You’re back! We’re hearing from DREs and catechists from all around the country so we know your programs are up and running!

We’re back, too, with our second issue. Let the Pflaum Gospel Weeklies Newsletter help you make the most of your preparation time and your time with your students! And please let us hear from you if there’s something we can do to make the newsletter more helpful: newsletter@pflaum.com

This issue of the newsletter is available online at pflaum.com/pgwnewsletter. Look for the November issue in your inbox on October 13.

This issue of the newsletter features ideas for October 3, 2010, the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, through October 31, 2010, the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

• October 3—When Jesus’ disciples ask him to give them more faith, he tells them that faith the size of a mustard seed will allow them to do incredible things. They need only to believe in Jesus and act on their faith in him. (Luke 17:5-10)
• October 10—Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one, a Samaritan, thanks him. Jesus tells the Samaritan that his faith has made him well. (Luke 17:11-19)
• October 17—With a parable about a persistent widow and a judge who gives in to her demands for justice, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray continually and to know that their prayers will be answered. (Luke 18:1-8)
• October 24—In a parable about a humble tax collector and a proud, boasting Pharisee, Jesus warns his disciples that, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)
• October 31—When Jesus decides to stay at the home of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, the people of Jericho grumble. But Zacchaeus is changed by Jesus’ visit and promises to give half of his possessions to the poor and to make amends to anyone he has cheated. (Luke 19:1-10)

• Saints of the Month—Introduce students to St. Teresa of Avila and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Along with St. Catherine of Siena, they are the only women called doctors of the Church.
• Student Activities—Seeds children learn ways to say thank you and create a thank-you prayer. Promise children consider what it means to be a good friend and make and exchange friendship bracelets. Good News children create “Bragging Bag” puppets and act out situations involving bragging and bullying. Venture students discover that a Catholic bishop may have inspired the Declaration of Independence. Visions students learn the importance of accepting and valuing all people and create comic books starring an “outsider” as superhero.
• Family Focus—Support parents in nurturing family faith. The Pflaum Gospel Weeklies Family Pages offer activities and resources that parents can use at home to help their families grow in faith.
  
  Go to the Family Pages at pflaum.com/familypages and choose pages to send home with students, or send notes home to suggest pages for parents to download and print.

• Catechist to Catechist—Learn about the All Saints’ surprise that catechist Marlene Kelly prepares for her fifth graders at St. Mary’s Parish, Schwenksville, PA.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux was the youngest of five daughters raised in a devoutly Catholic French family. One by one, each of the daughters entered a Carmelite convent. Thérèse joined her sisters there when she was just 15 years old, becoming Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

The Carmelite convent was cloistered, or closed to all but the religious who lived there. The women who joined chose to separate themselves from the world and devote their lives to prayer. They had few opportunities to leave their cloister and to see people other than the sisters they lived with. Thérèse embraced this life, praying and making hidden sacrifices.

Although she lived in obscurity in her convent, St. Thérèse has become one of the most popular saints. Her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, is still widely read. Her goal of doing small deeds with great love—a practice she called her “little way”—is a model many people try to follow. Her life shows us that “what matters most in life is great love, not great deeds.”

Because of her great insights into prayer and spirituality, St. Thérèse was proclaimed a doctor of the Church. And because she offered many of her prayers and “small deeds” for missionaries, she is also known as the patron saint of missionaries.

St. Teresa of Avila was born into a noble Spanish family. She was so outgoing and lively that people were surprised when she decided to enter a Carmelite convent near her family’s home in Avila.

Soon after Teresa entered the convent, she became ill and never fully recovered her strength. But her frail health did not stop her from reforming the Carmelites, whom she thought were too lax in following the rule of their order. She also founded new convents.

St. Teresa was a woman of action who believed that action should have a foundation in prayer. “Without contact with God, no good thing is accomplished,” she wrote. Interior Castle, her most famous book, is considered a classic on the topic of spirituality.

