5-04 Don’t Let Your Parents Drop Off and
Run: How to Engage Parents while Their Kids
Are in Class – Paul Canavese
While the church teaches that parents are the primary
educators of their own children, parents often don’t know where
to start and need our help to learn how to do so. Parents face
unique challenges raising their kids in the faith today, but rarely have the
opportunity to explore them in a faith context. Find out how to lead parents in
animated discussions and what we have learned leading parent groups while
kids are in class. (Witness)
5-05 The Key to Successful Classroom
Management? Relationships! – Terry Cotting-Mogan
Come and learn some practical ways to strengthen your
classroom management through relationships with and among
your students. Creating a classroom community will increase
attendance, participation, smiles and decrease discipline
issues. (Witness)
5-06 Forming Catholic Identity through
Stories of Grace – Dr. Leonard J. DeLorenzo
If we are to shape our whole lives as a Christian story, we
must first learn to recognize, craft, and share stories of grace
about particular life experiences. This session will introduce seven
principles for crafting stories of grace for teens, young adults, and
even not-so-young-anymore adults that allow us to speak of God’s action in our
lives in persuasive and very real terms. (Witness)
5-07 Called to Communion: A Reconciling
Faith in a Polarized Society – Mary Doak
This session will explore the challenges to our individualist
culture implicit in central biblical stories as well as in Catholic
sacramental practice. Instead of a faith that is centered on
“me and Jesus,” Catholic Christianity affirms, in both Scripture
and Tradition, that God calls us to the privileged (and crucial) task of working
with God to reconcile the human community—to God, to each other, and to the
natural world. (Word)
5-08 Connecting Youth to Liturgical
Music and Empathy Building:
Testimonies and Strategies
– Audrey Gomes and Claire Wemp
In this interactive workshop, we ask young
people themselves what a thriving music ministry program looks like to them, and
what they recommend for creating music ministry leadership opportunities that
appeal to youth. Hear strategies from the core workshop presenters, hear and sing
music samples, and hear from a moderated panel of dynamic young musicians
spanning from elementary to high school as they share their own recommendations
for cultivating the next generation of liturgical music leaders. (Worship)
5-09 The How-to of Preparing and Directing
Retreats for Kids – Kathy Hendricks
The idea of leading a retreat might sound daunting or
unrealistic, especially if we think of it in terms of a lengthy or totally
silent experience. In this workshop, we’ll look at ways to prepare
and direct children in retreat experiences that are engaging,
creative, and deeply spiritual. Even if time is limited or the space is less-than-ideal,
you will find ideas for drawing kids into prayer, reflection, and sharing. (Witness)
5-10 Vocations in the Church Today:
Everybody’s Problem, Everybody’s Solution
– Fa