instruction on 'How to Recite the Rosary Using the Glorious Mysteries'. This instruction is excellent, but could well have been incorporated in some way into the lesson materials themselves, in both Teacher’s and Pupil's Books. It is good that the instruction includes the recitation of the 'Hail Holy Queen' at the end of the Rosary; however, the text of the Hail Holy Queen is not given in either the Teacher's Book or the Pupil's Book, which is not good.
Lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled, 'Mary, Our Mother', which is good.
There is a story titled, 'The Wedding at Cana', which is stated to be based on John 2:1-11. It is a straight and faithful quotation from Scripture, except for one thing; the final verse 11 is omitted. This is a most serious omission, because as has been noted above, this final verse 11 explains the significance as to why this story is in the Scripture in the first place. This is consistent with Alive-O's frequent practice of treating Scripture like 'spiritual putty’, which may be added to or subtracted from at will.
The discussion sessions and activity following the story do not help to draw out the meaning and significance of Jesus' miracle at the wedding feast of Cana. The following prayer time is an improvement, in that the pupils are called to say in their response, 'Mary, mother of God! Mary, mother of Jesus!' The prayer time does help in understanding Mary as an intercessor with Jesus and one who leads people to Jesus, which is good, but it still fails to bring out the significance of the miracle for Jesus' identity and mission.
The story-poem from the Pupil's Book is repeated in the Teacher's Book, but the following discussion sessions do not help to draw out the full meaning of the miracle. There are two discussion starter questions which read as follows, 'Can you remember what Mary had tried to teach Jesus as he was growing up? Do you think she succeeded?' An unsatisfactory aspect of these questions is that Joseph is excluded, which is not good. The mother of a Jewish boy growing up at that time would have had a great influence on him, and he would have enormous affection and respect for his mother, nevertheless, his father would be the principal influence on the boy, and would be his teacher, mentor and role-model. St Joseph has been nominated by the Church as patron and guardian of the Universal Church, so it is particularly important in this day and age to teach great reverence and respect for Joseph, as a great Saint and a Christian male role-model for both boys and girls, but particularly for young men.
The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary are listed; these were introduced to the pupils in Alive-O book 3, term 3, lesson 1. The Mysteries with accompanying illustrations were included in the Pupil's Book 3, and the lesson material in the Teacher's Book 3 included praying a decade of the Rosary.
The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary are also listed. The pupils first met the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary in Alive-O Book 4, Term 3, Lesson 1. The Mysteries were not included in Pupil's Book 4 and were only partly included in Teacher's Book 4, which had a poem titled, 'The Sorrowful Mysteries', with a verse dealing with each of the Mysteries, but did not actually name them.
The same poem from Book 4 on 'The Sorrowful Mysteries' is repeated in this Teacher's Book 6. The poem is mostly satisfactory, except for the last verse dealing with the crucifixion, which describes Jesus as simply 'Rabbi, Friend and Healer'. This is a staggering omission of the utmost seriousness. From a Christian understanding the most important fact of Jesus’ death on the cross is that it redeemed us from sin, which only Jesus could do because he is God and man. This is so absolutely fundamental to Christianity, that Alive-O's omission compromises the entire programme’s Christian authenticity. However this omission of Alive-O at this point is not a one-off, but is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of Jesus as Saviour right through the programme, which in turn is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of original sin (without which there is no need for a saviour), and Alive-O's treatment of Jesus as just a special human being, but no more than that.
The activities on making rosary beads from various materials are fine in themselves, but rather complicated and probably would only serve to distract time and attention which would be better spent on learning about the Mysteries of the Rosary.
The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary are listed, which is good. However, it is not good that the Mysteries do not appear in the Pupil's Book. In fact, the only place that any of original Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary appear in any of the eight Alive-O Pupil’s Books is the Joyful Mysteries in Book 3. (The new Mysteries of Light appear in Pupil’s Book 7). This will not encourage or support the pupils in learning the Mysteries of the Rosary, which need to be well presented at first, and then repeated. As a reminder, it would have been very easy to include all the mysteries of the Rosary at the back of the Pupil's Books, but Alive-O does not do this.
This Teacher's Book 6 gives at the end of the lesson material a brief instruction on 'How to Recite the Rosary Using the Glorious Mysteries'. This instruction is excellent, but could well have been incorporated in some way into the lesson materials themselves, in both Teacher’s and Pupil's Books. It is good that the instruction includes the recitation of the 'Hail Holy Queen' at the end of the Rosary; however, the text of the Hail Holy Queen is not given in either the Teacher's Book or the Pupil's Book, which is not good.
The prayer times for this week's lesson make much greater use of the great prayers of the Church, in that the Hail Mary is used in the first two days, and a decade of the Rosary is prayed on the other three days. What is not good is that the meaning of the Hail Mary prayer is not taught. Each day the song, ' Mary our Mother', is used in the prayer time, which is good.
No Christian symbols are used in the prayer times, only a lighted candle, which is more in tune with New Age prayer than Christian practice. It is surprising, and regrettable, that in this week's lesson which is devoted to Mary, there is no symbol of Mary used during the prayer times. Particularly surprising when there are so many excellent images of Mary shown in the video that accompanies this lesson.
The final prayer time is a, 'Prayer Service of Blessing of Religious Objects', which is good. The Prayer Service includes a reading from the gospel of John about the wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1-11), and this time, at last, the crucial verse 11 is included. However, no attempt is made to develop or explain the meaning of verse 11, so its impact on the pupils will be minimal, at best.
Video.
The video shows a wide selection of statues, pictures, icons, and stained glass windows of Mary. They are all excellent, inspiring, beautiful, and reverential. They should add greatly to the pupils’ understanding of Mary in the great tradition of the Church. It is a pity that none of these marvellous pictures appear in the Pupil's Books as illustrations of Mary, while the actual illustrations in the Pupil's Books would not in general foster respect for Mary as the Mother of God, and some very poor illustrations would undermine that respect.
The Church.
Term 2: Lesson 2. Our Parish.
Lesson 3. The Body of Christ – The Church.
Lesson 4. The Body of Christ – At Play.
Lesson 5. The Body of Christ – At Work.
(Note: Term2 Lesson1: A Healing Community, appears at first sight to be a lesson on the Church, but it mainly deals with the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, and is therefore analysed below under the heading ‘Liturgy and Sacraments’).
Summary.
This set of four lessons are devoted to the theme of the Church. While they do contain some good material, nevertheless the lessons fall seriously short of giving authentic Catholic teaching on the Church.
There is some useful information on the parish, but in general the parish is treated very much like a local human community. There is mention of priests as part of the parish community, but their role and position are gravely diminished. ‘Parish Priest’ and ‘Curate’ are not mentioned.
There is some limited information on the Diocese, and the Bishop is mentioned, but there is no explanation as to what a Bishop is and what is his role.
There is virtually no information on the Universal Catholic Church. The term 'Catholic Church' never appears. The term 'pope’ only appears once, jumbled up among a number of other names on a worksheet; there is no explanation as to who or what a ‘pope’ is. The identity of the Catholic Church is confused and obfuscated, because the word 'Church' sometimes implies the Catholic Church, but in other places the word 'Church' is defined as all those who are baptised. These lessons will give the pupils minimal understanding of what the Catholic Church is, and probably a great deal of confusion.
As noted above, Alive-O repeatedly describes the 'Church' as all the baptised. However, Alive-O's version of Baptism is no more than a joining or initiation ritual for those joining a group of people who follow the teaching and example of Jesus, who is presented as a very special man and no more than that. As a result, Alive-O’s presentation on the Church makes it virtually no different to a group of theist humanitarians, who care for and help each other.
Alive-O does not recognize the lay movements and organisations within the Catholic Church, which have contributed hugely to the vitality and building of the Church. Some groups, such as the Legion of Mary and the St Vincent de Paul Society, have been a dynamic part of the Church’s life for many years. Others are the new lay movements and groups that have been raised up by the Holy Spirit in the Church since the Second Vatican Council, which have been encouraged and promoted by successive Popes. None of these organisations or movements get even a mention, let alone encouragement, from Alive-O.
The image of the Church as the Body of Christ, which appears in the letters of St Paul, is used a lot in the lessons, but is radically changed from the scriptural image. The key point of the scriptural image of the Body of Christ is that Christ is the Head of this Body; without Christ as Head the image is meaningless. Alive-O omits Christ as Head, and presents the image of a headless body, which is really no more than a secular image of a group of people who are connected to and care for each other.
Alive-O does present a teaching on the conversion of St Paul in conjunction with the teachings on the Body of Christ, but Alive-O’s story has key alterations and omissions from the Scripture original to fit in with Alive-O’s unauthentic concepts of Jesus, St Paul and 'Church'.
Alive-O returns to the Gospel story of children being welcomed by Jesus. However Alive-O fails to distinguish between qualities which are childlike and childish, omits and spiritual qualities of children and so fails to present the significance of Jesus’ teaching on children and the Kingdom of God.
Term 2, Lesson 2. Our Parish. (A6-T2L2)
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book has a sample Newsletter from a fictional parish. Most of the items are good and give a reasonable idea of what would be going on in a good Catholic parish. However, as a teaching for the pupils on the meaning of a Catholic Parish it has several limitations.
There is no teaching on what a parish is, and how it is part of a Diocese and the Universal Catholic Church. There is no teaching on the diocese or Bishop, and while there is mention of priests, the role of the priest is not explained and there is no mention at all of 'Parish Priest' or 'Parish Curate'. The term 'Catholic Church' is never used in the Pupil's Book or worksheet, nor is it mentioned in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
There are items in the Newsletter on Cemetery Sunday and the month of November as month of the Holy Souls, but no mention of praying for the dead for their release from Purgatory to be welcomed by God in heaven. (This is consistent with Alive-O's general poor teaching on the Last Things). There is an item on a visit to the parish of a missionary nun, which is fine in itself, but considering that the previous lesson also featured a missionary nun, it would have been better to keep a balance by having a missionary priest come and visit the parish to tell about his evangelisation work on the missions.
A major omission from the Parish Newsletter is any mention of lay movements or organisations. The longer established movements, such as the Legion of Mary and the St Vincent the Paul Society, have played a huge part in parish life in Ireland in the past and continue to do so. The new ecclesial movements and organizations (largely, but not exclusively, laity) that have been raised up by the Holy Spirit in the church since the Second Vatican Council have given tremendous vitality, enthusiasm and spiritual renewal in the Church in Ireland and throughout the Catholic world. Lay groups are a vital part of dynamic parishes, and should be mentioned, and indeed given prominence, in a sample ‘Parish Newsletter’.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a 'Parish Fact File' to be filled in by the pupils. The headings to be filled in tend to reinforce the idea of the parish as a local secular organisation. It would have been helpful to include the name of the patron saint of parish, and the significance of that saint. There is just one heading for parish groups and organisations, which fails to distinguish between the groups that deal with the essential spiritual nature of the parish, and other groups which can help but are limited only to secular activities like sport. There is no place for putting in vital information on the spiritual services in the parish, such as the times of Masses, confessions and other spiritual activities.
The role of the priests of the parish is greatly diminished by not having a special place for the names of the parish priest and curates. There is just one section which asks the pupils to fill in the names of ‘priests and other people in the parish’.
The worksheet also has a map of Ireland with diocesan boundaries. This is good, but what is lacking is an explanation as to what a diocese is; the lesson material in the Teacher's Book does say something about a diocese, but treats dioceses as simply geographical boundaries of convenience, likened to counties. The pupils will therefore not have much idea of what a diocese is, particularly as there is no teaching on what a Bishop is.
Neither worksheet mentions the Catholic Church.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information for teachers focuses on the parish as a 'home place', understood primarily as a human and secular reality. There is mention of St Paul’s image of the Church as the Body of Christ, but in later lesson material the concept of 'body' is developed in a purely secular way.
The thought for the teacher reinforces the idea of parish as being a purely secular and human 'home place'.
There is further mention of secular lay organisations and groups, including the Traveller Movement and Amnesty International. This is continuing the serious omission of lay spiritual Catholic groups, both long established and newly raised up by the Holy Spirit. It is particularly unwise to have included an organisation like Amnesty, because this organisation, even though founded by a Catholic and which has done remarkably good work for many years, has now changed its policy to be pro-abortion, and therefore is no longer an organisation that could be supported by Catholics.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled, 'Parish Anthem', which is reasonable, but only in the context of good teaching on the Catholic parish, something which is lacking from Alive-O. The discussion session following this song treats the parish largely as a local secular and human reality, and the diocese purely as a geographical convenience similar to a secular county. There is mention of ‘the local priest', but no mention of the 'Parish Priest', or any reference to the important role and significance of the priest in the parish. There is no mention of what a diocese is or even mention of the bishop of the diocese. The following activity and prayer time reinforce the idea of the parish as purely secular and human 'home place'.
There is a story titled, ‘Rosie Wants to Go Home', which is a touching story about an old lady who wants to go back to her home place. The story teaches nothing about what a Catholic parish is, and reinforces the idea that the parish is purely secular and human 'home place'. The following discussion session and two prayer times reinforce this idea of the parish as a purely human and secular reality, the local area which we like to call home.
The lesson material then focuses on the Parish Newsletter from the Pupil's Book. The prayer times, discussion sessions and activity all reinforce the idea that the parish is primarily a human and secular home place, and there is no development of the meaning of the parish within the Catholic Church and its spiritual significance. The priest does get a mention but he is trivialised and diminished by the lack of prominence given to his position and his role in the parish, and the absence of any explanation or teaching on the nature and role of the priest in the parish. Alive-O simply states that, 'the priest is also a part of the parish community'.
The prayer times in this lesson are all Alive-O scripted, led by the teacher with the students participation being limited to repeating Alive-O written responses. The great prayers of the church are not used at all. No Christian symbol is used, only a lighted candle. The content of the prayers is predominantly 'horizontal', rather than spiritual, and reinforces Alive-O's concept of the parish as the local human and secular community.
Term 2, Lesson 3. The Body of Christ – The Church. (A6-T2L3).
Pupil's Book.
There is a very short account of the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus. It is too brief to teach pupils a good understanding of St Paul – the story only refers to 'Saul', and does not explain that Saul and St Paul are the same person. Also Alive-O omits the scriptural word 'persecute' Jesus and substitutes instead 'against me (Jesus)' and 'trying to hurt (Jesus)'. This may seem like a very small and unimportant change, but it has major implications for the presentation of Alive-O's version of Christianity as opposed to authentic Christianity. See below for further comment on the expanded version of the story which appears in the Teacher's Book.
There is a short poem about the Body of Christ, which is poor, because it only presents a secular humanitarian dimension of the Church.
There are two questions with answers. Q. What does St Paul call the Church? A. St Paul calls the Church the Body of Christ. This is fine.
The second question is far from satisfactory. Q. What happened to us in the sacrament of Baptism? A. In the sacrament of Baptism we became followers of Jesus and members of the Church. This reinforces Alive-O’s much-repeated erroneous concept of the sacrament of Baptism as no more than a human ritual which signifies membership of a body of people, the Church, who follow the teachings and example of Jesus. It also fails to clarify, indeed confuses, what is the Catholic Church; Alive-O often uses 'Church' to refer, by implication, to the Catholic Church, but it does not use the term ‘Catholic Church’. In the answer to this question, however, Alive-O is defining 'Church' as all Christians, all those who are baptised. This is consistent with Alive-O's deficient, almost total absence of, teaching on the Catholic Church. This practice of Alive-O is not consistent with an authentic Catholic catechetical text.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has an exercise to take a number of different words and write them to outline the shape of a body. This is supposed to help the pupils to understand the image of the Church as the Body of Christ. The exercise will only seek to reinforce the lesson material in the Teacher's Book which presents an image of a ‘body’ which is not truly the Body of Christ, but rather a headless Christ-less secular body.
The essence of St Paul’s teaching on the Church as the Body of Christ, is that the head is Christ and we are the members. The words given in the exercise in the worksheet do not include Christ, and therefore any body that is constructed from these words omits Christ, and therefore is no more than a secular body. The various words also include 'bishops' and 'Pope'. This can only give the pupils the impression that bishops and Pope are no different to anyone else in the Church, particularly as bishops are not mentioned anywhere else in the pupil's material, but are only mentioned in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book, but without any explanation as to what Bishop is. The Pope is not even mentioned in the Teacher's Book, let alone explained, so the pupils will have no idea as to what or who a ‘Pope’ is.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information opens with two good quotations from the CCC, and one from Scripture, but these quotations are not followed through in the ensuing text.
The information reinforces Alive-O's deficient understanding of Baptism as no more than becoming members of the Church.
Most of the information reinforces Alive-O's image of the Body of Christ as no more than a secular idea of a headless body. However, one paragraph does include the correct idea of the Body of Christ, in which the key to the image is that Christ is the head, but this is not followed through in the subsequent lesson material.
The thought for the teacher is an excellent quotation from St Teresa of Avila.
Lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
There are two songs in this lesson. The first is the traditional, 'Christ Be beside Me', which is excellent.
The second song is titled, 'I Will Be the Vine', which is based on the scriptural image of Christ as the vine and we as the branches. This song is also excellent. However, there is no explanation or development of the meaning of the song in the lesson material, and neither is the image of the Vine and branches related to the image of the Body of Christ. The absence of explanation or development of the meaning of this good song will greatly limit its value for the pupils.
There is a story titled, “The ‘Organ-ising Body’!”. This is a very poor and confusing confrontational story about the members of the human body, arguing and disputing among themselves as to which is the most important. It ends with a kind of conclusion that all members of the body are of value. It is supposed to help teach the pupils that the Church is the Body of Christ, but it will only serve to give the impression that the Church is a headless secular body, undermining the true meaning of the Body of Christ. The following discussion sessions, prayer times, and activity session, all reinforce the concept of the Church as no more than a secular group of people, which does not have Christ as head, and does not have any other kind of head.
There is a story titled, 'Saul and the Lord Jesus', which expands on the extremely limited version in the Pupil’s Book. This expanded version of the story has more information about the conversion of Saul/Paul but still suffers from some serious omissions and distortions. Alive-O omits that Saul was going to Damascus with the authority of the chief priests to arrest Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem, presumably for trial and punishment for heresy (the Romans had granted the chief priests this power over Jews in Judea and other parts of the Empire). This omission is in line with Alive-O’s omission of the involvement of the chief priests in the trial of Jesus before his crucifixion, their handing over of Jesus to Pilate and their calls for his execution. The story in the Teacher’s Book also repeats the omission of the Pupil's Book of the word 'persecute' (which means ‘to subject to penalties for heresy’), and its replacement by are the words 'against me' and 'trying to hurt'. These omissions and the changes are consistent with Alive-O's understanding of Jesus. Alive-O does not recognize Jesus as divine, therefore it omits the trial of Jesus before the high priests where he was deemed to be guilty of death for the ultimate blasphemy of claiming to be God. It was because the chief priest considered Jesus to be a blasphemer that they considered that Jesus followers were in heresy, and should be persecuted.
Alive-O's view of Jesus is quite different, presenting him has no more than someone who told people that God loved them and that people should love one another, and because he would not stop telling people that God loved them he was put to death. Therefore in Alive-O's view Paul was only going to Damascus because he did not like Christians and wanted to hurt them, there was no question of heresy involved, because there was absolutely nothing heretical under the Jewish religion for Jesus to be teaching that God loved us and that we should love one another.