Because of her contributions to the reform of religious life and to our knowledge of prayer and spirituality, St. Teresa was proclaimed a doctor of the Church. She is the patron saint of Spain and of those who are ill.

• A simple art project can help Seeds children learn about Thérèse as the “Little Flower.” For the project, you will need snack- or lunch-size white paper plates, glue sticks, markers or crayons, sheets of construction paper in various colors, small craft sticks or plastic drinking straws, a stapler, a basket, and Styrofoam or florist foam.

Cut petal shapes about 3 inches long out of the construction paper. Provide about 8 petals for each child. Fit the Styrofoam or florist foam into the bottom of the basket. Be sure the basket is large enough to display all of the children’s flowers. Place the basket in your prayer space.

Tell the children that people often call St. Thérèse the Little Flower because she said she wanted to be a little flower in God’s garden. Ask the children how many of them would like to be flowers in God’s garden.

Give each child a small white paper plate. Ask children to draw their own faces in the center of their plates. Explain that they will be using the plates to make flowers. Let the children choose petals for their flowers and use a glue stick to attach the petals around the edge of the plates. Help them staple or glue their flowers onto craft-stick or plastic-straw stems.

Tell the children that St. Thérèse grew as a flower in God’s garden by doing little everyday things with love. Help the children to think of small deeds they can do with love. Some ideas to get them started: pick up your toys, say a prayer, hug your mom, eat your peas, and so on. Help each child to think of one specific thing he or she will do.

Gather the children in your prayer space with their flowers. Offer a short prayer, such as: “God, we want to be flowers in your garden. We are little but we can love big.” Then call each child by name. For example, call Isabella, who comes forward and places her flower in God’s garden (the prepared basket) and says, “I will make my bed.” Stand nearby to help place the flowers as the basket begins to fill up.

• Promise children will enjoy hearing about St. Thérèse’s “little way.” One example St. Thérèse gave was picking up a pin from the floor. After the children listen to her story, help them to think of small deeds they can do with a lot of love. Give a few examples to help the children understand that you mean little everyday deeds, such as hanging up their bath towel, carrying a grocery bag into the house, or feeding the dog. When all of the children have an idea, invite them to pantomime their deed for everyone to guess. Make a list of the deeds on the chalkboard or on newsprint.
  
  During her life, St. Thérèse did many little things with love, but she also said that she would spend her time in heaven doing good things for people. She promised that she would send a shower of roses upon the earth.
  
  Show the children how to make roses with tissue paper and chenille stems (pipe cleaners). Put two small squares of tissue paper together to make two layers. Pinch in the middle and wrap one end of the chenille stem around the middle to secure it. Fluff out the tissue paper to make a flower shape. Encourage the children to do something helpful for someone at home and to leave their rose as a sign of their love.
• Good News children can launch a happiness campaign in honor of St. Teresa of Avila. Tell the children that Teresa was a lively and fun-loving girl, and she never lost that attitude, even when she was sick or when she experienced hard times in her life.
  
  One time Teresa even said that she didn’t like gloomy saints. Teresa was certainly not a gloomy saint. On feast days, Teresa enjoyed playing castanets and dancing. Give the children rhythm instruments and let them celebrate Teresa’s feast day by keeping time and dancing to a lively song. Afterwards, talk about how dancing made them feel. Do they think that happiness is contagious? Teresa did.
  
  Discuss the concept of “paying it forward.” Encourage the children to go home and do something to spread happiness. Give each child a smiley-face sticker to put on the back of his or her hand as a reminder. Stress that actions they take to spread happiness can be simple good deeds that make other family members smile. Ask children to try to remember what happened as a result of their actions so they can share the stories during their group’s next gathering.
• Have Venture students form two study groups. Assign each group one of the October saints and help them create a chart to display information about their saint. Ask each group to fill in the date of birth, birthplace, feast day, patronage, and other interesting facts for their saint. If possible, provide additional resources, such as books about saints or addresses of websites, such as www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/byname.aspx or www.catholic-forum.com/saints/patron02.htm.
  