Another important omission from Alive-O’s story of St Paul is his baptism after his sight has been restored. Alive-O’s story then goes on to minimise the mission of St Paul, making it fit in with Alive-O’s presentation of Christianity; the story simply says that Paul ‘did important work teaching people about the Lord Jesus’. The Acts of the Apostles, on the other hand, says that God had chosen Paul to bring the name of Jesus before pagans and the people of Israel, and that in Damascus he taught people that Jesus was the Son of God and the Christ.
Alive-O’s story of the conversion of St Paul also omits the conclusion of his time in Damascus when he was threatened by the Jews and had to escape from the city by being let down from the top of the wall in a basket. This dramatic event would have been of great interest to the pupils and would have added to their understanding of St Paul.
The following discussion session reinforces Alive-O’s diminished version of Christianity as simply following the teaching and example of Jesus. Instead of following Scripture and saying that Paul convinced people that Jesus was the Son of God and Christ, Alive-O simply says, 'Paul became a great teacher, teaching people about Jesus and how to live according to the message of Jesus'. This discussion session, activity session and the following prayer time presents a false view of the changes in Paul before and after his conversion. Alive-O presents Paul as a harsh angry person before his conversion, who changed into a kind gentle person after his conversion. This seriously misses out on the nature of Paul and his conversion. Before his conversion Paul was a zealous lover and follower of God as a dedicated and committed Jew, and after his conversion his faith in Jesus and transformation in the Holy Spirit led him to be an even more zealous, enthusiastic and committed lover of God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
There is a story titled, 'The Body of Christ', which is based on selected passages from the first letter to the Corinthians. It is most unsatisfactory because the selectivity of the quotations misrepresent Scripture and give the impression of a human headless body, with no mention of Christ being the head. The subsequent discussion session, activity and two prayer times reinforce the idea that the image of the Church is that of a secular headless body. The term 'Body of Christ' is used many times but there is never a mention that Christ is the head of this 'Body'; unless Christ is Head, the body image has only a secular meaning.
There is also a complete absence of teaching on the Catholic Church, and the essential hierarchal nature of the Church. The hierarchical nature of the church is undermined and diminished by mentioning 'priest / bishop' as just two items in the middle of a list which includes 'you, your parents, guardians, your friend, neighbours, teacher’, and without giving any explanation as to who or what priests/bishops are and what is their special role in the Church. The Pope is not even mentioned let alone explained. Baptism is mentioned, but again Alive-O's deficient understanding is reinforced by presenting Baptism as no more than becoming members of the Church.
The prayer times in this lesson follow Alive-O's normal pattern of being fully scripted, led by the teacher, with the pupil's participation largely limited to repeating Alive-O scripted responses. No Christian symbols are used, only a lighted candle. There is minimal use of the great prayers of the church, with the Our Father being used just once in the week. A good feature of the prayer times this week is that each day there is the singing of one or other of the two excellent songs given for this lesson.
Term 2, Lesson 4. The Body of Christ – At Play. (A6-T2L4).
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story titled, 'Ishvah’s Story,' which is given as 'related to Luke 18:15-17’. The story is complete fiction and is of no value.
There is a colourful illustration of children being brought up to be blessed by Jesus, while a group of disapproving disciples looks on. The illustration is not unreasonable, except that it is rather sexist, in that there are only women bringing the children to Jesus, no men. This is not a good reflection of what is in Scripture, which says simply that people were bringing the children to Jesus. There are also many instances in the gospels of fathers showing great care and love for their children, such as Joseph, Jairus, the father of the epileptic demoniac (Luke 9:37-43), the father of the seriously ill son (John for: 46-53).
Worksheet.
There is an illustration of young people playing a game of soccer, which in itself teaches nothing about the Body of Christ, and reinforces the excessive focus in the Teacher's Book lesson material on secular play. The illustration is also ‘politically correct’, in that it shows a team of girls competing with a team of boys in soccer, which is something that does not normally happen. The illustration could also be considered sexist, in that it shows happy, confident, smiling girls getting the better of scowling, dismayed, floundering boys.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
Alive-O discusses the role of children and adults in the church. Alive-O is correct in saying that children are equally members of the Church, the Body of Christ, and they that they are different in many ways to adults. However Alive-O is misses out on the difference between childlike and childish.
When Jesus welcomes children and said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these and unless we welcome the kingdom of heaven like a child we will not enter at, he was stressing that adults need certain qualities which could be called ‘childlike’. (Luke 18:15-17; Matthew 10:1-4; Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16). Jesus made it clear that one of the most important childlike qualities that adults needed was humility, the readiness to serve and to obey, which is the natural quality of good children who love and honour their parents. (Luke 9:47; Matthew 10:1-4; Matthew 20:24-28; Mark 10:41-45; Luke 22:24-27). Alive-O never mentions humility and obedience as good qualities of children, (nor does it ever teach children to be obedient to their parents).
Other childlike qualities, in addition to obedience and humility, that the Gospels encourage in adults are: trust, openness, innocence, happiness to be ‘little’.
It is very important to distinguish between childlike and childish qualities. ‘Childlike’ are those good qualities of children which are to be encouraged in adults. ‘Childish’ are those qualities which are fine and appropriate to children, but which adults must leave behind if they are to act in a mature and responsible manner. A key scriptural quotation which explains the difference is 1Corinthians13:11, 'When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me'. Alive-O never mentions or distinguishes between qualities that are childlike and childish. (Alive-O actually includes the quotation from 1 Corinthians 13:11 in the information for teachers in this lesson, but only includes the first part of the quotation and omits the last part, which renders the quotation pretty meaningless).
Alive-O tends to focus on childish qualities of children, and not the childlike qualities. It is particularly regrettable that Alive-O never credits children with any spiritual qualities, and never teaches that children, nor adults either for that matter, have spiritual souls. Alive-O focuses exclusively on the secular and human qualities of children. In this particular lesson Alive-O focuses almost exclusively on children's liking for physical play. Engaging in games and play is of course a very natural and desirable characteristic of children, but Alive-O's overemphasis on play in a secular human way does not help the children understand the reality of the Body of Christ, or the Kingdom of God.
The thought for the teacher for this lesson is a nice little secular poem, which teaches nothing about the Body of Christ.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
The song for this lesson is an Alive-O written prayer titled, 'Grace before and after Play', which is fine.
The story from the Pupil's Book, 'Ishvah’s Story', is repeated in the Teacher's Book. The following discussion session and prayer time focus on this rather pointless fictional story and do not add anything further of value to it.
The rest of the week's lesson material focuses on games and play in a secular way, which adds almost nothing of value to help the pupils understand the Body of Christ.
The five prayer times in this lesson follow Alive-O's normal pattern of having no Christian symbol, only a lighted candle. The prayer times consist largely in the teacher reading out Alive-O scripted material with minimal participation from the pupils, limited to repeating Alive-O provided responses. The prayer times largely focus on games in a very human and 'horizontal' manner. The great prayers of the church are not used. The Alive-O written prayers about games, which are fair, are used a number of times. A good feature of some of the prayer times is the singing of the good songs, 'I Will Be the Vine' or 'Christ Be beside Me'.
Term 2, Lesson 5. The Body of Christ – At Work. (A6-T2L5).
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story titled, 'All in a Days Work', which is about a schoolgirl who is working part-time in a supermarket who does a kindness to a little refugee girl. It is a nice 'good Samaritan' story about helping someone who is experiencing loneliness and difficulty. However, the story is purely humanitarian and is not really about work, which is supposed to be the theme of this lesson. As Alive-O's other 'good Samaritan' story (T1L11) featured a good girl and two bad males, it would have been a better balance in the story to have a boy doing something kind, otherwise the pupils might conclude that all 'goodies' are girls and boys are the ' baddies'.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has eighteen items which could be related to the world of work, and the pupils are asked to select an item and answer five questions about it. The first four questions are purely human or humanitarian. The final question asks, 'When does this worker live as part of the Body of Christ?' This is some improvement, but there is no teaching given to the pupils as to what difference it actually makes for a worker to be part of the Body of Christ. One of the items that is drawn is a chalice; this is not good, because it gives the impression to the pupils that being a priest in the Catholic Church is just like any other secular job, nothing special in relation to membership of the Catholic Church.
There is also a prayer which has some good aspects but also presents Alive-O’s limited understanding of the 'Church' as simply all those who are baptised. One problem here is that it reinforces Alive-O's version of Baptism as simply an initiation or joining ritual that people go through in order to be considered members of this group of human beings, the 'Church', who follow the teachings and example of this very good man Jesus. The other problem is that it confuses all the baptised (who we love and welcome as Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ) with the Catholic Church. Alive-O never mentions the ‘Catholic Church’, and teaches virtually nothing about her.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
Alive-O gives a good quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 899, which gives guidance about the role of lay Christians. This quotation is excellent, as far as it goes, but unfortunately Alive-O omits the second part of CCC 899, which sets the context for the involvement of lay believers in Church life, which is under the leadership of the Pope, and of the bishops in communion with him, and it is Church leadership and laity together who are ‘the Church’. This serious omission is consistent with Alive-O's lack of teaching about the Catholic Church, and its treatment of the members of the Church as little different from a group of good humanitarians who love one another, the only difference of Christians being that their humanitarian way of life is inspired by the teaching and example of this good man Jesus.
The thought for the teacher in this lesson consists of an excellent extract from a poem by Gerald Manly Hopkins, and another very good quotation from a Vatican document on the Vocation and Mission of the Laity.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled, 'We Are at the Body of Christ', which speaks of the members of the Body of Christ helping and caring for one another. This is good as far as it goes, but a limitation is that the members of the Body of Christ are understood simply as all baptised. This would be all right, in the context of good Catholic teaching on the nature of the Sacrament of Baptism, but this is something which is absent from Alive-O, which instead treats Baptism simply as a joining ritual to a group of people who follow the example and teaching of this very special man Jesus.
The first two days’ activities, discussion sessions and prayer times deal with the world of work, but treat it very much in a 'horizontal' and secular manner, which is little different from good humanitarianism. The concept of the 'Church’ as simply being all the baptised is repeated. There are several questions in the discussion sessions about what difference it might make in the world of work to be a Christian, but no answers to the questions.
The story, 'All in a Days Work', from the Pupil's Book is repeated in the Teacher's Book, and followed by a discussion session and prayer time which do not add anything to an understanding of how Christians, or members of the Catholic Church, would conduct themselves in the world of work, apart from acting no different from good humanitarians.
The final prayer time has some quotations from 1 Corinthians 12, but the key element which is that Christ is the head of the body is omitted, and therefore the selective Scripture quotations erroneously give the impression that the ‘body’ image is like a headless secular body, symbolizing a group of people who depend on and care for each other.
The prayer times follow the usual Alive-O pattern of Alive-O scripted prayers to be read out by the teacher, with minimal involvement of the pupils who simply repeat Alive-O scripted responses. No Christian symbols are used, only a lighted candle. No use is made of the great prayers of the Church. The less than satisfactory Alive-O song, 'We Are the Body of Christ', is sung in most of the prayer times.
The Saints.
Term 1, Lesson 4: St Francis Cares for Creation.
Term 3: Lesson 7. St Canaire
Summary.
The lesson on St Francis deals primarily with creation, so it has been analysed above in the section dealing with ‘Creation’.
The lesson on St Canaire focuses on a minor legendary incident and so is of limited value in teaching about saints in the Catholic Church, in particular the Irish saints. The story-poem concentrates unduly on a confrontational polemic concerning men and women. This is the fifth of the Irish saints to be presented in Alive-O, and the presentations have all been less than satisfactory, with undue emphasis given to fanciful legends, lack of information on what constitutes sainthood, and omission of many inspirational stories of our Irish saints, and omission of any martyrs.
In this lesson Alive-O's development of what constitutes sanctity is largely theist, and lacks a specific Christian dimension.
This lesson also introduces pupils to the idea of pilgrimage, which is excellent. The video features a group of young people going on pilgrimage to Knock, which is well presented.
Term 3: Lesson 7. St Canaire (A6-T3L7).
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story-poem titled 'St Canaire and St Senan', two early Irish saints. Canaire died in the year 530, and Senan in 560. The story deals with a legendary incident in the lives of the two saints, when at the end of her life Canaire felt drawn by God to be buried in Senan’s monastery on Scattery Island, to which she was transported by an Angel. At first Senan refused her, because it was a men's monastery, but he finally gave in to her request and allowed her to be buried there.
This minor legendary incident is of limited value in teaching about saints in the Catholic Church, in particular the Irish saints, and the story-poem focuses unduly on a confrontational polemic concerning men and women.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a map of Ireland, and drawings of Canaire and five other Irish saints that have been dealt with in the earlier books of Alive-O. These five saints are Brigid, Brendan, Gobnait, Patrick and Columcille / Columba. The exercise is to connect each Saint with places on the map with which they are related. This is a useful exercise and will help the pupils to a better understanding of the saints concerned.
However, the original accounts of these five saints are generally poor. St Brigid is reasonably well treated, though with undue emphasis given to a fanciful legendary story about her cloak (A1-T2L3). The treatment of Brendan is extremely poor, being just a bizarre impossible legend about a whale (A5-T3L8). The teaching on St Gobnait is also poor, focusing on a fanciful legend (A4-T3L10). There is some reasonable material on St Patrick, but it gets overwhelmed by greater attention being given to the fanciful legend about Oisin (A2-T2L7; A5-T1L7). The teaching on Columba is particularly poor, focusing on a nonsense story about a talking feeling horse (A3-T1L6).
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There is a good quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2013, which deals with Christian holiness and saints. However, there are also other key concepts in the CCC concerning sainthood which could well have been included: Spiritual progress tends towards ever more intimate union with Christ. The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross; there is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. All believers share the blessed hope of our ultimate destiny in heaven. (CCC, 2014, 2015, 2016).
There is some information about St Canaire, about whom very little is known. It is not clear why Alive-O chose an incident in the life of this largely unknown saint on which to base its lesson, but as the story concentrates unduly on a confrontational polemic between men and women, one must fear that promotion of man vs. woman confrontation was the main reason for the selection.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled, 'Oró Canaire', which gives the story of Canaire and Senan, but does not add anything to the story-poem in the Pupil's Book. There is an expanded version of the story-poem in the Teacher's Book, which adds more on the man vs woman confrontational polemic aspects of the story.
There are a number of discussion sessions and prayer times in this lesson dealing with saints, but they do not convey a genuine Catholic Christian idea of sainthood. The idea of sainthood promoted here is very much in tune with Alive-O's own particular spirituality, which is that God loves us and that we should reflect God's love in our lives. Alive-O says, 'we honour the saints and the way their lives reflect something of the love of God for the people who lived then and for us today'. 'Today we call on the saints of Ireland to help us to show God's love in our lives, as they did'.
There is nothing specifically Christian in Alive-O's presentation about saints, but only an understanding that is theist, in line with Alive-O spirituality. 'God' is mentioned, but never Jesus Christ. There is no mention of what the CCC says about the way of perfection passing by the Cross, and there being no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. No mention about spiritual progress tending towards ever more intimate union with Christ. No mention of heaven. No mention of any sort of suffering or renunciation, and no reference whatsoever to martyrdom. Any genuine Catholic Christian understanding of the saints must include the martyrs; indeed in the early centuries of the Church it was only the martyrs who were honoured as saints. Alive-O does not feature any saint was a martyr, except Saint Paul and in his case his martyrdom is not mentioned.
This lesson also introduces the pupils to the idea of pilgrimage, which is excellent in principle. The idea of going on pilgrimage to a nearby pilgrimage site is excellent. However the suggestion of a pilgrimage within the school grounds is probably not a good idea, because it may be experienced by the pupils as artificial and unconvincing. There are some good aspects of pilgrimage included in the lesson material, but also omissions of some aspects which are especially important in the Catholic tradition of pilgrimage, such as, physical healings, spiritual healings and miracles, renewal of faith, conversion of heart, growing in faith, repentance and the Sacrament of Confession. (See below for further comments on the video dealing with pilgrimage).
The prayer times do not have any Christian symbols, only a lighted candle, though it is good that in two prayer times there is reference to Christ being our light and remembering the Spirit of God in tongues of fire. The prayer times consist of the leader/teacher reading out Alive-O scripted prayer with limited involvement of the pupils who just repeat Alive-O written responses. Use of the great prayers of the church is limited to just one ‘Glory be to the Father’.
Video.
The video features a group of young people going on pilgrimage to Knock. It is well presented and will help the pupils to understand what a pilgrimage to Knock is like. While good, it would also have been helpful to broaden the idea of pilgrimage to the most important pilgrimage sites abroad, particularly the Holy Land, Rome, Lourdes, Santiago to Compostela, and others. These other pilgrimage sites are so famous that visual material, either video or stills, should have been readily obtainable which would help broaden the pupils’ understanding and knowledge of Catholic Christian pilgrimage.
The Last Things (Eschatology).
Preamble.
In order to understand the analysis of this lesson, it would be helpful to summarise Alive-O's understanding of the Last Things (eschatology). Alive-O's eschatology can be very confusing, because it uses Catholic Christian words and terms, but most of the time it has very different meanings for those terms. In fact, Alive-O's eschatology diverges significantly from Catholic Christian eschatology.
Alive-O recognizes that God is the creator of human beings, but only recognizes God's material creation, not God’s spiritual creation – the immortal human soul, angels and heaven. Alive-O does however speak of eternal life after death.
Alive-O says that God is loving, and that after death people will enjoy happiness with God in a state called heaven. Alive-O does recognize the possibility of refusal to be with God, but there is no indication that anybody could, or has, actually chosen not to be with God. (The title of this lesson, 'Happy Ever after', expresses very well Alive-O's concept that after death everyone experiences a state of happiness, no matter what their life has been like). As Alive-O does not recognize the existence of the immortal soul, Alive-O is silent in relation to the reunification of soul and body after death. Alive-O does state that people will be raised from the dead, in a similar way to Jesus, but has nothing to say as to when or how this resurrection will take place.
Alive-O does not recognize any judgment after death, neither a particular judgment immediately after death, or a Last Judgment at the end of time. Alive-O does not recognize that there is any such thing as 'the end of time', the Last Day, and its silence on this matter could be taken as a belief that material creation will go on indefinitely. Alive-O does not recognize that there will be a General Resurrection, with all the bodies of those who have died will rise again. Alive-O does not mention the Second Coming of Jesus, or that Jesus will be Judge of both living and dead.
Alive-O does not recognize the existence of hell, or of eternal damnation for those who have died not in a state of grace through rejection of God by mortal sin. Alive-O does not recognize the existence of a 'state of grace' or 'mortal sin'. Alive-O expresses no connection between the morality of life lived on earth and our eternal destiny.
Alive-O does mention 'Purgatory', but only as a purification after death through God's love. Alive-O does not recognize that the purification in the Purgatory involves suffering in some way, or that our prayers and the offering of our own sufferings can help the souls in the Purgatory to lessen their suffering. Though Alive-O does talk about praying for the dead, it actually gives no reason why we should pray for the dead, because everybody goes to heaven anyway and Purgatory does not involve any suffering which we can help relieve through our prayers.
It would appear that Alive-O does not recognize the existence of the communion of saints as taught by the church. Alive-O does use the term 'communion of saints', but only to pose a question without any answer.
Alive-O does not recognize the existence of Original Sin or the Fall, and even teaches their impossibility (Teacher’s Book 6 p.20). Alive-O does not recognize the redemptive death of Jesus as winning salvation for the human race. Jesus is recognized only as a teacher, a great human being, who taught about the love of God and that we should love one another, and who was raised from the dead by God. Our belief in our own resurrection from the dead comes from an expectation that if God could raise this good man Jesus, then he can also raise us.
Alive-O does not recognize that death is the result of sin, a consequence of the Fall. Alive-O does not recognize Jesus as divine Saviour whose death opened heaven to us, which had been closed through the Original Sin of our First Parents.
The Church is very explicit that there is no such thing as reincarnation. Alive-O is silent on this topic, and its vagueness about the life with God after death does not specifically include reincarnation but does not exclude it either.
Alive-O does not recognize that there will be a transformation of all creation at the Second Coming, that all will be made new in Jesus, and that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Alive-O omits mention of the Last Day, the Second Coming, the General Resurrection and the Last Judgment, after which the just will enjoy a new form of existence, with a reunification of both soul and body.
Summary.
The Pupil's Book gives the impression that everyone is happy in heaven, but what is conspicuous by its absence is any mention that it is Jesus who has won salvation for us so that we can indeed hope for happiness in heaven. The Pupil's Book and the Worksheet concentrate on getting the pupils to reflect on their own experience of loss and death, which is the main focus of the lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
The children are made reflect on their own experiences of death, bereavement and loss, to speak about it openly in the classroom, and to relive the pain of it; Alive-O admits this could be quite emotional and traumatic. This approach would be irresponsible enough even if Alive-O had given the children authentic Catholic Christian teaching about the Last Things, but along with withholding such teaching from the children this approach becomes doubly irresponsible. The only 'help’ that Alive-O offers teachers to help handle the potential emotional damage that the children may suffer, is to refer them to a bibliography of 24 different books, all of which appear to be secular.
Term 1: Lesson 9. Happy Ever After. (A6-T1L9).
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a short poem titled, and 'A Letter to Grandad', which speaks of a boy missing his grandfather who has died, but he is happy that his grandad is in heaven where he can meet with his grandmother. It is a touching poem.
There is a quotation from 1 Corinthians 2:9, which tells of the wonder of heaven. This is an excellent quotation.
There is a short prayer which is extremely poor, because it expresses Alive-O's own spirituality, and not authentic Catholic Christian teaching. It reads, 'Jesus, our Teacher, when you rose out of death you told your friends about a new life in heaven. Give us the confidence that you gave to them'. Jesus is portrayed as simply a teacher, a human being who was raised from death and when he experienced new life in heaven he came to tell his friends about it. There is no recognition that Jesus is our divine Saviour who raised himself from death, and whose death redeemed us from sin and opened heaven to us.
There is a question and answer which is seriously inadequate. Q. Why do we pray for the dead? A. We pray for the dead to ask God to purify them with his love and bring them to eternal happiness with himself in heaven. What is missing here is that those who die and require purification in Purgatory endure suffering and that the reason we pray for them is so that their suffering will be reduced. Leaving out the suffering of Purgatory eliminates any reason to pray for the dead.
Worksheet.
The Worksheet asks each pupil to remember someone who has died and to write down a number of things about that person: favourite things; best memory; a story; and a prayer. The instruction says that 'We help the children to explore the experience of bereavement and loss and to connect this experience with the Christian message of eternal life'. This does represent the thrust of this lesson by Alive-O, which is seriously defective and deficient. Alive-O does not give authentic Catholic Christian teaching about the Last Things, only a theist view in line with its own spirituality. Then, without proper Christian teaching on death and the next life, the children are led to focus on themselves and their own experience, which is likely to put emotional and spiritual pressure on the children.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There is a good quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1010. However the rest of the material for teachers and the lesson material for the pupils does not follow Catholic Christian teaching about death.
The information sets out what is in the lesson material, which is mainly leading the pupils to focus on their own personal experience of death and bereavement, from which Alive-O expects they will learn something of the Christian understanding of eternal life. This is completely inadequate, and even irresponsible, because Alive-O withholds from the pupils authentic Catholic Christian teaching on life and death, forces them to reflect on their own experience of bereavement and loss, and offers only its own inadequate theist understanding of the Last Things and then refers them on to secular sources for help. This is doing a grave injustice to the children, to their parents, and to the wider Church.
Alive-O says, 'Heaven, hell and purgatory are part of the religious vocabulary of the children's grandparents and at least some of their parents'. Tragically this is true, and reflects the negative results of the defective and deficient Catholic RE programmes introduced to our schools from the 1970s (confirmed by the recent Iona Institute surveys of levels of religious knowledge). This means children currently in primary school may get some help from their grandparents, but that most of their parents will lack the knowledge of the Catholic Faith to make up for Alive-O's defects and deficiencies.
Alive-O also refers teachers to the Introductory Section, pages [17] – [18], in connection with these matters; this Introduction material is also defective and deficient, and has been analysed in Section 2 above.
The thought for the teacher for this lesson is good poem in which the poet remembers his mother who has died.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
The lesson material opens with a note to the teachers which emphasises Alive-O’s defective and deficient strategy for this lesson, which is to make the children reflect on their own experiences of death, bereavement and loss, which Alive-O admits could be quite traumatic. The irresponsible advice given is that it will be helpful for the pupils to relive that experience and to speak about it openly in the classroom, admitting that in doing so the children may become emotional, which will be difficult to handle but Alive-O says naively that it may be a very good thing. This approach would be irresponsible enough even if Alive-O had given the children authentic Catholic Christian teaching about the Last Things, but along with withholding such teaching from the children this approach becomes doubly irresponsible. The only 'help’ that Alive-O offers teachers to help handle the potential emotional damage that the children may suffer, is to refer them to a bibliography of 24 different books, all of which appear to be secular.
There are two songs titled, 'The Clouds’ Veil', and 'Remember Them', which would be fine in the context of sound Catholic Christian teaching on the Last Things, which regretfully is missing from Alive-O.
The discussion sessions, activities, prayer times and poem all focus on the pupils’ experience of death and bereavement. This is in line with Alive-O's extraordinary strategy of leading the children to focus on death in the absence of authentic Catholic Christian teaching about life and death and then expecting this would be good for the children and that they will learn something useful from it. A truly sensitive and authentic Christian approach would be to give sound Christian teaching on the Last Things and then to gently help the children relate the Christian vision to the reality of death, loss and bereavement.
There is a story titled, 'Life after Death', which is supposed to be based on 1 Corinthians 2:9. However the story corrupts the meaning of Scripture and makes it fit in with Alive-O's own theist spirituality. Alive-O’s story says that, 'Because they had met the Risen Jesus, the friends of Jesus were quite confident about what happened to him after he died. They were also quite sure that God wanted to do the same for everyone'. Alive-O’s story omits the essential Christian teaching that it was Jesus’ death that brought about our salvation from sin, that Jesus, as the Second divine person of the Holy Trinity, raised himself from death, and that Jesus’ salvation made it possible for us to have life eternal in heaven. Alive-O’s story gives the impression simply that Jesus was a nice man, who was raised to life by God, as a result of which we can infer that God might want to raise us from death as well.
The discussion sessions after the story express much of Alive-O's non-Christian understanding that after death everyone enjoys a happy new after-life, as follows: 'When we die, our life begins in a new and purified way. God gives life a new beginning when we die. This new life is a happy one. Because God loves us, God takes away everything that makes us unhappy. God takes away all selfishness and sin. We say that God purifies us'. The final point made about God purifying us, suggests that Purgatory is simply part of God’s welcoming us in to heaven, and reinforces the conclusion that there is no point in praying for people after they die. There is some small qualification on this when Alive-O says, 'If we live as Jesus asks us to live, we will have a new life with God in heaven'. However, there is no suggestion in Alive-O that anybody could or would do other than live as Jesus asks, and there is not even the slightest suggestion of any negative consequences after death if we somehow do not live as Jesus asks us. There is no mention or hint of hell, mortal sin, judgment, original sin, the Fall, temptation, or anything that might suggest that hell is a possibility.
In the prayer times no Christian symbol is used, just a lighted candle. The use of the great prayers of the Church is limited to a single Hail Mary in the week. In one prayer time it is good that the traditional prayer for the dead is used, 'Eternal rest grant unto them Lord. May they rest in peace'. Prayer times are all scripted by Alive-O, led by the teacher, with pupil involvement limited to repeating Alive-O written responses. The pupils also sing the two songs given for this lesson, which would be good in the context of authentic Catholic Christian teaching on the Last Things.
Video.
The video segment for this lesson is titled, 'The Story of Stephen's family’. Stephen is a boy who was tragically killed in an accident. The video meets with his parents and two brothers and talks with them about the experience and their memories. The presentation is done with great sensitivity and skill, and brings out very well the trauma of the accident for the family, and at the same time there is Christian joy and hope.
The Liturgical Year – Seasons and Events.
Term 1: Lesson 12. Come to the Manger.
Term 2: Lesson 6. Lent.
Lesson 9. Jesus' Never-Ending Love (Holy Week).
Term 3: Lesson 1. The Risen Jesus.
Summary.
The lesson on Christmas has a very good Scripture quotation from the gospel of Luke on the birth of Jesus. There is an excellent question and answer, which states that Jesus Christ is the only son of God who became man to save us, and that he has he is truly God and true man. However, this excellent teaching is not supported or repeated anywhere else in the lesson, which instead gives a lot of attention to food at Christmas time and an inadequate understanding of Jesus: Jesus nourished himself by loving God and doing what pleased God, and we can be nourished by following the teaching and example of Jesus. The choice of Christmas carols for this lesson is excellent.
The Lesson on Lent sets out to draw a parallel between Jesus' time in the wilderness and the season of Lent. This is fine in principle, but not in practice, because Alive-O misinterprets the Scriptures on Jesus' time in the wilderness. The scriptures say that Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit in order to be tempted by the devil. Alive-O omits this (which is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of temptation or the Devil), and says that going into the desert was for Jesus a time of focus when he worked out what his mission should be. Alive-O's accompanying song is New Age in approach, focusing on finding peace inside myself. Alive-O's presentation on fasting focuses on giving up things in order to have resources to give to others, which is good in itself, but is not the essential nature of fasting, which the Church teaches helps us to acquire mastery over our instincts and attain freedom of heart.
The Lesson on Holy Week has three very good Scripture quotations, accompanied by three excellent illustrations. However, the meaning of the events of Holy Week is not explained or developed in the Pupil's Book, worksheet or lesson material in the Teacher's Book. There is an attempt to draw out the meaning in the questions and answers, which is actually counter-productive, because what is omitted is the salvific nature of Jesus' death on the cross, which totally undermines the central message of Christianity.
The lesson on the Resurrection is poor. There is story based on the scriptural account of the meeting of Jesus with Mary Magdalene, but the story is poor because there is too much fictional additions, which include a focus on Mary's emotions and giving the impression that there was an emotional, even romantic, relationship between Mary and Jesus. The incorrect information is given that Jesus was raised from the dead by the Father, which gives the impression that Jesus was no more than human being, whereas the Church teaches that the Resurrection was the work of the whole Trinity, and that therefore Jesus raised himself from the dead, which is an indication of his divinity. Alive-O says that the message of the Resurrection is simply that Jesus is with us; Alive-O omits the significance off the Resurrection, in conjunction with Jesus' salvific death on the cross, as a vital part of our salvation from sin. This is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of Jesus as fully divine, and the nonrecognition of the salvation from sin of the human race.
Term 1: Lesson 12. Come to the Manger. (A6-T1L12).
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a passage of Scripture, Luke 2:1-19. It is a very appropriate Scripture for the theme of this lesson. The translation is fine except for the following phrase, 'Joseph went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged'. It is not appropriate to say that Mary was engaged to Joseph and most translations use the word 'betrothed', though the King James Version uses the term 'espoused wife'. In the Jewish tradition betrothal was more than an engagement in our custom, because when a Jewish man and woman were betrothed they were legally married, even though they had not yet come to live together. (Pope John Paul II stressed the importance of this in his Encyclical Redemptoris Custos, when he pointed out that Mary was already a married woman at the Annunciation, that Jesus was conceived into a marriage, and this is one of the signs to show that Christ raised Christian marriage to the dignity of a Sacrament). In a translation for young children it would be much better to say simply that Mary was Joseph's wife.
There are two questions with answers. The answer to the first question is, 'We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on Christmas Day'. This is good.
The second question is, 'Who is Jesus Christ?' The answer given is, 'Jesus Christ is the only Son of God who became man to save us. He is truly God and truly man'. There are a number of very good elements in this answer, which are not what Alive-O normally teaches. Jesus is described as the 'only Son of God', whereas Alive-O usually describes Jesus simply as 'Son of God'; the addition of the word 'only " goes some way towards recognition that Jesus is in fact divine, though it is not on its own a full statement of Jesus’ divinity, and needs the context of clear and explicit teaching on the Trinity, something which is missing from Alive-O.
The Answer says that Jesus 'became man to save us'. This is good, because Alive-O does not usually teach that Jesus is Saviour, only teacher. However on its own it does not go far enough, because Alive-O has not taught that there is anything such as Original Sin from which we need to be saved, and the answer does not say that Jesus saved us from sin through his death on the Cross.
The answer also states that, 'He is truly God and truly man', which is very good, but again needs the context of clear teaching on the Trinity and the Incarnation.
The Scripture quotation and the answers to the questions are excellent, but are not supported or developed in the lesson material to follow. In fact, the lesson material takes a radically different direction, and promotes Alive-O's own theist spirituality, rather than an authentic Christian understanding.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a drawing of a chef preparing a Christmas pudding, and the exercise for the children is to list all the things that are needed for a Christmas meal. The instruction then talks of the 'different kinds of nourishment that Christmas offers so that the children may be more open to the nourishment that God offers us in Jesus'. Here, and in the lesson material in the teacher's book, Alive-O seeks to make Jesus fit into the secular theme of nourishment that has been chosen for Book 6.
There is an Alive-O written 'Prayer after Communion', which is all right in the context of good authentic Christian teaching, but is insufficient in the context of Alive-O’s lesson material.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information opens with two quotations from Scripture, and a quotation from the CCC, which are all good in themselves, but contain nothing that is contrary to Alive-O's spirituality.
The subsequent information reinforces Alive-O's secular theme of 'nourishment' that has been selected for book 6, and also expresses very well Alive-O's spirituality as follows, 'He (Jesus) will feed you with stories of God's kingdom and God's love. He will feed you with hope that the world can be a better place for everyone. He will nourish you by teaching you how to live life to the full'. This expresses Alive-O's view that Jesus is not our divine Saviour from sin who died on the cross to redeem the human race and open heaven to us, which had been closed by the Original Sin of First Parents, Adam and Eve. In Alive-O spirituality Jesus is no more than a special man, ‘Son of God’ (but not ‘God the Son’), who taught us that God loved us and it that we should love one another, and that through this the world would become a better place. Alive-O spirituality recognizes the existence of ‘God’ but the application is essentially ‘horizontal’ (concerned with the material world, rather than the spiritual and eternal), and might be described as 'humanitarian theism'.
The thought for the teacher is a very interesting quotation from G. K. Chesterton on Santa Claus and God. It is a very good example of Chesterton's thought-provoking and often whimsical writing, but is not reflected in Alive-O's lesson material.
The theme of the lesson expresses Alive-O's attempts to identify Jesus with its chosen theme of 'nourishment' (understood in a secular humanitarian way), and does not at all express the Christian understanding that Jesus, the second divine Person of the Blessed Trinity, became man primarily to redeem the human race from sin through the sacrifice of his death on the Cross.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book
There are five Christmas carols given for this lesson, four of which are traditional, and all are good. There is also a song from a previous lesson (A6-T1L6), titled, 'The Food of Love', which is secular and poor, because it simply reinforces Alive-O's secular theme of nourishment into which it seeks to fit Christmas and Jesus.
The lesson material opens with all the physical food that one eats at Christmas time, and this sets the scene for the essentially secular humanitarian vision that Alive-O presents for Jesus and his mission. Alive-O says, 'Retelling the Nativity story feeds us. We tell again the story of the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel. We feed our memory of how, because of God’s great love for us, Jesus, the Son of God, was sent into our world, to feed us and nourish us in all the ways in which we need to be fed'. Alive-O does not mention at all that Jesus is our Saviour, who saved us from sin, but goes on to say simply that Jesus teaches us by word and example how to live life to the full so the world will be a better place, which is a ‘horizontal’ theist perspective.
Most of the lesson material during the week is preparing for a, 'Christmas Prayer Service', which happens on the last day of the week. This prayer service is in the form of a drama which is very poor. Most of the ‘characters’ in the drama are inanimate objects – hills, a cave, a manger – or animals. The dialogue is mostly distracting, secular fiction. The only human characters in the drama are Joseph and Mary, and their fictional dialogue is of little value. The final piece of dialogue is given by the Manger and expresses again Alive-O’s spirituality as follows, 'Are you hungry? Do you need food? We have food, special food. This baby is Emmanuel, God with us. This baby will satisfy your deepest hungers. He will feed you with stories of God kingdom and God's love; he will feed you with hope that the world can be a better place for everyone. He will nourish you by teaching you how to live life to the full, as he will do. He will feed you with bread.' This expression of spirituality merits description as ‘humanitarian theism’, but falls short of being authentically Christian.
The prayer times do not have any Christian symbol, only a lighted candle. The prayer times are largely concerned with preparing for the drama which occurs on the last day of the week. The prayer times call for the singing of one or other of the good Christmas carols which are given for this lesson, but also call for the singing of, 'The Food of Love', which is not good. Some of the prayer times have readings from Scripture, which is good, but none of them make use of any of the great prayers of the Church, which is not good.
Term 2: Lesson 6. Lent. (A6-T2L6).
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a picture of Jesus in a desert, and a 'Lenten Prayer', as follows: ‘Jesus in the wilderness, in those moments when I choose to do without and find it difficult, help me, strengthen me with thoughts of others who do without and have no choice. Amen.’
In itself, this prayer is fine, but it sets the scene for Alive-O's understanding of Lent which is in line with its own spirituality, rather than in harmony with the teaching of the Church. Alive-O sees fasting as primarily doing without so that one can be charitable towards others who are in need. On the other hand, the Church sees fasting as primarily concerned with personal conversion and penance, voluntary self-denial involving the avoidance of food, in order to acquire mastery over one's own instincts and to give one freedom of heart, to help prepare for liturgical feasts (CCC 1434, 1438, 2043).
The Pupil’s Book also sets the scene for Alive-O's misinterpretation of Scripture. The three synoptic Gospels all say that the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil [8]. Alive-O omits what is in the Scripture, and says instead that the time in the desert was for Jesus a time of preparation and focus, from which he emerged with a resolve to do the work he had been sent to do. It is consistent with Alive-O's own nonrecognition of the existence of the devil or temptation, and Alive-O's treatment of Jesus as no more than a human being.
Worksheet.
The worksheet repeats the same illustration of Jesus in a desert, this time for the pupils to colour in. The exercise is for the pupils to complete this sentence, 'This Lent, I would walk with Jesus in the wilderness when …………'. The problem with this exercise is that there is nothing in the material given to the pupils to teach them about Jesus’ real time in the wilderness, and what that involved. The lesson material in the Teacher's Book has only a partial, rather than a full, Catholic understanding of Lent, so that the pupils will find it difficult to complete the sentence in a truly Catholic way.