  Then ask each group to create a short skit with the information they have gathered. The skit should help the other group learn about the saint. After the groups have presented their skits, display the finished charts. Ask the students to use both the information on the charts and from the skits to compare the two saints. Help them to see that they profile two women, who, though very different, are saints because of their great love.
  
  If you have a large group of students, you may form three or four study groups. Ask one group to do research on St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), another Carmelite nun, who died in 1942. Her conversion to Catholicism from Judaism began when she read St. Teresa of Avila’s autobiography. Her feast day is August 9. You could also assign one group Blessed Teresa of Calcutta who chose the name Teresa in honor of Thérèse of Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries.

• Show Visions students copies of St. Thérèse’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul, and The Life of Teresa of Jesus, The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. Read aloud a few short passages from each that convey the writer’s personality and spirituality.
  
  Visions students may wonder why a young woman who lived in a cloistered convent and who saw herself as small and unimportant would write a book about herself. The answer is that Thérèse’s older sister was at that time the superior of the Carmelite convent at Lisieux where Thérèse was a novice. Her sister recognized Thérèse’s holiness and under her vow of obedience told her to keep a journal.
  
  Encourage students to keep journals this year and to record their thoughts and reactions to articles they read in Visions, their own prayers, and questions or thoughts about happenings in their life.
  
  Let them make a bookmark to use in their journals. A prayer that St. Teresa wrote in the margin of her prayer book is often called St. Teresa’s bookmark. Print the prayer on cardstock, one copy for each student, and encourage students to add decorative elements with markers, or allow the students with access to a computer to use the computer to design their own prayer cards. If possible, laminate students’ prayer cards.
  
  Here is St. Teresa’s prayer.

Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you. 
All things are passing; God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who possesses God lacks nothing:
  God alone suffices.

• Seeds and Promise children are egocentric, but are learning to share and take turns. Because they thrive on approval, you can foster patience and respect for others by praising children when they listen to others and wait their turn to speak.

  For an opening activity to encourage children to share and take turns, gather and display posters or pictures of autumn. Ask children to take turns pointing to signs of autumn in these pictures—colorful leaves, pumpkins, squirrels gathering nuts, children playing football, and so on.
  
  Follow up by saying, “Let’s say a prayer to tell God how thankful we are for autumn. Think of one thing you are thankful for this autumn day. (Pause.) Let’s begin by saying together, ‘Thank you, God, for ….’ Then each of you can take a turn finishing the sentence as we go around the circle.” Complete the prayer by saying, “Thank you, God, for the signs of fall. Remind us that you created them all. Amen.” Praise the group for taking turns.

• Good News children are learning new vocabulary. To help them, create a “Good News Word Wall.” Cut 14 large strips of chart paper, and label each with a word or phrase. The words and phrases for this month are: Anointing of the Sick, Baptism, commandment, Confirmation, Eucharist, leper, marriage, Holy Orders, Pharisees, petition, Reconciliation, sacraments, tax collector, and widow. Mount the strips with masking tape in alphabetical columns on a blank wall. Ask children to find definitions for these words in the Good News student booklets for October. Write the definitions children give on the strips. Add new words to the columns each month, and have children re-read the old ones aloud.
• Venture students can be very competitive and impatient, but can learn to enjoy noncompetitive activities as well. Both girls and boys of this age like to do research, create displays, and organize collections. Capitalize on these interests by inviting students to create quilt squares to illustrate verses from the Gospels. Begin with Luke 17:5-6, from the Gospel for October 3.
  
  Cut a supply of six-inch squares from colored construction paper. Have pairs of students work together to create a design to illustrate the Gospel verse on a colored square. Ask them to label their designs with the book, chapter, and verse. Students can create squares each week. Store the squares in envelopes labeled with the date of each Sunday. At the end of the school year, piece the squares together on a large sheet of poster board or newsprint and glue them down to create a Gospel wall hanging that can serve as a reminder of the year’s lessons.
• At one end of the scale, Visions students can be quiet and sensitive. On the other end, they can be rude and judgmental and may be mean to their peers. Throughout this month, ask Visions students to identify outsiders that Jesus praises in the Gospels and outsiders portrayed in Visions features.