The instruction speaks of helping the pupils to understand the practice of Christian fasting in the context of helping others. As noted above in relation to the Pupil's Book, the practice of Christian fasting is not primarily about helping others. The Church teaches that penance, conversion of heart, is particularly helped by prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These three support conversion of life in relation respectively to God, self, and others. So fasting is seen primarily as conversion in relation to one's self, to acquire mastery over one's instincts and attain freedom of heart.
There is a prayer about fasting in Lent, which also gives a wrong idea about the nature of fasting. The prayer only speaks about ‘fasting’ from wrongdoing; however, avoidance of wrongdoing and sin is something that is we should do all the time, and it is not really 'fasting '. It is true that in the Scriptures (Isaiah 58:1-12) righteous behaviour and the avoidance of wrongdoing are described as 'fasting', but this was only to act as an indictment of those who fasted only as an external observance, and at the same time their behaviour was extremely unrighteous; this is not to be taken as a specific definition of fasting as refraining from doing wrong.
The Church teaches that fasting is avoidance of food (and by extension the avoidance of other good things) in order to practice personal mortification as a sign of repentance, and to acquire mastery over one's own instincts and achieve freedom of heart (CCC 1434, 1438, 2043).
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There is some good information about Church teaching on Lent, fasting, and Jesus’ time in the wilderness after his Baptism by John in the Jordan. However, Alive-O then alters Scripture and Church teaching to present a different view of Jesus' time in the desert, fasting and Lent in line with its own spirituality. This mixture of the teaching of the Church with Alive-O's own spirituality is very confusing, and is reflected in the Pupil's Book, worksheet and lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
Alive-O says correctly that Lent is related to the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness. However, Alive-O then presents a different account of Jesus' time and wilderness to that given in Scripture. According to the Scripture (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13) Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil, and that after 40 days of fasting Jesus was indeed tempted three times by Satan. The Church sees great significance in Jesus' temptation in the desert; the first Adam was tempted and fell while Jesus is the new Adam who is tempted but did not fall; Jesus' 40 days in the desert reflect Israel's 40 years in the desert which the people had to endure because they were not faithful, whereas Jesus is faithful; the Fall of Adam and Eve was a victory for Satan, whereas in the desert Jesus conquered Satan, and rejected Satan’s sly temptations – which even included quotation of Scripture, Mt.4:6 (CCC 538-540).
Alive-O, in contrast, says that Jesus’ time in the wilderness was 'a time of preparation and a time of focus. He emerged with a resolve to do the work as Father had sent him to do'. Alive-O's omission of the temptations by Satan is consistent with its non-recognition of the existence of the devil, and also it non-recognition of any kind of temptation. It also presents Jesus like an ordinary human being who did not know what his mission from God was, and had to go away in peace and quiet to work it out for himself.
The Church teaches that fasting is voluntary self-denial that helps us prepare for liturgical feasts and helps us to acquire mastery over instincts and to give us freedom of heart (CCC 1438, 2043); fasting is generally seen in the context of penance, and in association with prayer and almsgiving (CCC 1434). Alive-O presents a different picture of fasting which is in line with its own spirituality, which could be described as humanitarian theism, as follows, 'Christians fast for two reasons: to increase the level of their attentiveness to the presence of God in their lives, and to grow in their willingness to do good for others'.
The Church teaches that Easter is the centre of the liturgical year, and that every feast and season in the liturgical year takes its meaning from Easter (CCC 1168). The essential meaning of Lent is that it is a time of preparation for Easter. Alive-O does not mention that Lent is a preparation for Easter, which seriously undermines the meaning of Lent as taught to the pupils.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
This lesson has an Alive-O written song titled, 'Song of Peace'. The song tells of going inside myself where I can be alone and I will find peace. The sentiments of the song do not express a Christian viewpoint, but are very much in harmony with New Age spirituality. The song will not teach the pupils the Christian understanding of Lent.
The activities for this lesson involve making a 'Fast Box', which encourages the pupils to make contributions to those in need from money that will be saved by fasting or abstaining from things. This is good in itself, but distracts attention from the true and full Christian meaning of fasting.
There is a story titled, 'Jesus goes into the Wilderness', which reinforces the Alive-O version of Jesus in the wilderness which has already been expressed in the information for the teachers. The story omits what is in the Scriptures, that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil. The story treats Jesus’ time in the wilderness as a time of fasting and prayer, where he decided what he was going to do in his public ministry. Alive-O’s story further reinforces its own spirituality by saying that, 'Jesus was going to begin to go around the countryside telling the people about God. He knew he would help them to know how much God loved them. He would also tell them about what they should do to make God's kingdom come. He would show them how to live and how to love one another'. This is a good summing up of Alive-O's spirituality which could be described as humanitarian theism: Jesus was a good man who told people that God loves them, and that they should love one another. Alive-O does not teach clearly on Jesus' divinity and omits the centrality of his mission, which was to redeem the world from sin through his death on the cross.
The discussion session and prayer time following the story reinforce Alive-O's spirituality.
There is a poem titled, 'Lent', which is repeated from Alive-O Book 5. The poem treats Lent like a spring-cleaning and will not teach the pupils about the true Christian meaning of Lent.
There is information to be given to the pupils that Lent is a time of prayer and almsgiving, which is good. However the information on fasting is inadequate, because it does not explain what fasting is and what it is for, but merely says that there are two days of fast in the Church Year, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, for those who are over 18 and under 60 years of age. Fasting is only linked with a way of finding money to give to those who are less well off by doing without things, which is good in itself but is not an adequate explanation of the meaning of Christian fasting.
One of the prayer times is an 'Ash Wednesday Ritual', which includes the Distribution of Ashes, which is good. However what is not good is that the prayer service reinforces and repeats Alive-O's wrong understanding of Jesus’ time in the wilderness, which the pupils should copy by paying more attention to God and to other people, making us eager to be good and kind to others. Again what is omitted is Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the desert, which is what Scripture tells us about his time in the wilderness.
All the prayer times in this lesson do not use any Christian symbol, only a lighted candle, but it is helpful that sometimes after lighting a candle the teachers says, 'May God’s light lead us during Lent'. The prayer times involve Alive-O scripted prayers read by the teacher and responses from the pupils, which reinforce Alive-O's understanding of Lent. Every prayer time includes the singing of the unsatisfactory Alive-O song, 'Song of Peace'. The only use of the great prayers of the Church is a single ‘Our Father’.
Video.
The first video segment for this lesson is titled, 'Lent – Pray, Fast and Share'. It is a good presentation of the Distribution of Ashes and a discussion with pupils on prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It would have been better if the Distribution of Ashes was done by a priest in the church, rather than by the teacher in the classroom, as shown in the video. Also, it is not good that the meaning of Jesus’ time in the wilderness as being tempted by Satan is omitted, as Alive-O has also omitted from all other lesson material.
The second video segment is titled, ‘René’s Story’ (which uses material from a Trocaire video). The video tells the story of a very poor Nicaraguan boy, who spends part of his day at school and part of his day sifting through rubbish on a local rubbish dump. Some children who have watched René’s story give their reactions and share about letters they have written him. It is an excellent presentation and should help the pupils become more aware of the need to help those in situations of extreme poverty. However, it would have been a good balance to have included a project from a Catholic agency like ‘Aid to the Church in Need’, which caters to the whole person, both spiritual and material, in addition to a project which caters for material needs only (as has been Trocaire’s policy).
Term 2: Lesson 9. Jesus' Never-Ending Love (Holy Week) (A6-T2L9).
The title of this lesson is potentially problematic. The previous lesson (A6-T2L8) was titled, 'God’s Never-Ending Love'. These two titles could invite the interpretation that God is one thing and Jesus is another, that is, Jesus is not God. This impression is reinforced by Alive-O's teaching that ‘God’ (not God the Father) is the first person of the Blessed Trinity, and by constantly referring to Jesus as 'Son of God', but not as, ‘God the Son'.
Pupil's Book.
There is a story titled, ‘Jesus goes to Jerusalem', which is based on Luke 19:28-40. This story is faithful to Scripture, and is excellent. It is accompanied by an excellent illustration.
There is a second story titled, 'Jesus Eats the Last Supper with the Apostles', which is based on Matthew 26:26-28. The story is good and is faithful to Scripture, but errs on the side of brevity. The story is accompanied by an excellent illustration.
There is a third story titled, 'Jesus Dies on the Cross', which is based on Luke 23:33-46. This account is also faithful to the Scripture and is very good, and is accompanied by an excellent illustration.
While the three Scripture accounts with accompanying illustrations are excellent teachings about Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday, it is not good that there is no development or explanation of the meaning of what occurred on these three vital days of Holy Week. This problem is increased by the fact that there is no real development either in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book. The development of the meaning of Scripture is part of the Church’s tradition from the earliest times (Jesus himself gave us an example with the disciples on the road to Emmaus), even for adults, and therefore much more important for children.
There are three questions with answers dealing with the death of Jesus on Good Friday. The answers are seriously inadequate and an expression of Alive-O spirituality but are not an authentic Christian understanding of the death of Jesus. The answers merely speak of Jesus' love for the Father and for us, but by stating no more than that and omitting that Jesus’ death on the Cross redeemed the human race from sin, Alive-O omits what is essentially Christian in the suffering and death of Jesus. It is pointless talking about the love of God while excluding the greatest expression of God's love which is given most beautifully in John 3:16, 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life'.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has spaces for the pupils to enter words and pictures about what happened on Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday. In spite of the lack of explanation in the Pupil's Book and in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book, there is still plenty of material from the Scripture stories and excellent illustrations in the Pupil's Book for this to be a very good exercise for the pupils.
The prayer is taken from the Stations of the Cross, 'We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy Cross you have redeemed (saved) the world!' This prayer is excellent, but the problem is that the redemptive nature of Jesus' death on the cross is not taught explained or brought out anywhere else. It is most improbable that this prayer alone, therefore, will be enough to teach the children the central Christian message that Jesus is our divine Saviour who redeemed the world from sin.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There is a good Scripture quotation taken from Philippians 2:5-8, and there is also an excellent quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 571, which speaks of God saving plan being accomplished once for all by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, this truth of Jesus redemptive death for our salvation – the central truth of Holy Week – is not developed anywhere by Alive-O in the material for pupils or for teachers.
The information for teachers refers to the events of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday but does not expand or develop the meaning of any of these great events. There is also a reference to the use of art to help teach the event, but, even though the illustrations in the Pupil's Book are excellent, the meaning is not brought out or developed or explained anywhere in the lesson material. The use of art as an aid in catechesis is excellent in principle. There are first rate examples of how this can be done in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and in every issue of The Sower, the quarterly catechetical magazine of the Maryvale Institute. It is a pity that Alive-O did not follow these excellent examples of how art can be used in teaching the truths of Faith.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
The Scripture account of Palm Sunday from the Pupil's Book is repeated in the Teacher's Book. The song given is the Sanctus from the Mass, which is very appropriate and good. The activity is a Bible search to look up the Scripture references from the Gospels about the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, which is good. A discussion session about the illustration has many questions but no answers, and so does not bring out the meaning of the artwork. The prayer time does develop the meaning to some extent, but only in a line with Alive-O's own spirituality, saying that Jesus is our friend, helped people to get better, told us about the Father, and asked us to love one another and to follow Jesus.
The discussion session associated with the illustration for Holy Thursday also has questions with no answers, and so does not bring out the meaning at all. The associated, 'Passover Song', is reasonable in itself but is very brief, and does not develop the meaning of Holy Thursday, in particular there is no connection made between the Last Supper and the Passover Meal.
The discussion session related to the illustration for Good Friday also has many questions with no answers, and neither in this discussion session nor anywhere else is the meaning of Good Friday brought out. The associated song, ‘Stabat Mater’, expresses the sorrow of the crucifixion, but does not bring out its meaning.
There are three prayer times this week, which focus on Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday. This is excellent in principle, but the actual prayer times leave much to be desired. The prayer time for Palm Sunday involves the reading of the relevant piece of Scripture, which is excellent, but the subsequent Alive-O written prayers are very much in line with Alive-O's own spirituality, and omit the essential Christian significance of Holy Week. The prayer time for Holy Thursday also has a relevant Scripture reading, but the ensuing Alive-O prayer does not bring out the significance of the Last Supper. The prayer time for Good Friday again has a good and relevant Scripture reading, but yet again the ensuing Alive-O prayer does not bring out any significance of Jesus death on the cross, in particular there is no reference that Jesus’ death on the cross won our salvation from sin. The Good Friday prayer does call for a symbol of a cross, which is good, but not a crucifix, which would have been much better.
Term 3: Lesson 1. The Risen Jesus (A6-T3L1).
The Resurrection of Christ is covered in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 638-658. The Resurrection is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ and shows that Jesus conquered death. The Resurrection is the work of the Trinity, so Jesus’ rising from the dead is not like human beings who were raised from the dead by a power totally outside themselves, such as Jairus' daughter, the young man of Nain, and Lazarus. The Resurrection is definitive proof of Jesus' divine authority, and of his divinity. Christ's death liberated us from sin, his Resurrection opens across the way to new life. Mary Magdalene and the holy women were the first disciples to see Jesus after his Resurrection, and they brought the message to Peter and the apostles, who in turn became the primary witnesses of the Resurrection to the world.
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story titled, 'Mary Magdalene meets the Risen Jesus', which is based mainly on the gospel of John 20:1-2, 11-18. The account is very poor, because it adds in much fictional material, and makes a number of important omissions. The changes that Alive-O makes in the Scripture account give the impression that Mary was emotionally and romantically involved with Jesus, giving credence to the kind of false theories about Jesus and Mary Magdalene being lovers and getting married, such as presented in the ‘Da Vinci Code’ and other sources. (This false impression was also reinforced by Alive-O in an earlier lesson on the Wedding Feast at Cana, T1L5, when it said that 'Jesus and Mary Magdalene' were present at the wedding feast, which has no scriptural foundation, and gives the impression that Jesus and Mary were a couple or at least 'an item').
Alive-O's story says that Mary Magdalene 'just threw her arms around Jesus', whereas the Scripture says in Matthew 28:9 that she and the other women clasped his feet. Important elements from Scripture that are omitted from Alive-O's story include: Mary first ran to tell Peter and John, that angels appeared at the tomb to give her a message, that Mary addressed Jesus as 'Master', that Jesus said to her that she should not cling to him and that she should go and tell the brothers that he was ascending to his Father.
There is an excellent illustration of Jesus rising from the tomb and showing the dismayed, astonished guards at the tomb. While this illustration is excellent, it does not actually relate to the story in the Pupil’s Book, and there is no text or description dealing with or explaining the picture. The illustration indicates that the first witnesses of the Resurrection were the guards at the tomb, who then brought the news of the Resurrection to the Chief Priests, by whom the truth was suppressed (Mt.28:4, 11-15). In contrast, Mary Magdalene and the women brought the news of the Resurrection to Peter and the apostles, who accepted their account, went to see for themselves and then became the public witnesses to the whole world (Mt.28:5-8; Jn.20:1-10).
There is a question and answer as follows: Q. What happened on Easter Sunday? A. On Easter Sunday God the Father raised Jesus from death to new life in a glorious body. This answer is inadequate and potentially misleading, because it is compatible with the idea that Jesus was no more than a human being who was raised from the dead by a divine power entirely outside of himself. A central truth of the Christian Faith is that the Resurrection was the work of the Trinity, and that therefore Jesus raised himself from the dead by his own divine power in conjunction with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, which is a definitive proof of Jesus' divinity, CCC 648-649.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a picture to be coloured in of Mary Magdalene running away from the tomb, and a sentence to be decoded which tells of Mary running away and that Jesus is risen. It is a reasonable exercise, but does not add anything to the story in the Pupil's Book.
The instructions speak of the 'Church's belief in the Resurrection of Jesus as an event of history through the witness of Mary Magdalene'. This is fine as far as it goes, but it would be good to also include the fact that Jesus charged Peter and the apostles to be the primary witnesses of the Resurrection to the world, which is very important to an understanding of the Church and the sacramental priesthood.
Alive-O also refers to 'the Resurrection as a present reality through the words of Jesus: I am the vine; you are the branches'. There is material on this theme in the Teacher's Book, which has serious problems, as analysed further below.
The prayer given is the traditional Easter acclamation, 'Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, alleluia!', which is excellent.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There is some information on the Resurrection of Jesus, and the witness of Mary Magdalene and the disciples, which is only fair, because it does not bring out the central truths of the resurrection as expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 638-658. There is an over emphasis on the moods and feelings of the disciples before and after the Resurrection, and a distinct lack of information about the key Christian meaning of the Resurrection.
Alive-O introduces the idea of exploring the words of Jesus: 'I am the vine; you are the branches', which it does in the lesson material that follows in a manner which treats Jesus as no more than a human being, which is in harmony with Alive-O's spirituality.
The thought for the teachers for this lesson is interesting, but it is rather complex and will hardly help the teachers present the simple truths of the Christian Faith concerning the Resurrection of Jesus.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled 'This is the Day', which is good in itself, but has limited pedagogical value for this particular lesson, because it is not specific to Easter or the Resurrection.
The story from the Pupil's Book, 'Mary Magdalene meets the Risen Jesus', is repeated in the Teacher's Book, with the addition of another paragraph. The additional paragraph is good in that it tells of Mary passing on the news of the resurrection of Jesus, but it also has limitations through the addition of fictional material and omissions. It only mentions the 'friends of Jesus', and does not mention the very important truth of the passing on of the news to Peter and the Apostles. It also has the fictional addition that Mary Magdalene was delighted because she was getting the credit for being the first friend to see Jesus, thus attributing a self-centred and egotistical motivation to Mary Magdalene, which would be quite un-Christian and has no basis in Scripture.
The subsequent discussion session and prayer time focus on Mary Magdalene's supposed feelings, and do not bring out the true Christian meaning of the Resurrection.
The illustration in the Pupil's Book is excellent, but as in the previous lesson, Alive-O fails to use the picture as a way of teaching the pupils about the Resurrection. There is a discussion session and prayer time dealing with the illustration, but at the end of it all the pupils will be none the wiser about the meaning of the picture, unlike the excellent examples of teaching through art given in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in ‘The Sower’, as noted above in relation to the previous lesson. There are many questions about the picture given by Alive-O but no answers. The only information given is about the painter, which is interesting but does not teach anything about the meaning of the illustration, which is the important thing.
There is another story titled, 'Mary Magdalene', which speaks of Mary being excited about meeting Jesus, and telling the 'friends of Jesus' about it. There is also mention that Jesus appeared to other of his 'friends’, who came to realise that the Resurrection was true. This is all reasonable as far as it goes, but it omits the key element about the witnesses to the Resurrection, that Jesus appeared to Peter and the Apostles and charged them with being his primary witnesses to the world.
An unacceptable aspect of the story is the way that it uses the image of the vine and the branches to support the idea that Jesus was no more than a human being. Alive-O completely omits the key truths about the Resurrection as presented so well in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 638-658, which have been summarised above. Alive-O does not teach that Christ's death liberates us from sin and that his Resurrection opens the way to new life, nor that Jesus in the Trinity raised himself from death, nor that the Resurrection offers definitive proof of Jesus' divine authority and his divinity.