Preschool (Seeds)
“I Can Say Thank You,” October 10, 2010

Seeds children will:

• learn different ways to say thank you
• find their own favorite way to say thank you
• celebrate with a thank-you prayer

Materials: Copies of old family-oriented magazines, scissors, glue sticks, rolls of crepe paper or crepe-paper streamers, copies of Seeds for October 10, 2010, one for each child

Preparation: Learn how to say thank you in languages that are spoken in your community.

Procedure

1. Invite the children to look at the cover of their Seeds booklet. What do they think is happening? In your own words, or using the child-friendly version of the story in the teaching guide for Seeds for October 10, tell the story about the one man who returned to thank Jesus for healing him.
   
   Ask the children to focus on the man and Jesus in the picture on Seeds. How is the man saying thank you to Jesus? Is he only using words? How is he showing his thankfulness?
2. Teach the children how to say thank you in various languages. For example, Gracias in Spanish, Danke in German, Grazie in Italian, Merci in French. Be sure to include languages that are spoken in your parish and community. For help, you may want to visit http://users.elite.net/runner/jennifers/thankyou.htm#s, a website that lists ways to say thank you in hundreds of languages.
3. Ask the children why there are so many ways to say thank you. Lead them to discover that it is important for everyone to say thank you.
4. Ask the children how they say thank you. Do they always say it with words? What actions can they use to say thank you? Do they sometimes say thank you with hugs, like the man on the Seeds cover? Do they sometimes say thank you by doing something nice in return? By drawing a picture for someone? By not begging for more? By sharing? By saying a prayer? Encourage each child to describe one way in which he or she likes to say thank you. 
5. Invite the children to look through the magazines to find pictures of people and things they are thankful for. Remind them that even though the people in the magazine pictures don’t look just like their own mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles, and grandparents, it’s okay to use those pictures to represent their own family members.
6. When all the children have selected several pictures, ask them to look again at the Seeds cover. Call attention to the long strips of cloth the people have. Explain that these were the bandages they needed when they were sick. Now they are better and they can take off the bandages. Does it look like the people are happy? Like they are dancing?
7. Give each child a crepe-paper streamer. Help children glue their pictures onto their streamers. Invite them to join in a dance to show they are thankful to God. Play some lively music and let the children dance with their streamers. When the music ends, proclaim, “Thank you, God, for taking care of us.” Invite the children to repeat this after you.

Grades K-1 (Promise)
“Making Friends,” October 31, 2010

Friendship is important for Promise children, especially at the beginning of the school year. Promise children will be able to:

• understand that a friend is someone we trust
• name friends, family, and community helpers they can trust
• recall ways to show friendship
• demonstrate sharing, taking turns, using listening skills, and showing respect for others

Materials: 1” x 4” construction paper strips in various colors, scissors, two or three stickers for each child, staplers or glue sticks, crayons, a sample paper bracelet, and copies of Promise for October 31, 2010, one for each child

Preparation: Make and wear a sample friendship bracelet. If possible, arrange for two or three children to work together at each table or work area. Set out materials for each group.

Procedure

1. Invite children to sit in a circle with you, preferably in a carpeted area. Ask: What is a friend? (A friend is someone we care about who also cares about us.) How do we know someone is our friend? (Friends do nice things for one another and help one another.) We say we can count on our friends. What does that mean? (We can trust our friends.) Ask children to take turns giving examples of what it means to trust someone. Then ask: Whom do you trust? (Children usually name people who do things for them—parents, grandparents, teachers, bus drivers, and so on.)
2. Ask children to take turns telling you ways we can be good friends to one another. (We can give hugs, kisses, and gifts; shake hands after a fight; welcome newcomers; share toys; invite friends to a party or to come over to play; eat meals together; take turns during games; and help others if they get hurt.)
3. Show children the friendship bracelet you are wearing and say: “What do I have on my wrist? This is a bracelet that I can take off and give to a friend. You can make a bracelet to give to a friend or to someone you trust.”
   