The image of the vine and the branches is given in the Gospel of John 15:1-8. Jesus said that he was the vine and we are the branches, that we must abide in him and he will abide in us, that unless we are abiding him we can achieve nothing and that cut off from him we will wither and die. A key word in this passage is the Greek word meno, which in major translations of the Bible is rendered as: abide, make your home in, remain in (RSV, JB, KJV, NIV, GNB). These claims of Jesus amounted to an affirmation of his divinity, because it would be preposterous arrogance bordering on lunacy for a mere human being to make such claims. Alive-O diminishes the significance of the image of the vine and branches to a level which is compatible with Jesus being a mere human being by simply stating that Jesus said, 'Stay connected with me and I will stay connected with you', and that the apostles replied 'We are always going to be close to Jesus and Jesus is always going to be close to us'. This alteration of Sacred Scripture makes it fit in with Alive-O's own spirituality which does not profess Jesus as fully divine.
The subsequent discussion session, activities and prayer times reinforce Alive-O's diminished view of Jesus after his Resurrection, and omit the key truths about the Resurrection which are contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 638-658, and are summarised above.
All the prayer times use a lighted candle as a symbol; one prayer time calls for the use of a picture of the Resurrection, which is good. No use is made of the great prayers of the Church, but a number of the prayer times use a short version of ‘St Patrick's Breastplate’, which is good. Most of the prayer times open with the Easter acclamation, 'Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!', which is good.
Liturgy and Sacraments.
Term 2: Lesson 1. A Healing Community.
. Term 3: Lesson 2. The Sacrifice of the Mass.
(Note: Term 2, Lesson 8: God’s Never-Ending Love, includes the Sacrament of Confession, but the lesson is closely linked with the general theme of ‘Life in Christ / Morality’, and is therefore analysed under that heading below.)
Summary.
The lesson titled, 'A Healing Community', is about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. The inappropriate title gives an indication of the way in which the lesson is most unsatisfactory. Alive-O treats the Sacrament as no more than the community – people and priest – coming together to pray for the comfort of a sick person; Alive-O omits that it is the priest who is the minister of the Sacrament, through the spiritual power conferred on him in the Sacrament of Holy Orders (Alive-O does not teach that priests receive any spiritual powers at all through Holy Orders – not consecration of the Eucharist, not forgiveness of sins in Confession, not the Anointing of the Sick. See lesson on the Sacrament of Holy Orders, A8-T1L12). The lesson follows Alive-O’s normal practice of omitting sacramental grace, which is the core meaning of the Sacraments of the Church. The lesson also omits most other essential elements of the Sacrament which are taught by the Catholic Church.
The Lesson on the Mass is mixed, but generally unsatisfactory. There are some good material but also omissions and confusions. The Pupil's Book contains the words of the Eucharistic Prayer, but no explanation or development of the meaning of the Mass, which is very limited value to the pupils. The video material, which the pupils may see, is rather more helpful. The Teacher's Book material introduces the idea of sacrifice, which is good in itself, but the nature of sacrifice tends to be diminished and the connection with our salvation from sin by Jesus is omitted. There are two structures of the Mass given in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book, which differ from one another, and neither of which is a clear presentation which will help the teachers to present to the pupils the meaning and structure of the Mass.
Term 2: Lesson 1. A Healing Community. (A6-T2L1)
This lesson is about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. The title of the lesson is therefore inappropriate, but the title gives a clue to the serious deficiency of the lesson. The lesson gives the impression that the Sacrament is no more than the getting together of the community to bring comfort to the sick person.
This lesson is extremely poor, and does not give a true presentation of the meaning of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick as taught by the Catholic Church. Alive-O omits the particular sacramental grace, the fact that the sacrament was instituted by Christ. It is not clear that the Minister of the sacrament is the priest (or bishop); the impression is given that it is the people in general who minister the Sacrament. The effects of the sacrament are almost completely omitted, and reduced only to the comfort of the sick person. There is also no mention that the sacrament should only be administered to those who are seriously ill, or in danger of death.
A serious omission from this lesson is any mention of healing through the power of intercessory prayer of Christians who ask God to bring about physical healing. There is only mention of a healing carried out by Jesus himself. There is no mention of healings carried about by the Apostles in the Gospels or in the Acts of the Apostles. There is no mention of healing carried out by saints throughout the history of the church, no mention of miraculous healings in places of pilgrimage like Lourdes and Knock, and no mention of the miraculous healings required through intercession to every saint before they are accepted for canonization by the Church.
In addition to an extremely poor presentation of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, the lesson also repeats Alive-O's deficient understanding of all the Sacraments of the Church through nonrecognition of sacramental grace.
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story, titled, ' Sister Josephine Keane', which tells the touching story of the care given by an Irish missionary nun to children caught up in the terrible war in Rwanda. While it is an excellent account of care and love in the midst of terrible suffering, it does not teach anything about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
There is a passage from the gospel of John 5:2-9, which tells of Jesus healing the sick man at the pool of Beth-zatha in Jerusalem. In itself this reading is fine, because it tells of the healing power of Jesus, which is what is experienced in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. However, there are a number of problems associated with this reading. The reading is presented with opening and closing prayers taken from the Mass, which mimics the solemn proclamation of the gospel by the priest at Mass. This kind of solemn proclamation should be reserved to the Mass alone, and serves to undermine the solemn nature of the Mass and of the role of the priest. Also, if one were selecting a healing of Jesus to help understand the Sacrament, a more appropriate healing would be a healing of the paralytic, because Jesus forgave his sins as well as healing him physically, and the Sacrament also brings forgiveness of sins as well as physical healing.
However, the most appropriate Scripture reading to illustrate the sacramental nature of the Anointing of the Sick, is James 5:14-15, which is the key Scripture given in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The Pupil's Book has an account of the Sacrament, which seriously misrepresents the nature of the sacrament as taught by the Church. The Sacrament of the Sick is beautifully and simply summarised in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1526-1532. Alive-O's account treats the sacrament as if it were primarily people gathering together to pray with the person who is ill to bring comfort. There is no mention that it is the priest (or Bishop) who is the Minister of the sacrament, and the presence of other people is desirable because of the communal nature of all the sacraments, but the essential person who must be there to administer the sacrament is the priest.
Alive-O does not mention the particular sacramental grace of the Sacrament of the Sick, but then this is consistent with Alive-O's nonrecognition of any sacramental grace. Alive-O only says that the prayer of the sacrament is to 'comfort the sick person'. This falls radically short of the true nature of the Sacrament as taught by the Church. The Church teaches that the special grace of the Sacrament has as its effects (which are all omitted from Alive-O’s account):
• uniting the sick person to the Passion of Christ;
• strength, peace and courage for endurance of the suffering resulting from illness or old age;
• forgiveness of sin, if the sick person was not able to obtain forgiveness through the Sacrament of Penance;
• restoration of health, if conducive to salvation of the sick person's soul;
• preparation for passing over to eternal life.
There are two questions and answers, which also fall radically short of teaching the true nature of the Sacrament, as presented by the Church. The answers to the questions speak only of strengthening, hope, comfort, and peace for the sick person.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a picture of a smiling healthy-looking boy, with six hands reaching out towards him and touching him on the head or shoulder. The exercise consists in writing down the names off those with healing hands reaching out to the boy and drawing their faces. This exercise will teach nothing whatsoever about the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.
The prayer given is adapted from St Patrick’s Breastplate, which is excellent in itself, but does not do anything at all to teach the pupils about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There are two quotations from the CCC, which are not bad in themselves, but do not contain any reference to the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.
The information speaks of the various healings of Jesus, which is good, but unfortunately it repeats the error that the raising of Jairus’ daughter from death was no more than a healing. The information includes a good quotation from CCC 1505, concerning Jesus' victory over sin and death through his Passover. There is some information on the Sacrament but it falls radically short of the teaching of the Church on the Anointing of the Sick.
The information includes the highly relevant quotation from James 5:14-15, concerning the anointing of the sick, but unfortunately Alive-O's translation changes the Scripture original. The Scripture focuses on the individual person who is sick, but Alive-O changes the singular to the plural, which alters the meaning so that it harmonises better with Alive-O's understanding of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick as the humanitarian concern of the community for all those who are sick or suffering.
The thought for the teacher is about a man watching his father die, which is a touching story, but teaches nothing about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
Lesson material in the Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled, 'Jesus, Be with Me'. The song could only be considered fair, because, while it is good that it seeks Jesus' comfort when one is sick and in pain, it omits any kind of spiritual help from Jesus, and even omits any kind of physical healing.
The story of Sr Josephine Keane is repeated in the Teacher's Book, and the following discussions and prayer sessions only bring out the humanitarian, physical aspect of care and healing. There is no mention of spiritual healing or even of physical healing through the power of prayer.
There is a discussion session and information session on the sacraments, which fall seriously short of the Church's teaching on the sacraments, and present Alive-O's idea that the sacraments are largely human celebrations. There is reference to Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation, and the Anointing of the Sick. However, the key meaning of Sacraments is undermined by omitting any reference to sacramental grace. The meaning of Baptism is reduced to no more than becoming a member of the Church. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is reduced to simply celebrating the fact that we have been forgiven by God. Eucharist is referred to no more than something which is celebrated when we go to Mass. Confirmation is reduced to celebrating the fact of the presence of the Holy Spirit with us; there is no reference to the receiving of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament, no mention of the sacramental power of the Bishop. This summary on the sacraments illustrates very clearly that Alive-O’s idea of the sacraments differs radically from that of the Catholic Church.
The Teacher's Book includes the account of the cure by Jesus of the man at the pool of Bethzatha, based on John 5:2-9. As has been noted above, this Scripture is fine in itself, but far from being the most appropriate one to teach about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. The following discussion session and prayer time contain lots of irrelevant material, and fail to bring out the significance of Jesus' miracles as signs of his divine power, and fail to bring out the significance of the Sacrament of the Sick.
The Teacher's Book repeats the inadequate description of the Sacrament that has appeared in the pupil's book, but does not give anything more to bring out the true meaning of the sacrament, which is simply given as the people and priest praying for the comfort of the sick person.
All of the prayer times are fully scripted by Alive-O, and consist of parts for the leader (teacher) with the pupils making Alive-O scripted responses. There are no Christian symbols in the first four prayer times, just a lighted candle, though the final prayer time does have a picture of Jesus as healer. There is minimal use of the great prayers of the Church, just use of the Our Father twice. The content of the Alive-O prayers is predominantly 'horizontal', praying for secular and human matters, not spiritual.
The final day has a special 'Service of Healing and Prayer for the Sick'. However the service is very poor and does not help in any way to teach the pupils about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. There is a reading from the gospel of John which tells of the healing by Jesus of the man at the pool of Bethzatha. As has already been mentioned above this is not the most appropriate Scripture reading for this lesson. The following prayers of intercession refer only to Jesus bringing comfort to sick people, there is no mention of anything spiritual that Jesus can bring, and no mention even of bringing physical healing. The prayer time includes the extremely poor New Age song, 'Celtic Blessing', (which has been commented on more fully elsewhere).
Term 3: Lesson 2. The Sacrifice of the Mass (A6-T3L2).
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has the text of the, 'Eucharistic Prayer for Children II', which Alive-O uses for the Class Mass. It is reasonable to include a Eucharistic Prayer, but by itself it is of limited value in teaching the pupils about the Mass. Pupils need explanation and development of the meaning of the Mass and there is no other teaching material in the Pupil's Book, apart from the three questions and answers below (which are themselves not entirely satisfactory).
One might also question the use of the Eucharistic Prayer for Children, because the normal Eucharistic prayers are richer, and in the context of catechetical teaching about the Mass there would be an opportunity to bring out the meaning for the pupils. There is also the great advantage that by helping the pupils to understand the Mass they will experience in their parish, it will strengthen links between home, school and parish.
There are three questions and answers concerning the Mass. The answers contain some reasonable information, but all have deficiencies in relation to presenting the fullness of Catholic teaching.
The first question reads: Q. What do we do at Mass? A. At Mass we listen to the words of Jesus. We remember Jesus' love for us and we give thanks and we give ourselves to the Father with the Lord Jesus. This answer does cover something of what we do at Mass, but it is far from adequate, because the same could be could be said of any get-together for prayer which includes a gospel reading. The essential nature of the Mass which distinguishes it from other prayers meetings is omitted.
The term the 'words of Jesus' is inadequate, because it would generally be understood as the Gospel reading only. The Liturgy of the Word at Mass includes readings from the Old Testament, and all of the New Testament, not just the Gospels.
The following are important Church teachings about Mass which are not presented to the pupils by Alive-O: At Mass we give thanks for all of God's works: creation, redemption and sanctification. When we remember Jesus' love for us at Mass, we above all remember his sacrificial death on the Cross which redeemed us from sin, and we remember that the Mass is the selfsame sacrifice of the Cross, but in the un-bloody manner. We listen attentively and prayerfully when the priest proclaims the words of consecration which make present under the appearance of bread and wine the very body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. We join ourselves with the sacrifice of Jesus to the Father, which was his death on the Cross for our salvation. The final essential thing we do at Mass is to receive Communion, which is the very body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, the Second Divine Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The second question reads: Q. Why do we call the Mass a sacrifice? A. We call the Mass sacrifice because at Mass Jesus Christ offered himself to God the Father and we offer ourselves with Jesus to him. This answer is less than adequate, because it says nothing about the nature of the sacrifice of Jesus, which was the redemptive sacrifice to save the human race from sin, and to open to us the possibility of new life in heaven, which had been lost by the sin of our First Parents, Original Sin. Alive-O does not recognize the existence of Original Sin, and therefore the need for redemption, which undermines the meaning of Jesus as Saviour, the sacrifice of the Cross and also the Mass. (‘The Church, which has the mind of Christ, knows very well that we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ.’ CCC389).
The third question reads: Q. Why do we call the Mass a meal? A. We call the Mass a meal because at Mass Jesus Christ gives himself to us, under the appearances of bread and wine, to share his life with us and to help us grow in friendship with God and with others. This answer is reasonable as far as it goes, but falls short of the fruits of Holy Communion which are well summarised in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as follows: ‘Holy Communion increases union with Christ and with his Church. It preserves and renews the life of grace received at Baptism and Confirmation and makes us grow in love for our neighbour. It strengthens us in charity, wipes away venial sin and preserves us from mortal sin in the future’.(CCCC292).
Worksheet.
There is a ‘Checklist for the Class Mass’, which is helpful, but which does not get down to the heart of the meaning of the Mass, which is what the pupils most need.
In the instruction there is reference to exploring the meaning of sacrifice, but it gives an indication of what will follow in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book, which focuses primarily on a human and secular understanding of sacrifice, and omits the unique nature of the sacrifice of Jesus who, because he was both God and man, redeemed the world from sin.
The prayer is taken from the Eucharistic Prayer for Children from the Mass, which is not a good idea because it undermines the unique nature of the Mass; there is plenty of scope for other prayers in the classroom, but the liturgical prayers of the Mass itself have a special character, which should be respected and reserved for the Mass itself.
Teacher's Book.
There is an unusually large amount of material in the Teacher's Book for this lesson, amounting to 30 pages in comparison with the average 12 pages per lesson. It is intended that this lesson will extend over two weeks, rather than the usual one week. There is the normal information for teachers, but the Lesson material is divided into three sections. The normal pattern is followed for the first four days of the week. Then there are 3 1/2 pages of notes for the Teacher and Chaplain dealing with the Class Mass. Finally there are eight pages of lesson material for the pupils dealing with the preparation for the Class Mass, which will presumably be taken in the second week. There are also 11 minutes of video material. The various subsections and the video are analysed separately below.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information opens with a good quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1367, which deals with the Eucharist as one single sacrifice. This quotation is excellent, but the subsequent information for teachers and the lesson material tend to diminish the concept of 'sacrifice' to the lowest possible meaning of the term, so that the significance of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is reduced to purely human level, and the salvific and redemptive nature of Jesus' sacrifice is omitted. This treatment of the sacrificial aspect of the Mass is consistent with Alive-O's spirituality which does not recognize Original Sin, or salvation from sin, and is weak on Jesus' divine nature.
Alive-O presents the concept of sacrifice as giving up something for Lent, and the care that parents and guardians give to children. Jesus' sacrifice is described as his time, his care, his energy, his love, and finally his giving of his life on the cross. No particular significance is attached to his death, and there is no mention that his death was salvific and redemptive from sin, just that he died because of his love for us. This is entirely unsatisfactory, because it omits the central truth of the Christian Faith that Jesus became man in order to give his life for us to redeem us from sin.
The thought for the teacher is a quotation from Martin Luther King, in which he expresses his willingness to die in the cause of the struggle for freedom. This is excellent in itself, and recalls a great man who died a heroic death, but it is less than helpful in the context of this lesson, in which Alive-O equates Jesus sacrificial death on the cross with a general concept of 'sacrifice' as nothing more than doing good for someone else.
It is more than strange that Alive-O, while talking about the concept of sacrifice and mentioning the giving of one's life, like the great Martin Luther King, never ever mentions martyrdom for the Faith, or gives examples of Christian martyrs.
Lesson material for Days 1-4.
There are six songs given for this lesson, which are analysed below.
The first song is titled, 'Parish Anthem', which would be reasonable in the context of good Catholic teaching about the Church and the Faith, but on its own it is rather 'horizontal'. It does not make any contribution to understanding the Mass, in particular the Mass as sacrifice.
The next song is titled, ‘Time and Time and Time Again', which is based on a Canticle from the book of Daniel. It is a very good song, but does not make any specific contribution to the understanding of the Mass.
The next song is titled the, 'Apostles' Creed', which is excellent and highly relevant to the Mass. However, this song or the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed are not referenced or used anywhere in the lesson material, which is not good.
The next song is, 'Blessed Be God', which is very relevant for the Offertory of the Mass.
The next song is, 'Eat This Bread', which is also given in Irish translation. This song is excellent, very relevant to the Mass, and has the additional advantage that it is frequently used in parishes, and so will help connect the pupils with home and church.
The final song is titled, 'This Is the Day', which is good and suitable for use at Mass. However, the words of the song are not specific to the Mass, and so will not serve pedagocically to increasing the pupils’ understanding of the nature of the Mass.
There is a poem titled, 'Give Yourself', with an associated discussion session and prayer time. These are unhelpful in understanding the nature of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, because they promote the idea of 'sacrifice' as simply doing something good for another person in a purely human way.
There is a story titled, ‘My Left Foot', with associated discussion session, activity and prayer time. These are also unhelpful in understanding the nature of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, because they promote the idea of 'sacrifice' as no more than doing something good for another person.
There are two Scripture-based stories titled, 'Jesus Heals a Man with Dropsy', and 'Jesus Eats with Tax-Collectors and the Sinners', with associated discussion sessions and a prayer time. These are fine in themselves, but do not help towards an understanding of the Mass, particularly the Mass as sacrifice, and actually are unhelpful to the extent that they support Alive-O's view of 'sacrifice' as no more than doing good for another person.
There is a story titled, 'The Last Supper', which is extremely poor. It is loosely based on the gospel accounts, but then it contains added Alive-O written information, which undermines the true Christian nature of Jesus’ redeeming sacrifice on the cross and promotes instead Alive-O spirituality. There is also no attempt made in this story or in the ensuing discussion sessions, activities, or prayer time to relate the Last Supper to the Mass. The Alive-O story version of the Last Supper reinforces again the concept that Jesus is no more than a good humanitarian human being, who went round doing good and telling people that God loved them, and because of this he unfortunately suffered death, which he was prepared to do because of his great love for God and us. There is no suggestion that Jesus was truly divine, and that his mission in becoming truly man was primarily to offer his life in sacrifice so that we would be redeemed from sin, restored to life, reconciled with God so that heaven would be opened to us in the new life after death.
There is an activity and video on the Crucifix. Alive-O says that, 'The crucifix is the symbol that reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus. Christians honour the crucifix. It is hung in churches and homes'. There is a short video piece which shows a number of crucifixes, which is excellent. This is all good as far as it goes; however, Alive-O diminishes the crucifix in practice. It is Catholic practice to use the crucifix as the primary symbol in places of prayer, such as churches, homes, and classrooms of Catholic schools. However, Alive-O never proposes the crucifix to be used as a symbol in prayer. The associated activity titled, 'Making a Class Crucifix', is not actually making a crucifix but rather undermining the concept of sacrifice and of the crucifix. The exercise for the children is to take a piece of paper and draw a picture of a time when someone made a sacrifice for them or when they made a sacrifice for someone else. The piece of paper is then stuck on to a piece of card which is cross shaped. There is a suggestion that a figure of Jesus might be placed on top of the children's drawings. Far from teaching the children about the crucifix, this activity reinforces Alive-O's concept of 'sacrifice' as no more than doing something nice for someone else. This undermines the true nature of sacrifice, and in particular undermines the significance of Jesus' sacrificial redemptive death on the Cross.
Alive-O’s concept of 'sacrifice' is further reinforced by an exercise for the children which asks them what things they can do to help them remember that God is close to them. Alive-O then proposes that one of these things should be written down and described as the 'Class Sacrifice', and presented with the gifts at Mass. This can only further undermine the true understanding of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the Cross.
Notes for Teacher and Chaplain on the Class Mass.
The quality of these Notes is poor, notwithstanding some good elements, because of serious omissions, in particular leaving out the very heart of the Mass so that what is left is really an empty shell. The relevant references are CCC 1322-1419, in particular CCC 1348-1355.
The CCC points out that to understand the Eucharistic assembly, we must realise that Christ himself is the head, he is the high priest of the New Covenant, and that the priest or bishop in presiding over the Mass acts in the person of Christ. Alive-O's notes have the barest of references to priest, and so omit a key feature in understanding what the Mass is all about, which cannot be properly understood unless it is seen that the entire mass is the action of Christ.
The CCC points out that the liturgy of the Eucharist has two great parts that form a fundamental unity: the liturgy of the Word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. In helping the pupils to understand the meaning of the Mass, it would be very important to teach about these two great parts of the Mass, but Alive-O does not do this.
Introductory Rite. There are some reasonable comments here on the Introductory Rite, except for the suggestion that some of the prayers should be 'adapted' or omitted. The prayers supplied by the Church are simple and understandable, and have no need to be 'adapted' or omitted, to say nothing of the fact that such adaptations or omissions are contrary to the Church's instructions on celebration of liturgy.
Penitential Rite. The notes here are very poor, because they propose changes in the Church's prayers, claiming that Alive-O's own prayers are 'formulated in a language more suitable for a children's Mass'. This is not the case. The Church’s prayers are simpler and better, while Alive-O's prayers are written to support its own spirituality concerning the nature of Jesus and his mission, and concerning the nature of morality. The notes conclude with, 'The rite is concluded by the priest’s absolution'; it is unwise to use the term 'absolution', because it gives the false impression that the priest’s concluding prayer for God's mercy forgives sins in the same way as the Sacrament of Reconciliation. (This incorrect impression is compounded by the omission – from these notes and the lesson material for pupils – of the forgiveness of venial sin on correct reception of Holy Communion, as taught by the Church; see analysis below).
Liturgy of the Word. Alive-O says that the choice of readings for this lesson focus on the Mass as sacrifice, but the actual readings proposed from the book of Ruth, the Psalms, and the Gospel of Matthew, all focus on the theme of meal, not on sacrifice. There are some good suggestions on the use of a procession with the Lectionary and other ways of showing respect for the proclamation of the Word of God.
There is a suggestion that the reading of the gospel, which deals with the Last Supper, should be preceded with a reading or acting out of Alive-O's adapted version of this story, but this is not good because Alive-O’s adapted version is so poor.
Alive-O’s suggestion on the homily is poor for a few reasons. There is a suggestion that it could take the form of a dialogue/conversation with the children, and this was followed through on the video with a 'homily' which is no more than a couple of questions addressed to the children. There is also a suggestion that the homily might be given by the teacher, which is contrary to Church instructions for the liturgy. There is no mention of the importance and significance of the ordained minister (bishop, priest, or deacon), in persona Christi, in proclaiming the gospel and giving the homily.
The Profession of Faith – the proclamation of the Nicene Creed or the Apostles' Creed – is a very important part of the Liturgy of the Word, but is totally omitted by Alive-O. This is not good.
Prayer of the Faithful. The notes here are good, but the Prayer of the Faithful should be presented as part of the Liturgy of the Word.
Liturgy of the Eucharist. The notes here are particularly poor because they give undue attention to peripheral items and omit the very heart of the Mass. Also, the Communion Rite is the concluding part of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, but Alive-O's notes treat Communion as if it were a separate part of the Mass.
A lot of attention is given to the preparation of the altar, recommending that it should be done at this part of the Mass. The normal practice of preparing the altar before the beginning of Mass would be much preferable, because preparation of the altar at this point is distracting and serves no useful purpose.
The notes on the Presentation of the Gifts are good.
The notes on the Eucharistic Prayer are seriously defective and deficient. The notes correctly say that the Eucharistic Prayer 'is the centre and high point of the entire celebration' but then diminish and undermine this core and heart of the Mass by giving only a two-line explanation of the meaning of the Eucharistic Prayer, saying that it 'is a prayer of thanksgiving' in which 'the whole congregation joins Christ in acknowledging the works of God and in offering the sacrifice'.
Alive-O omits the Preface, in which the Church gives thanks to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, for all his works: creation, redemption and sanctification. Alive-O omits the Epiclesis, in which the Church asks the Father to send his Holy Spirit on the bread and wine, so that by his power they may become the body and blood of Jesus Christ and so that those who take part in the Eucharist may be one body and one spirit in Christ. Alive-O omits the Institution Narrative spoken by the priest, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit making sacramentally present the body and blood of Christ, his sacrifice offered on the cross once for all. Alive-O omits the Anamnesis in which the Church calls to mind the Passion, Resurrection and glorious return of Christ Jesus and in which she presents to the Father the offering of his Son which reconciles us with him. Alive-O omits the Intercessions, in which the Church indicates that the Eucharist is celebrated in communion with the whole Church in heaven and on earth, and in communion with the Pope, and all the bishops of the whole world together with their priests, deacons, and their entire Churches. (CCC 1353-1354).
The notes are correct in giving attention to the Great Amen, but not good in referring to it as 'a burst of praise', when it is an affirmation by the people of all that has gone before in the Mass. Also it is not good that Alive-O omits the Doxology that precedes the Great Amen; this Doxology is a powerful Trinitarian prayer and helps to set the entire Mass in a Trinitarian context.
Communion Rite. The notes recommend the use of the Alive-O gestures to accompany the 'Our Father', but these rather ritualised and mechanical gestures do not help the children understand the prayer, and Alive-O has not taught them the meaning of the prayer, which is not good. The notes suggest prayer before and after Communion, which is good. The notes on the Reception of Holy Communion are good in so far as they encourage a prayerful and respectful way of receiving Communion. However, the notes are very poor in relation to what is omitted concerning the Church’s teaching on Communion. Alive-O omits that the conditions for receiving communion which are to be in the state of grace and have fasted for one hour before Communion. Alive-O also omits the graces of receiving Holy Communion, which are to increase union with Christ and with his Church, preserve and renew the life of grace received at Baptism and confirmation, help us grow in love of our neighbour, to strengthen us in charity, wipe away venial sin and preserve us from mortal sin in the future.
Concluding Rite. The notes on the concluding prayers and leaving the church are good.
Preparing for the Class Mass.
This section is intended as lesson material for the pupils. It follows the different parts of the Mass, and roughly parallels the notes for teachers and chaplains in the previous section. In general the section is poor, with limited information about the Mass, parts of the mass mixed up in a confusing way, and very significant omissions. This section is likely to confuse rather than educate pupils about true Catholic meaning of the Mass.
Six sub-headings are chosen for presentation of the Mass as follows:
• We Gather to Celebrate
• We Ask for God's Forgiveness
• We Listen to the Word of God
• We Remember Jesus' Love for the Father and for Us
• We Give Thanks
• We Receive Holy Communion
The choice of these sub-headings is unhelpful in understanding the meaning of the Mass. The fact that the Mass is made up of two main parts: the Liturgy of the Word, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, is omitted. Undue attention is given to the initial gathering together of the people, and to the Penitential Rite. The explanation of the Liturgy of the Word is extremely poor, because the Sacred Scriptures are equated with the thoughts that come into a child's head, both being described as 'the Word of God'.
The Liturgy of the Eucharist, and its core, the Eucharistic Prayer, which is the very heart and summit of the Mass, are omitted, and replaced simply by 'thanksgiving', in which Alive-O gives exaggerated importance to the etymology of the word 'Eucharist', which does mean thanksgiving, but Alive-O ignores all the other dimensions and meanings of Eucharist. The central part of the Eucharistic Prayer is the institution narrative or Consecration, which Alive-O adds on, out of place, after the Holy Communion, which de-emphasises and diminishes this central moment which gives the Mass its meaning.
We Gather to Celebrate. The discussion session focuses first on secular celebrations, which will hardly help the pupils to understand the meaning of the Mass. There is mention of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and that he loved us so much that he sacrificed his life for us, which is all good, but the Christian meaning of that sacrifice is not mentioned, which is that Jesus died to save us from sin. The meaning of sacrifice is further diminished by saying that pupils should bring some of their 'sacrifices' to Mass with them. The activity and prayer time focus on secular celebration.
We Ask for God's Forgiveness. There is a discussion session, activity, and prayer time. The discussion session does a good job on asking pupils to reflect on when they had done wrong and to seek God's forgiveness. The artwork activity is a bit odd in asking pupils to think of a colour that shows the need for forgiveness and another colour to show what it's like to have been forgiven. The prayer time includes reciting the Confiteor, which is good. The prayer time makes a reasonable attempt to guide the pupils in thinking of areas where they may have done wrong and would need to seek God's forgiveness. It would have been better if the pupils had been taught the Ten Commandments, which could then be used as a framework for this Examination of Conscience.
It is not good that the prayer time concludes with the offering of the Sign of Peace, which is out of place. In the Mass the exchange of the Sign of Peace follows logically on from the prayers for peace said by the priest after the ‘Our Father’. This mixing up of the order of Mass is likely to confuse the pupils.
We Listen to the Word of God. There is a discussion session, an art session, and prayer time. The discussion session simply refers to hearing the Word of God at Mass.
The art session asks the pupils to pick out their favourite story from the Bible and to write it out, which is fine. Unfortunately, Alive-O gives among its examples, 'Jesus cured the daughter of Jairus', which repeats the error in earlier Alive-O Books that the girl was only healed and not raised from the dead (see CCC 646, which confirms that Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead).
The prayer time is extremely unsatisfactory, because it equates the thoughts that come into a child's head with the Bible, describing both equally as the 'Word of God'. Alive-O says, 'God is always speaking to us in our hearts. Close your eyes and become still. If God were to say a word to you right now, what do you think it would be? Let God know you have heard the word in your heart. Open your eyes. We have heard the Word of God'. This could hardly be more damaging, because as well as elevating the thoughts in a child's head to the level of the Bible, it is bringing the Bible down to the level of thoughts in a child's head, which seriously undermines Divine Revelation in Sacred Scripture.
We Remember Jesus' Love for the Father and for Us. There is a discussion session, an art session and a prayer time. The focus is first put on the love that family members and other human beings show for us for which we can be thankful. Then the questions are posed about how Jesus might have loved God and loved us. The prayer time then gives examples of what Jesus did for which we should be thankful: give food to hungry, healed the sick, forgives sinners, prayed to God, and died on the cross. There is certainly good in these things, but the serious omission is that Jesus' gave himself up to death on the cross in order to redeem the whole human race from sin. Millions of human beings have died for the sake of others, but Jesus was the only one who did or who could have brought about the salvation of the human race through his death, because he is true God and true man. This essential Christian truth is omitted from Alive-O, so we are left with a good man who was prepared to die for the love of God and other people, no different in essence from millions of other good people, such as the example given at the beginning of this lesson of the heroic Martin Luther King.
We Give Thanks. Alive-O says, 'The word Eucharist means Thanksgiving', which is perfectly correct, but Alive-O goes on then as if Thanksgiving was the one and only meaning of Eucharist, which is not correct. The Catechism of the Catholic Church points out that the Sacrament has many different names, each of which evokes a certain aspect of the meaning of the Sacrament. The CCC gives 17 different names and their meanings (CCC 1328-1332).
Alive-O first sets a secular tone by referring to giving thanks to other people. When it comes to thanks to God and to Jesus Alive-O reinforces its own spirituality by referring to simply thanking God 'for sending Jesus to teach us how to live and how to love' while omitting the essential Christian truth that the greatest reason we have to thank God for Jesus is that he came to save us from sin (John 3:16). Alive-O spirituality is also reinforced by thanking God for raising Jesus to new life at Easter, when the Christian truth is that Jesus' Resurrection was the work of the whole Trinity, and therefore Jesus was raised to life by himself and not simply by a ‘God’ who is other than Jesus.
The art and discussion sessions go on to focus on the theme of thanking, with emphasis on secular and human matters. When it does get to thanking God the first priority is given to secular matters and then there is a mention that Jesus takes away sin, which of course is good, but it is hugely de-emphasised, and there is no explanation or development of what 'taking away sin' means. The prayer time focus is mostly on thanking God for secular things before getting around to mentioning the gift of Jesus who sacrificed his life for us, but again there is no explanation that Jesus’ sacrifice redeemed the world from sin. The overall impression is that Jesus was no more than a good man who was prepared to give up his life because he loved people.
We Receive Holy Communion. This consists of a discussion session, and among the discussion starter questions there is mention that at the Consecration of the Mass the bread and wine are changed in to the body and blood of Christ, which we receive in Holy Communion. This is followed by the words of the Consecration of the Mass. While it is good to include the Consecration, it is massively de-emphasised by failing to give it due prominence, and locating it out of place.
This presentation on the Mass is extremely poor and confusing for the pupils, the most important parts of the Mass are left out, relatively minor aspects are given major prominence, and the order of the Mass is mixed up. It significantly fails to present clearly and cogently for the pupils the true and authentic Catholic teaching on the Mass.
The prayer times for these two weeks never use a Christian symbol, only a lighted candle. The great prayers of the Church are used only twice: one ‘Our Father’ and one ‘Confiteor’. The prayer times are highly structured with the teacher leading with Alive-O prayers and the pupils making Alive-O written responses, all very much in harmony with Alive-O’s spirituality.
Video.
The first part of the video presents a range of different crucifixes, and is excellent. The presentation is accompanied by the Alive-O song, ‘Stabat Mater’, which conveys very well the sorrow of the crucifixion, but does not explain the meaning.
The second part of the video shows a priest introducing a group of pupils to the church and to the Mass. There are strengths in this presentation but also limitations. The priest’s explanation of the nature of the Mass is incomplete, as follows, 'We celebrate that Jesus is risen from the dead and that he is with us. That's what we do at Mass'. When introducing the pupils to the Baptismal font the priest only mentions that Baptism welcomes people into God's family, which falls far short of the full Christian meaning of Baptism. The priest poses the question as to what happened on Good Friday, and gives the answer simply that Jesus died on the cross, which is of course true but falls short of the full Christian perspective as to what really happened on Good Friday.
The priest points to the cross in the church and says it is important that every church has one, but this church does not have a crucifix anywhere, which would be normal for a Catholic Church, but only a very broad limbed cross which is not a shape that anyone would be crucified on. The priest leads the pupils in making a Sign of the Cross and says that when we make the Sign of the Cross we remember that Jesus gave up his life for us, which is good, but he omits to point out the Trinitarian significance of the Sign of the Cross, which is not good.
The priest poses the question as to what happened on Easter Sunday, and in reply simply gives the answer that Jesus rose from the dead. This of course is true, but the opportunity is lost to give the pupils the meaning and significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This opportunity is again lost when the priest points out little crosses carved into the altar and simply says that Jesus gave up his life for us, without explaining that this delivered us from sin and redeemed us.
At the time of Holy Communion it is good that the priest emphasises the respect that should be shown to the Eucharist, and also mentions the fast for an hour before Communion, which is not included in the Alive-O books. However, it is not good that the priest only refers to the Eucharist as the ‘bread of life’, which of course is a perfectly valid term for the Eucharist, but only in the context of good and clear teaching on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, which is something that is lacking in Alive-O. There is therefore the danger that the pupils will understand the Eucharist as no more than special bread that reminds us of Jesus.
At the end of the video of the priest encourages the pupils to call into the church and pray, because it is a good place is to pray in the presence of Jesus. The video concludes with the pupils in prayer before the Tabernacle. This is excellent.
Life in Christ / Morality.
Term 1: Lesson 10. Loving God.
Lesson 11. Loving My Neighbour.
Term 2: Lesson 7 The Prodigal Son.
Lesson 8. God’s Never-Ending Love.
Summary.
Alive-O's approach to morality suffers from fundamental flaws, which influence all its presentations on morality. Alive-O does not recognize original sin or the Fall, so there is no weakness inherent in human beings or tendency to sin; there is no devil and no temptation, and Alive-O recognizes no dangers from the secular world. Alive-O does not recognize the spiritual battle that human beings face with the world, the flesh, and the devil. In the Alive-O approach to morality, human beings are entirely good, and sin is no more than a failure to live up to that inherent personal goodness, though there is no explanation as to why we should fail to live up to goodness if we are entirely good. Alive-O does not accept the Church's teaching on mortal and venial sin, does not recognize any judgment after death, and does not make any connection between the morality of life on earth and eternal destiny. Alive-O does not recognize natural law or conscience. Alive-O does not recognize any actual graces, in particular no sacramental graces. The Ten Commandments were only written for Moses and his people, and are not necessarily normative for all time; we can write our own moral guidelines. Essentially Alive-O presents the concept that we can act morally well by our own efforts and maturity, based on our own internal goodness and we can determine our own moral standards in harmony with the general command to love God and neighbour.
The lesson on 'Loving God' deals with the twin commandments to love God and neighbour, but has very little on the commandment to love God. An ideal way to teach the love of God would be to focus on the first three Commandments of the Decalogue, but Alive-O does not utilise these three Commandments; Alive-O has not introduced the Decalogue at all the pupils even at this stage which is two to three years after their First Confession. Alive-O does refer to the Decalogue, but only in terms of it having been given to Moses and the people of Israel, and not with any reference to its continuing validity for Christians today. Instead of the Decalogue, Alive-O substitutes its own set of 'Guidelines'. Alive-O then goes further and invites the children to write their own moral guidelines, a kind of DIY morality. There is also altrenative lesson material, consisting of a one-day ‘retreat’, which is an induction into New Age spirituality.