4. Ask each child to choose a colored strip of paper. Help children write their names on their strips with crayons. Give each child two or three stickers, and allow them to decorate their strips with the stickers.
5. Help each child wrap the strip around his or her wrist. Glue or staple the ends of the strip together, allowing enough room so that the bracelet can easily be slipped off.
6. Encourage children to trade bracelets with friends or to take their bracelets home to give to family members. Encourage children who exchange bracelets to say thank you to one another.

Grades 2-3 (Good News)
“Praise or Putdowns,” October 24, 2010

Good News children are gregarious and full of imagination, especially when they are energized by an idea. They are beginning to choose same-gender playmates, but boys and girls can work together to put on skits or puppet shows. They like to work cooperatively.

• use fine-motor skills and imagination to create original paper-bag puppet characters
• act out situations that show we do not need to put others down in order to feel special
• practice using “I” messages
• socialize and have fun performing for one another

Materials: Colored markers, glue, construction paper scraps, scissors, yarn (brown, black, red and yellow), a brown lunch bag for each child, and copies of Good News for October 24, 2010, one for each child

Preparation: Set out enough materials at each table or work area for three or four children.

Procedure

1. Ask children if they have ever heard someone brag about being better than someone else. Allow time for children to respond. Then tell children that the Gospel is a story about two men praying in the Temple. One man was a Pharisee and one was a tax collector. Explain that in Jesus’ time, people were likely to respect the Pharisee and despise the tax collector.
2. Introduce the definition of the word Pharisees in the word box on page 3 of Good News. Together, read “Jesus Shows Us Who Pleases God” on page 3. Ask: What would you like to say to the Pharisee? To the tax collector? Who do you think pleases God?
3. Then tell children to read the messages in “Praise or Putdowns” on page 4 of Good News. Make sure children understand the word putdown. Allow children to take turns reading the messages aloud. After each message, ask: Praise or putdown? When all the messages have been read, ask: How do putdowns make you feel? How could you answer someone who puts you down without fighting or name calling?
4. Have children take turns sharing situations in which they felt put down or hurt by another child’s bragging or bullying. Identify and reflect their feelings. (For example, “Sounds like you were angry.”) Tell children that they can answer putdowns with “I” messages. Provide an example: “I feel angry when you say ____________ because __________ .” Allow children to practice creating “I” messages for some of the situations they shared.
5. When all who wish to have created “I” messages, tell children they will be making puppets to act out putdowns and “I” message responses.
6. Ask children to form small groups. Allow about 10 minutes for each child to create a paper-bag puppet. When everyone has had a chance to finish, ask children to introduce their puppets to the other members of their group, describing their puppets’ personalities.
7. Then have children work in pairs within their small groups to create two- to three-minute plays in which puppets act out responding with “I” messages in putdown situations. If there’s time, allow volunteers to perform their puppet plays for the large group.

Grades 4-6 (Venture)
“Bartolomé de las Casas,” October 10, 2010

Venture students will be able to:

• locate areas of Spanish conquest in the New World
• see the conflicts between conquerors and conquered
• see how Bartolomé de las Casas became the protector of the Indians
• understand the differing viewpoints of Father Bartolomé, the king of Spain, the native people, and the Spanish landowners/slaveholders

Materials: Map of the New World, cloth headbands, oversized shirts, sandals for natives, and a Spanish helmet, armor, and sword for the conquistador, sombreros for land owners, copies of Venture for October 10, 2010, one for each student

Preparation: Arrange seven chairs for the readers and the narrator across the front of the room. Make copies of the script that follows the Procedure.