The Lesson on 'Loving My Neighbour' teaches well that love of God and love of neighbor are inextricably linked. However, it does not teach why these two Commandments are inseparable. This would have been the ideal place to develop the teaching of the second table of the Decalogue, but instead Alive-O continues with its own moral 'Guidelines'. Alive-O chooses the parable of 'The Good Samaritan' for this lesson, which is excellent in principle. However, it is less than satisfactory that the Pupil's Book only contains a fictional modern adaptation of the parable, which does not bring out the full meaning of the gospel original, while the gospel original is only in the Teacher’s Book.
The lesson on 'The Prodigal Son' introduces the parable from Luke 15:11-32. The choice of this parable is excellent in principle, however the presentation is poor, because it consists in a long and complicated drama, which is mostly fictional additions, and falls short in conveying the true meaning of the parable.
The lesson on 'God’s Never-Ending Love', presents information to the pupils on a kind of examination of conscience, but which is not described as such, and there is no teaching at all as to what 'conscience' is. However, the examination of conscience is based on Alive-O's own moral guidelines, and not, as taught by the Church, on objective moral norms, in particular the Ten Commandments and the moral teachings of the Church. There is further teaching on the love of God and neighbour, which is good as far as it goes, but tends to be almost entirely 'horizontal', and based on Alive-O guidelines, rather than the objective morality of Revelation. For the Sacrament of Confession the pupils are introduced to Rite 1, which is good. However, the focus on Rite 1 is coming rather late; the Church teaches that Rite 1 is the norm for Confession, so priority should have been given to Rite 1 (rather than Rite2) when pupils were making their First Confession (Alive-O 3 & 4). In any case, the presentation on the Sacrament of Reconciliation according to Rite 1 falls short of satisfactory.
Term 1: Lesson 10. Loving God (A6-T1L10).
Pupil's Book.
The pupil's book has a poem titled, 'Care for Me, Lord', which is based on Psalm 23. However, it is a poor and diminished rendition of this beautiful and well known Psalm, generally known as, 'The Lord Is My Shepherd'. Alive-O changes the basic structure of the Psalm; Psalm 23 is an affirmation and proclamation of the love and care of God as Shepherd, whereas this poem is changed to be an intercession asking for God to give his love. There are several beautiful and important thoughts in Psalm 23 which are omitted from Alive-O's poem: 'There is nothing I shall want'; 'he restores my soul'; 'he guides me in virtue/righteousness'; 'your rod and staff give me comfort' (the Shepherd's rod or crook was a sign of guidance, while the shepherd’s staff was a sign of protection. The staff was a club used by the shepherd to protect the sheep from wolves, bears and other predators); 'you prepare a banquet for me in the sight of my foes, you anoint my head with oil'; ‘I shall dwell in the house of Lord for ever’.
In the Teacher's Book the teachers are instructed to get the pupils to write out this inferior version of Psalm 23, to bring it home and display it in their own home, and to get other members of the family to pray. This is unsatisfactory. It would have been satisfactory if instead Alive-O had put forward the excellent song, 'The King of Love', which is a faithful rendition of Psalm 23, and has the added advantage often being sung in church, which would help connect home, school and parish. (Alive-O actually does use ‘The King of Love’ in a later lesson – A6-T2L8 – but unfortunately Alive-O truncates the song by giving only two of the six verses).
There is a Scripture quotation from Matthew 22:36-39, in which Jesus responds to the Pharisees on the most important commandment, to love God and neighbour. This quotation in itself is excellent, but needs explanation and development for the pupils, something which is an absent from the pupil’s material. The development of this quotation in the Teacher's Book is seriously inadequate.
Under the heading of 'Guidelines' Alive-O gives the following: Love God. Respect God's name. Pray. Respect myself. Respect others. Be truthful. Be honest. Share with others. Wish everybody well.
There is no explanation in the Pupil's Book as to what these 'Guidelines' are, they just appear without comment or explanation. However the Guidelines get considerable attention in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book, and they are effectively presented as Alive-O’s substitute for the Ten Commandments, but a poor substitute at that. However, the Guidelines are very much in tune with Alive-O's spirituality, which could be described as humanitarian theism.
There are two questions with answers. Q. What does Jesus ask us to do? A. Jesus asks us to love God our Father with our whole heart and our neighbour as ourselves.
The second question reads: Q. How can we show our love for God our Father? A. We can show our love for God our Father by praying to him and always doing what pleases him.
These answers are not unreasonable, but could be better developed in light of the first three Commandments of the Decalogue and the fulfillment of the Decalogue in the New Testament (see below for further comment). Also, to say that we should always to what pleases God is true, but we also need to hear expressed the Christian imperative to do God's will, because these are commandments.
There is no better way to teach pupils the commandment to love God, than to teach them the Ten Commandments (especially the first three Commandments, the first Table), following the example of Jesus and the example of the Church as given in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is most unsatisfactory that Alive-O has not taught the pupils the Decalogue at this late stage in the programme, two or three years after they have taken their First Confession. (As noted above, Alive-O’s ‘Guidelines’ are not a satisfactory substitute for the Ten Commandments). Alive-O does not introduce the full Decalogue until Book 7 (A7-T1L10), and even then the pupils are not given the standard version of the Ten Commandments from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but only two less satisfactory Alive-O written versions. The Decalogue is given to the pupils again in Alive-O 8 (A8-T2L2) and the Church’s standard version is finally given, but only as a second option to Alive-O’s own less satisfactory version – this confusion of three different versions will militate against the pupils’ understanding of the Ten Commandments and learning them by heart.
While it is good that Alive-O gives the quotation from Matthew 22:36-39 in the Pupil's Book, and it is developed somewhat in the material in the Teacher's Book, this still only represents Old Testament teaching (Dt.6:5; Lv.19:18). This Old Testament summary of the moral law is fulfilled in the New Testament. The commandment to love God is fulfilled in the commandment to believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour; the commandment to love our neighbor as ourself is fulfilled in the commandment to love one another as Jesus loved us. 'This is God’s commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and we love one another just as he commanded us to. (1 John 3:23). 'This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:12). Alive-O does not present this New Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament commandment of love of God and neighbour.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has an exercise of unscrambling some words, which will not help to understand loving God. The wording of the instruction that goes with the exercise would tend to reinforce the idea that Jesus and God are different.
The prayer given is Alive-O's 'Morning Prayer', which is fair, but not as good as the Morning Offering prayer, which is part of the Catholic tradition.
Alive-O also gives an alternative version of the worksheet, which is analysed below, in conjunction with the alternative lesson material.
Information for teachers in the Teacher's Book.
The information states that this lesson is intended to focus on the commandment to love God, but the lesson does not do that very well, in fact it focuses rather on the overall command to love God and neighbour, with the major focus on loving neighbour.
There are good quotations from Scripture, the General Directory for Catechesis, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but these are not well followed through.
Alive-O correctly states that the events of the Exodus are pivotal for people of the Jewish and Christian faiths. However, Alive-O then goes on to interpret the Exodus in a way which is in harmony with its own theistic spirituality. Alive-O says that the events of the Exodus ‘demonstrate the basic truth of our common faith -- that God is always with us’. In a Christian understanding the events of the Exodus, the delivery of God’s Chosen People from slavery in Egypt, prefigure the delivery of the human race from the slavery of sin through the redemptive death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The information correctly points out that love of God is a response to God's love for us, that God loved us first.
Alive-O points out that the lesson can be taken in an alternative form, which is that of a 'retreat' over the period of a morning. The material for this 'retreat' is given in an Appendix to Book 6 and is analysed separately below. It is particularly poor, and it is largely an induction into New Age spirituality, intrudes excessively on the privacy of children, and has nothing to do with the commandment about loving God.
The thought for the teacher is very poor, because it implies that the path to union with God has to be worked out entirely by each person on their own, and that nobody can help another about the path to God. This is radically contrary to the Christian point of view, in which we believe that the truths of God have been handed on in the Church, and it is the solemn duty of the Church to preserve the Deposit of Faith, and faithfully hand it on to succeeding generations.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled, 'Sign of the Cross Chant'. It is very short song with two verses, each of which start with the Sign of the Cross, which is fine. However, the song is poor from the point of view of Catholic catechesis, because the additional wording in the verses do not bring out the Trinitarian meaning of the Sign of the Cross at all, but on the contrary is very much humanitarian-theism, focusing on 'God' in our work and play, where we make a better world.
There is a story titled, 'Moses and the Commandments', which tells the story of God’s giving the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai. The story is reasonable, but it does have some inaccuracies. The discussion sessions, activity and prayer time after the story contribute little to developing the meaning of the Decalogue, especially the first three commandments on the love of God. The initial focus is on ‘rules or guidelines or pieces of advice that have been found useful in your life with others’; this encourages seeing the Ten Commandments, not as the Word of God, but rather just a set of useful rules or guidelines in a secular way. The love of God gets equated with loving neighbour, which amounts to nothing more than good humanitarianism.
There is a story titled, 'A Tricky Question', based on Matthew 22:35-38, which is about the Pharisees questioning Jesus as to what is the most important of all the commandment, and Jesus reply that the most important commandment is to love God and to love one's neighbour. The story is poor, because of fictional additions, which create the impression that Jesus is no more than a human being. (It would have been helpful to the teachers to include the original Scripture references: Dt.6:5 and Lv.19:18). The following discussion session focuses on minor issues, and distracts from, rather than brings out, the meaning of the Scripture passage.
There is an activity titled, ‘Ten Children's Commandments’. This focuses initially on general pieces of advice or guidelines or codes of behaviour, and then asks the children to write their own Ten Commandments. This activity seriously undermines the true meaning of the Decalogue and encourages the children think that their own ideas about what is good are on a par with God’s ideas, encouraging a kind of ‘DIY morality’ for the pupils. The following prayer time focuses on the children's own commandments, and gives a kind of sanctification or blessing of God for their DIY morality exercise.
The next activity focuses on the 'Guidelines for Living' that appeared in the Pupil's Book. Alive-O then refers to the Ten Commandments as just something that was offered to the Israelites, and not something that is valid for all time for all people, in particular not valid for us today. Instead Alive-O proposes its own ‘Guidelines’, effectively as a substitute for the Decalogue, implying that Alive-O is better than God when it comes to morality. In fact, Alive-O's Guidelines are much inferior to the Decalogue, but very much in harmony with its Alive-O’s own spirituality, which could be described as humanitarian theism. The situation is made even worse by instructing the pupils to write out the guidelines and bring them home, and display them at home so that Alive-O's morality will be spread to the home as well. The remaining prayer times and activities in this lesson focus on Alive-O's ‘Guidelines’ and on Alive-O’s unsatisfactory poem based on Psalm 23. The inclusion of the Guidelines in the prayers serves to give some kind of sanctification or blessing to Alive-O's substitute for the Decalogue.
None of the prayer times use a Christian symbol, only a lighted candle. None of the prayer times use any of the great prayers of the church. There is frequent use of Alive-O's own unsatisfactory 'Sign of the Cross Chant'. One prayer time uses Alive-O's own 'Act of Sorrow', which is less satisfactory than the traditional Act of Contrition (as given in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church).
Alternative lesson material for A6-T1L10.
The Teacher's Book provides material for an alternative lesson plan which is described as a 'Retreat' to be conducted over a full morning. There is a separate Pupil’s worksheet to accompany the alternative lesson material.
Alternative worksheet.
This worksheet is extremely poor. The exercise is titled, 'My Friend and I', and consists in filling in a considerable amount of very personal detail about the pupil’s one special friend. This is objectionable from a couple of points of view. The exercise has nothing whatsoever to do with the proposed theme of the lesson, ‘Loving God’. The exercise calls for far too much detailed personal and intimate information, which is a violation of the privacy of the children. And finally, selecting one special friend to the exclusion of others could easily lead to hurt and possibly jealousy among the other children who are not selected as that one special friend.
Alternative material for Retreat.
This is not really a retreat, and has nothing to do with the theme of the lesson, which is on the commandment to love God. This session is effectively an induction into New Age spirituality. No Christian symbol is proposed, only the usual candle as a focus for prayer, with the addition of incense sticks, a format favoured in New Age circles. The ‘retreat’ also uses the unsatisfactory worksheet material, which is discussed above.
The pupils are led to do the 'Celtic Blessing Dance', which Alive-O has taken from a New Age organisation in the United States called PeaceWorks. It is a thoroughly New Age song and dance, which has been analysed in A6-T1L3. The session also makes use of the unsatisfactory Alive-O written 'Sign of the Cross Chant'.
The pupils are led into a New Age style meditation, lying on the floor and focusing in on themselves, and imagining themselves in various secular situations. They are then supposed to imagine that Jesus walks up to them and ask them some questions, to which the children imagine their own answers. Inclusion of Jesus might give the impression that this is Christian meditation, but it is not, because it is only focusing on what the children themselves think, there is no Christian input. True Christian meditation focuses on Jesus, especially in Scripture, not on self, which is the main focus of Alive-O meditation.
Term 1: Lesson 11. Loving My Neighbour (A6-T1L11).
Pupil's Book.
The Pupil's Book has a story-poem titled, 'The Good Samaritan', which is based on the gospel parable but transposed into a contemporary setting. The story is reasonable, but not as good as the gospel original; it would have been better to teach the pupils the original parable from the gospel, with all its richness and depth of meaning, rather than this adapted substitute.
There is another brief poem titled, 'Love of God and Neighbour', which gives 14 different examples of pairs of things which are coupled together in some way, for example, 'the smile and its face, the wind and its blow', and then finishes up with 'there is no loving God, without loving neighbour'. The intention is good, to show that love of God and love of neighbor are intimately connected and cannot be separated, and this poem (and the associated exercise material in the Teacher’s Book) may help the pupils remember that love of God and neighbour are connected. However, the poem will not contribute to understanding how and why love of God and neighbour are connected, because the examples given are linked for reasons very different from the connection between love of God and neighbor.
There is one question and answer, as follows: Q. How can we show our love for our neighbours? A. We can show our love for our neighbours by respecting them and their property, by being truthful and honest, by sharing with them and by wishing them well. This answer is less than satisfactory because it reproduces the 'Guidelines’ that are given in the previous lesson as Alive-O’s substitute for the Commandments of God. The Second Table of the Decalogue provides the ideal framework for understanding the commandment of God to love one's neighbour, so it is not good that Alive-O withholds the Decalogue from the pupils, and only gives them its own less than satisfactory substitute.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a good illustration of the Good Samaritan parable. The exercise is for the pupils to imagine they are the man who was helped by the Good Samaritan, and to write a short letter home telling their family about what happened. This is a reasonable exercise in itself. However, it will be very difficult for the pupils to do this exercise properly, because they do not have the real parable of the Good Samaritan in their own Pupil's Book, and while there is a reasonable account given in the Teacher's Book, it depends on the teacher reading it out to the pupils, which the teacher may or may not do; even if it is read out the pupils may or may not remember it very well from one hearing of the parable. Also, no attempt is made in the lesson material in the Teacher's Book to explain or develop the meaning of the parable.
There is a prayer for neighbours which is based on the Blessing of Aaron, Numbers 6:24-26, which is good.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There are two good quotations from Scripture, and a good quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but they are poorly followed through in the lesson material.
The information speaks of the need to link the love of God with love of neighbour, which is good but it is poorly followed through in the lesson material.
The thought for the teacher for this week is good on the theme of loving neighbour.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a song and associated dance titled, 'The Neighbour Song'. The words of the song say little, and the dance is a New Agey type of circle dance. The song and dance will contribute little to teaching the pupils about the commandment of God to love one's neighbour. The subsequent discussion session and poem focus on neighbour in a very humanist secular way, and the prayer time is a meditation focused on self New Age style. The prayer time concludes with the 'Glory Be to the Father', which is good, but it is preceded by a less satisfactory prayer which gives a more theist expression of the Trinity as follows, 'God our Creator, send your Spirit to help us always to live as Jesus asked us by loving our neighbour'.
There is a story titled, 'The Most Important Commandment', which is a reasonable account based on Luke 10:25-37, which tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. The subsequent discussion sessions have questions without answers, which focus on the idea that neighbour is not just a person who lives close by but includes everyone in the world; this is good in itself but contribute little to an understanding of the meaning of this outstanding parable.
There is an artwork exercise and following prayer time, which calls for the children to dip fingers in paint and make fingerprints on a page in the form of little characters, and then to do mimes in the prayer time about being happy, sad, confident and so on. This exercise is rather babyish, and below the level of maturity of 10 year-old pupils, and will contribute little to an understanding of God’s commandment to love neighbour.
There is an exercise titled 'Creative Writing' which involves asking the pupils to pick a favourite line from the poem in the Pupil's Book, 'Love of God and Neighbour'. The pupils are asked to say why they chose their particular line and to see if it's possible to separate the two things that are mentioned. This exercise will only serve to distract attention from the real meaning of loving God and neighbour, because, as has been noted above, the various items mentioned in this poem that are coupled together are linked for reasons totally different to the reasons why love of God and neighbour are connected. The subsequent prayer time focuses on this exercise, which is less than helpful. The aim to teach that love of God and neighbour are inseparable is excellent in principle, but the poem will not contribute to understanding how and why love of God and neighbour are connected, because the examples given are linked for reasons very different from the connection between love of God and neighbor.
None of the five prayer times for this lesson use any Christian symbol; three use a lighted candle. Of the great prayers of the Church, the 'Glory Be To The Father' is used twice. One prayer time is mainly a meditation focused on self; one involves the pupils praying for neighbours in different parts of the globe; one involves the pupils doing little mimes about being happy, sad, exhausted, pleased, etc.; and two involve pupils reading out their 'creative writing' on Alive-O's less than satisfactory poem 'Love of God and Neighbour'.
Term 2: Lesson 7. The Prodigal Son (A6-T2L7).
This Lesson is designed to be taken over two weeks. This is because it mainly consists of a lengthy Alive-O written drama on the theme of the Prodigal Son; the script takes up five pages in the Pupil's Book and is repeated in the Teacher's Book.
Pupil’s Book.
The Pupil's Book has the script of a drama on the theme of the Prodigal Son, which includes a song titled, 'Prodigal Son Song'. The drama is quite complex: in addition to the father and two sons, the 'characters' include a Narrator, a Chorus, Foolishness, Carelessness, and Selfishness. Close to 80% of the text is made up of imaginative and fictional additions which do little to explain the meaning of the parable, and in many cases detract from the meaning.
The 'Prodigal Son Song' is poor. It consists of imaginative and largely fictional material which gives the impression that the Prodigal Son was just a carefree young man who wanted to get away from the limitations of home, have his own space and have a good time. But after some time away he began to feel down, missed his home and father, felt lonely and decided he'd better go back home again. When the young man arrived home he enjoyed being there, he felt good being with his father again, and decided that home was where he belonged. The essential meaning of the parable is omitted, as there is no sin or repentance on the part of the son, and no mercy or forgiveness on the part of the father.
The drama opens with saying that, 'Jesus was a storyteller'. This is misleading, because it gives the impression that Jesus was the kind of person who went around telling stories, and that it describes who and what Jesus was. Part of Jesus’ mission was to teach, and one of the important way he gave his teachings was through parables, some of which were in the form of stories. A parable is essentially a metaphor, does not have to be a story, and many of Jesus' parables were metaphors but not stories. Nevertheless, it is certainly true that some of the most memorable of Jesus' teachings were in the form of story-parables, which are easily remembered, greatly loved, and full of meaning, among which is definitely this parable of the Prodigal Son.
The script includes a considerable amount of imaginative fictional material (about 80%), which does little to add to, but rather distracts from, the real meaning of the parable. When the son goes away to a foreign country, the gospel conveys that he fell into sinful ways of living, which also wasted his money. The Greek word in the gospel to describe his way of life is asotos, which is translated in major translations of the Bible as dissolute, riotous, profligate, debauchery, reckless and wild (JB, RSV, KJV, NIV, NAB, GNB). There can be little doubt that asotos conveys that the son’s way of life was not only wasting money but was also immoral. Alive-O's drama gives considerable attention and space to describing the son's way of life as foolish, careless, and selfish, but does not describe it as sinful or immoral.
When the Prodigal Son realised that he had done wrong he repented. His repentance is a key part of the gospel story. (Repentance is also a key factor in the other two related parables in the Gospel of Luke, that is, the parables of the Lost Sheep – Lk.15:4-7 – and the Lost Coin – Lk.15:8-10). Alive-O's script does not convey clearly the Prodigal Son’s repentance; the script does include the son saying that he had sinned against God and his father, which is good, but much greater emphasis is given to the son realizing ‘he had been very foolish’ and had ‘made mistakes’, which are not necessarily sinful.
When the Prodigal Son arrives home, the Alive-O script emphasises the father's love for his son, which is fine, but does not mention the father’s mercy and forgiveness, which is a most serious omission. In fact the script obfuscates the meaning of the father's love, because it omits repentance and forgiveness, and then includes the following script, 'You do not understand the true nature of my love. You want my youngest son to live his life full of guilt. You want him to be punished. But my love can take no pleasure in adding to my son’s guilty feelings. It takes no pleasure in punishment. It knows only joy now that my son, who was lost, is found'. True guilt is actually a good thing, because it is the voice of conscience which leads us to repentance. God in his great love and mercy offers forgiveness, but we cannot receive forgiveness unless we repent. God does not want us to be punished for our sins, which is why Jesus became man and gave his life to redeem us from sin. But God still gives us freedom of choice; we cannot receive his mercy and forgiveness and will indeed suffer punishment unless we repent of our sins. Alive-O gives the impression that we can receive God's forgiveness without repentance, and that God's love will never allow us to receive any punishment; we should not feel guilty or concerned about negative consequences of our sins (punishment), no matter what we do and whether we repent or not.
The drama covers the reaction of the elder brother and his father's response quite well, but then does not finish well by saying, 'So what happens now? What will the older brother do? It's over to you……'. This is the introduction to the exercise in the pupils Worksheet, in which the pupils are to write what they imagine happens next. This is not at all satisfactory: it would be difficult for the pupils to predict something like that which is not included in the gospel, particularly as the Alive-O teaching on the parable itself is poor; it also invites the pupils to decide for themselves what is right and wrong in this situation, which is rather like the exercise in DIY morality from the previous lesson.
There are three illustrations in the Pupil's Book: the father with his two sons, the younger son setting off on his journey, and then finally the younger son being welcomed back by his father while the elder brother looks on with disapproval. These illustrations are good.
Worksheet.
As noted above the exercise consists in asking the pupils to imagine what happened next after the end of the Parable of the Prodigal Son; this is not an easy task for 9/10-year-olds, particularly as the Alive-O teaching on the parable is poor. This exercise also encourages a DIY type of morality, as in the previous lesson, because it is left entirely open to the children to decide what would be the right thing for the family to do. It would have been much better to give an exercise or information which helped the pupils understand the parable itself.
The instruction speaks of exploring the relationship between father and son in order to come to a deeper understanding of the reconciling love of God for each person. This is fine as far as it goes, but it suffers from the same problem as the material in the Pupil's Book, which is the omission of key factors in the parable, which are the sin and repentance of the son, and the mercy and forgiveness of the father.
The prayer is the Alive-O written 'Night Prayer', which is reasonable but lacks a Trinitarian dimension, which should be characteristic of all Christian prayer.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
The information opens with an excellent quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1439, which addresses the parable of the Prodigal Son. The quotation gives particular attention to the 'process of conversion and repentance' and the mercy of the father. Unfortunately, in following this through Alive-O speaks about the love of the father and that God is the one who wants to pardon sinners, which is excellent, but Alive-O also then omits conversion and repentance, which undermines the meaning of the parable and undermines the excellent quotation given from the CCC.
The thought for the teacher is one person’s ideas about parables, which could be of some help in understanding the parable as a method of teaching by Jesus.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
The Teacher's Book has the same script of the drama as appears in the Pupil's Book, which has been analysed above.
There are six discussion sessions for the teacher to use with the pupils which deal with the drama. The discussion sessions have mostly questions without answers, which focus on the drama rather than on the parable itself. The questions help little to understand the parable better, and in many cases focus excessively on feelings. The final discussion session is very odd, asking the pupils what kind of dances that the fictional characters Foolishness, Carelessness, and Selfishness would do. The pupils are then encouraged to do these dances and to compose music and accompany themselves as they dance; this is poor use of drama, and will hardly help teach the pupils the meaning of Jesus' great parable of the Prodigal Son, or teach them about sin and repentance, mercy and forgiveness.
There are then outlines for six prayer times to accompany the lesson. None of the prayer times use a Christian symbol, only a lighted candle and at times an incense stick as well.
The first prayer time involves a reading of the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32; this is fine, but it would have been preferable to include the text of the parable (with explanation) in the Pupil's Book, in preference to the rather poor drama.
The next two prayer times include reading out of the other two parables that are linked with the parable of the Prodigal Son, that is, the parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:3-7), and the parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10). These parables are excellent, but they need explanation and development, as is the case with all of Scripture teaching, even for adults and especially for children. Alive-O has dealt with these two parables in years 3 and 4 of the Programme (lessons A3-T2L5; A3-T2L8; A4-T1L10; A4-T2L5; A4-T2L8), but has done so very poorly in ways that would undermine rather than bring out the true meanings of the parables.
The next prayer time is a meditation which focuses on self, and then moves on to consider some aspects related to the parable of the Prodigal Son, but it is not particularly helpful because the emphasis is very much on feelings, while sin, conversion, repentance, mercy and forgiveness are all omitted.
The next prayer time lead the pupils to sing and dance for joy, which could be good if it celebrated the repentance and forgiveness of the Prodigal Son, but it is of little value because it is only related to the ‘Prodigal Son Song’, where the son is happy simply because he is back home again with his family, while repentance and forgiveness are omitted.
The final prayer time includes the Confiteor, which is very good. Not so good is the confusion of what is sinful and what is merely careless or foolish. Alive-O’s 'Prayer for Forgiveness' is given, but the traditional Act of Contrition (as in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church) would be better.
Term 2: Lesson 8. God’s Never-Ending Love (A6-T2L8).
The theme of lesson is the love of God, but the lesson is poor because it excludes the greatest expression of God's love, which was that God himself, in the person of God the Son the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ, emptied himself to become man, and then in the greatness of his love gave his very life on the cross to redeem us, to win our salvation. Alive-O does not recognize the existence of Original Sin, and therefore does not recognize the need for salvation. Alive-O does not recognize Jesus Christ as truly God, but only a very special human being.
Pupil's Book.
The illustrations for this lesson are the five young people from the (rather inconsequential) story given in the first lesson of this Book, A6-T1L1. However, in this lesson there is no reference to these characters or to the story; therefore the illustrations do not contribute to the meaning of the lesson.
The lesson material in the Pupil's Book is a kind of 'examination of conscience', but not described as such. Alive-O does not teach the pupils about ‘examination of conscience’ (even though it is essential for the Sacrament of Penance), or the requirement to follow – and form – one’s conscience, or even that there is such a thing as ‘conscience’, and what it is. The Church emphasises the importance of examination of conscience before the Sacrament of Penance, and recommends examination of conscience in comparison with the Decalogue, the moral teaching of Jesus in the Gospels, especially the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, the apostolic teaching, the Precepts of the Church, and the duties of one state in life. The Church recommends objective standards of morality from the Scriptures and the teaching of the Church as comparators for examination of conscience. Alive-O by contrast does not mention the Decalogue, Scriptures or the teaching of the Church, but instead gives its own moral guidelines and list of sins, its own interpretation of the commandment to love God and neighbour.
Alive-O says, 'Have I remembered the words of Jesus: 'Love God and love your neighbour'?'. There follows a number of questions about what I have remembered, what I have failed to do, have I taken care of creation, was I being lazy, selfish or fair, destructive, bad-tempered, jealous, untruthful and unkind? These questions reflect Alive-O’s own chosen moral guidelines, not the revelation of God and teaching of the Church. Alive-O’s list of sins is all ‘horizontal’, considering only 'love your neighbour', while excluding any sins against ‘love of God’. Alive-O also (in a previous lesson, A6-T1L10) encouraged the pupils themselves to write their own Commandments, which is encouraging them in a kind of DIY morality.
There are three questions with answers, which have some merit, but leave out much.
The first question reads, Q. When do we sin? A. We sin when we refuse to love God and to love others as Jesus taught. This answer is reasonable, as far as it goes. However, the pupils need to know much more about the nature of sin, for example: Sin is above all an offence against God, an act of disobedience against the will of God, because if we truly love God we’ll do his will in all things. Sin is also an offence against truth and failure in love towards our neighbour, and against the Church. We can sin in thought, word, deed or omission. We can sin against God, our neighbour, or ourselves.
The second question reads, Q. Does God love us even when we have sinned? A. Yes, God loves us even when we have sinned and is always waiting to forgive us. Again, this is good as far as it goes, but it would be important to add that while God is always ready to forgive us we can only receive God's forgiveness if we truly repent, which includes true contrition, and forgive others who have sinned against us.
The third question reads, Q. What does God our Father do for us in the sacrament of Penance? A. In the sacrament of Penance God our Father forgives us through the words and actions of the priest. It is good that Alive-O teaches that forgiveness comes in the sacrament through the words and actions of the priest, but this is not well brought out in the rest of Alive-O's material; for example, in teaching about the sacrament of Holy Orders (A8-T1L12) the sacramental power of the priest to forgive sins is not mentioned (nor any other spiritual power of priesthood). Also, it is not correct to simply state that 'God our Father' forgives us in the Sacrament; the priest acting in place of Jesus Christ pronounces the words of absolution in the name of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Worksheet.
The worksheet has a number of sentences to be completed by the pupils, but which will not serve to teach them about sin and forgiveness. The pupils are asked to write down how they feel like the Prodigal Son and like the other son; the sentences are objectionable because they focus on feelings and they are also personally intrusive, a violation of the children's privacy, to write such personal thoughts and feelings about sin and repentance in open class.
The instruction at the bottom of the page suffers from the same problem as the second question in the pupil's book, in that it omits the need for repentance in order to receive God's forgiveness. Also, there is a reference to 'wrongdoing' rather than 'sin'; this is potentially confusing, because the two things are not the same. We can do something objectively wrong, but it still may not be sin, if knowledge and consent are lacking.
Information for teachers in Teacher's Book.
There are two good Scripture quotations, and a good quotation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. However, these are not followed through in the information for teachers or lesson material.
Alive-O reinforces its own theistic spirituality, speaking of the great love of God, but excluding the greatest expression of God's love which is that Jesus, God the Son made man, gave his life on the cross as a sacrifice for the redemption of the human race from sin, which had been incurred through the original sin of our First Parents, Adam and Eve. In Alive-O spirituality there is no original sin and no salvation, while Jesus is not fully divine, he is somehow godly but less than God, and Jesus’ mission was not salvation from sin, but simply to tell us that God loved us.
Alive-O refers to earlier teachings about the Ten Commandments, and of the Body of Christ. However, these earlier teachings were extremely poor. There was a very limited treatment of the Ten Commandments, with emphasis on Alive-O's own moral guidelines and the children's own written commandments. The teachings on the ‘Body of Christ’, really only conveyed a secular image of a headless body, and not the true Body of Christ, in which Christ is the head and we are the members.
The other aspect of Alive-O spirituality that is reinforced here is Alive-O’s non-recognition of original sin. There is no recognition of salvation, spiritual weakness due to original sin, temptation, or spiritual struggle. There is only the idea in Alive-O spirituality that everyone is entirely and fundamentally good, and all that we have to do is live up to the goodness that is within us. Alive-O expresses this in these words: 'God's love for them assures them that God sees the good that is in them'; 'the fundamental goodness that is in us and that we must try to express anew'; 'God calls them to express that goodness'.
Alive-O says that in this lesson children are given the opportunity to prepare for and celebrate the sacrament of Penance according to Rite 1, and says that children may or may not have previously celebrated according to Rite 1. This is an admission of Alive-O's failure in previous books and lessons, because the Church teaches that Rite 1 is the norm. All children should have been prepared to celebrate the Sacrament of Penance according to Rite 1; celebration according to Rite 2 should be considered an optional extra, whereas Alive-O tends to treat it as the norm, with Rite 1 the optional extra.
Alive-O states that 'confession according to number and species is neither required nor desirable at this stage'. This is not correct, because the Church requires that each and every mortal sin be confessed in the Sacrament, and strongly encourages the confession of venial sins. Alive-O also states that 'the structure of confession can be adjusted to suit the children's stage of development'; this gives the impression that the priest is free to change the sacrament in whatever way he wants, but this is not correct. There is some latitude for shortening and simplifying, but the essentials of the sacrament are not negotiable, irrespective of the age of the penitent (who must have attained the use of reason).
Alive-O states that the pupils 'will be able to appreciate God's love and forgiveness and celebrate in the sacrament of Reconciliation'. This is not well expressed, because it could give the impression that in the Sacrament of Reconciliation we simply celebrate the fact that God's forgiveness has already been given, rather than that the Sacrament is itself the means by which God gives his grace of forgiveness.
Lesson material in Teacher's Book.
There is a song titled, 'The King of Love', which is based on Psalm 23. The song is a very good rendition of this much loved Psalm, and has the additional advantage that it is often sung in our churches, which will serve to connect pupils with the home and parish. However, the song is not especially relevant to the teaching on the Sacrament of Penance, and a more relevant song could have been chosen. Also, the full song consists of six verses, but only two are printed in the Alive-O book, which therefore gives only a truncated version of this great Psalm, which is not good.
There is a second song titled, 'Whatsoever You Do', which is inspired by the account of the Last Judgment, in Matthew 25: 31-46, which is very good and relevant.
Alive-O recalls the previous week’s lesson on the story of the Prodigal Son, but does little to help expand the meaning of the parable (not well presented in the earlier lesson), with undue emphasis on feelings. The prayer time does include the ‘Confiteor’, which is good, but the meaning of this great prayer of the Church is not developed or explained.
The lesson revisits an earlier lesson about the Body of Christ (A6-T2L3), but still only presents an image of a headless secular body, and so misses out on the key meaning of the analogy, which is that Christ is the Head and that we are the members.
Alive-O presents a ‘Rite of Reconciliation of Individual Penitents – Rite 1’, which is not entirely satisfactory, for a number of reasons:
• Alive-O says, 'If a group of children are celebrating the sacrament of Reconciliation according to Rite 1, they might still have a communal preparation in the form of a Penance Service -- either directly beforehand or at another suitable opportunity'. However, if there were communal preparation directly beforehand, then it would no longer be Rite 1, but rather a form of Rite 2.
• Alive-O omits the Examination of Conscience, which is an important part of the Sacrament.
• Alive-O also omits the requirement for sincere contrition, before confession of sins. This contrition must be a heartfelt sorrow and aversion for the sin committed along with the intention of sinning no more. This is an essential part of the Sacrament.
• Alive-O includes a 'Liturgy of the Word', but this is an optional and non-essential part of the Sacrament.
• For confession of sins Alive-O omits the essential requirement for confession of all mortal sins, and the desirability of confession of venial sins. (Alive-O does not teach the pupils the existence of mortal or venial sin, or their consequences). Alive-O gives examples of things that the pupils should confess, but this is based very much on Alive-O's own Guidelines, rather than being related to what the Church recommends for examination of conscience, which is the guidance of the Commandments of God, Scripture, and the precepts of the Church. Alive-O does have an Act of Sorrow, which is reasonable, but not as good as the Act of Contrition which is recommended by the Church, as in the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in particular in relation to a firm resolution or determination not to sin again, which is an essential part of true contrition.
• Alive-O also omits the requirement of the penitent to make reparation, as far as possible, for the harm done by any sins committed, which is an essential part of the Sacrament.
Alive-O also includes in an Appendix a ‘Rite for Reconciliation of a Number of Penitents – Rite 2’. This does include an Examination of Conscience, which is good, but there is no explanation of what 'conscience' is, and the comparators for examination of conscience are not the objective norms proposed by the Church, such as the Ten Commandments, but a series of Alive-O written sins, which are not unreasonable in themselves, but lack the object moral norms proposed by the Church. The advice for confession of sin is not faithful to the teaching of the Church. There is reference to carrying out the penance given by the priest, which is good, but this is not linked with the essential requirement repairing harm done by sin committed, which is omitted.
The last two prayer times open with a re-emphasis of Alive-O’s theistic spirituality that we are all good; it follows logically from this spirituality that Alive-O omits original sin, temptation, virtues, deadly sins and vices, salvation by Jesus, and grace. The prayer times are a kind of examination of conscience and expression of sorrow, which are generally good, but suffer from lack of logical structure in accordance with the Commandments of God; there are just Alive-O chosen sins. Also, it would have been more useful if this ‘examination of conscience’ had come before the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance, rather than at the very end of the lesson after the celebration of the Sacrament.
All the prayer times have a lighted candle, but no Christian symbol. A crucifix is the most appropriate symbol for prayer in the Catholic tradition, and would be especially relevant in this week’s lesson which deals with the forgiveness of sins, because it was God the Son’s death on the cross that redeemed us from sin, from the power of Satan. This absence of a crucifix further emphasises Alive-O's theistic spirituality, which excludes original sin, the need for salvation, and the salvation won for us by Jesus' death on the cross. Alive-O’s exclusion of salvation is made even more obvious by the fact that in a number of the prayer times a spiritual connection is made with the lighted candle, which is good in itself, but speaks only of the love of God and the light of Christ bringing love and light into our lives; the greatest expression of God's love, which is Christ’s redemptive death on the cross, is conspicuous by its absence.
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[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1999.
[2] Congregation for the Clergy, General Directory for Catechesis. Dublin: Veritas Publications, 1997.
[3] Ibid. 284.
[4] Ibid. 10. ‘Not all parts of the Directory have the same importance. Those dealing with Divine Revelation, the nature of catechesis, the criteria governing the proclamation of the Gospel message are universally valid. Those, however, referring to present circumstances, to methodology and to the manner of adapting catechesis to diverse age groups and cultural contexts are to be understood rather as indications or guidelines’.
[5] Mt.4:1-11; Mk.1:12-13; Lk.4:1-13.
[6] Martin Kennedy. Islands Apart – Consultation Report regarding Children of God series for senior primary-school children. Dublin: Veritas Publications, 2000.
[7] Further, every Catholic household should be encouraged to have a copy of the CCC and/or the excellent summary: Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. London: Catholic Truth Society, 2006. Highly recommended for young people is: Youcat – Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. London: Catholic Truth Society, 2010.
[8] Mt.4:1-11; Mk.1:12-13; Lk.4:1-13.
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