Procedure

1. Have students read “Bartolomé de las Casas, Protector of the Indians,” on pages 2-4 in Venture. When everyone has had a chance to finish, discuss the terms: New World, encomienda, slave holders, conquistador, small pox, immunity, Protector of the Indians, Quiché language. Help students to come up with definitions. Ask: Why was Father Bartolomé named Protector of the Indians?
2. Have students locate Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Guatemala on a map of the Western Hemisphere. Explain that during the 1500s, the Spanish invaded these lands and used the natives as slaves on their estates—to work in the fields and in gold mines.
3. Tell students that they will do a dramatic reading of the story, using a script and some props and costumes.
4. Ask students to decide how each of the following readers would view the rights of the native people: Father Bartolomé, the king of Spain, Diego Velasquez, the landowners, the native people.
5. Ask for volunteers to be readers. Provide the readers with copies of the script and with appropriate props and costumes. Allow them time to practice the lines. For an easy-to-print version of the script, click here.
6. Have the readers take their places in front of the audience. After the reading, have audience members discuss why the characters had differing ideas about slavery. Ask: Who wanted to keep slaves and why? How did Father Bartolomé’s idea of freedom and equality inspire a slaveholder named Thomas Jefferson?

Bartolomé de las Casas, Protector of the Indians

Narrator: The year is 1512. Father Bartolomé de las Casas is a slaveholder on the island of Hispaniola.

Father Bartolomé: My father sailed with Christopher Columbus. He told me to come to the New World to seek my fortune. So I asked the king of Spain for a piece of land. I just had to promise to teach the native people about Christianity.

Conquistador Diego: Come with me to Cuba, Father. I will give you more land and more slaves. We will put them to work in the gold mines.

Father Bartolomé: I need the native people to work in the fields, but many of them have already died from small pox. I fear the same thing will happen in Cuba.

Narrator: For his part in conquering Cuba, Diego gave Father Bartolomé an estate and more slaves. But Father Bartolomé realized that he could not be both a Christian and a slaveholder. In 1514, he sailed back to Spain to tell the king about how bad things were for the natives in the New World. He went to see the king, but the big landowners and some of the native people got there before he did.

King: So, what is it you want, Father?

Father Bartolomé: Your Highness, the slaves are dying by the thousands. They have no immunity against our diseases. The slaveholders force all the men to leave their families.

Native People: We work in the mines until we drop. The women and children are alone in the villages. They are starving.

Landowner 1: But Father, we take care of the people. They need us to give them food and clothing and shelter.

Landowner 2: Yes, and we teach them about Jesus. What’s wrong with that?

Native People: But we already had a good life. You took our land. You took our gold. You gave us death and disease.

Father Bartolomé: Your Highness, we should give them back their lands. We can share the land.

King: Go back to the New World with a band of friars. The brothers will help the people build towns with churches and hospitals. And you, landowners, you must set aside land for the native people to grow their own food. You must pay any native working in your mines.

Narrator: Of course, no one wanted to give up their slaves and their gold mines, so after a while, Father Bartolomé traveled back to Spain to present a new idea.

Father Bartolomé: Your Highness, we need Spanish farmers to come to the New World. You can give them free passage, free land and farm animals, and money to get started. Then the native people and the Spaniards will work side by side in peace.

King: Okay. We’ll try your plan, Father.

Father Bartolomé: We must also stop the slave traders from capturing the native people and selling them as slaves.

King: Okay. Only native people who are cannibals can be sold as slaves.

Landowner 1: They are all cannibals!

Narrator: Father Bartolomé was discouraged. For nine years, he stayed in a monastery and wrote about the terrible conditions in the New World. Then he went with members of the Dominican order to Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico. In 1542, he returned to the Spanish court.

Father Bartolomé: Your Highness, I see slaves suffering everywhere I go. This time I am asking you to free all the slaves.

King: I agree with you. We will have New Laws. From now on, there will be no more slavery. Go back to Mexico and tell the landowners they must give up all their slaves.

Narrator: In the meantime, the pope named Father Bartolomé Bishop of Chiapa, a city in Mexico.

Landowner 1: That does it! We are not going to follow your New Laws. And we won’t give money to the Church either.

Landowner 2: Watch out, Bishop Bartolomé. Your life is in danger! We will get the king to revoke these laws!

Father Bartolomé: Slavery must end. Native people have the same right to freedom and happiness that we do.

Narrator: Father Bartolomé left the New World in 1547. He spent the rest of his life trying to convince the court that all people are created equal. Where have you heard that before?

Grades 7-8 (Visions)
“What Makes Outsiders?” October 10, 2010

Belonging and being an accepted part of a group is very important for Visions students. Much of the content of Visions for October 10 is devoted to helping students look at what makes some people “outsiders.”

• recognize that a person’s appearance is no indicator of his or her character
• see the importance of getting to know others without prejudging them
• understand that it is important to accept and value people for who they are

Materials: Large sheets of drawing paper or newsprint, colored pencils, copies of Visions, October 10, 2010, one for each student

Procedure

1. Ask students to talk about some of the “labels” pictured on the Visions cover. Invite students to mention other labels they hear used.
2. Tell students that the Gospel for this Sunday shows us how an outsider—a Samaritan—responds to Jesus. To help students understand why Jews considered Samaritans outsiders, have a volunteer read aloud “What Does Jesus Teach About Insiders and Outsiders?” on page 6 of Visions. After the reading, ask: What actions show that the Samaritan is a good neighbor?
   
   
3. Have students read “Hate Mail” on pages 2-4 of Visions. When everyone has had a chance to finish, ask: What characteristics and actions cause a “winner” to label others “losers”?  Write answers on the chalkboard or on newsprint as they are given. Then ask: What characteristics and actions cause kids to be labeled “losers” in your school?
4. Have students form small groups and give each group drawing paper and colored pencils. Ask each group to create a comic strip presenting an adventure of an outsider who is actually a superhero. Remind students that in everyday life, Superman was “mild-mannered Clark Kent,” who showed some characteristics of a “nerd.” The groups may want to name their superhero “Outsider.”
   
5. When all the groups have finished, display their work around the room. Allow students time to read all the comic strips.
   

The Pflaum Gospel Weeklies Family Pages offer activities and resources that parents can use at home to nurture family faith. Go to pflaum.com/familypages and log in to check out the resources and activities available there.

There’s a mystery to be solved in “Feasts of the Season.” How did St. Helena discover which of three crosses was the true cross of Jesus? The story is told in “Exaltation of the Holy Cross.” 

“Catholic Culture” challenges parents and kids alike with “Can You Name All Twelve Apostles?” and also shares “The Truth About Angels.”

The “Family Prayer” invites families to praise God’s creation and creatures in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. Parents and kids get to add their own favorite creatures and creations to the prayer service.

Choose Family Pages to print and send home with students or send notes home suggesting pages for parents to download and print.

The Family Pages are a free service available to all families in schools and parishes that use the Pflaum Gospel Weeklies. On the Family Pages home page, click on “Tips for using these pages” for a sample letter you can send home.

An All Saints’ Day Surprise

For fifth graders at St. Mary Parish, Schwenksville, PA, learning about All Saints’ Day begins with a lesson on Baptism. As part of that lesson, catechist Marlene Kelly talks with the group about how parents choose their children’s names.

Marlene has found that many of her students don’t know that their names are saints’ names or are names derived from the names of saints. So Marlene sends a letter home to parents, explaining that she is asking each student to look up his or her name (either first or middle name), find its meaning, and discover what saint he or she is named for. Each student is asked to do research on that saint and write a short biography based on the research. Then, without saying what she will be doing with their work, Marlene collects the biographies, puts them together in a booklet, and makes copies of the booklet, one for each student.

In October, right before Halloween, Marlene teaches a lesson on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. At the end of the lesson, she hands out the booklets. Students are excited to read what they and their classmates have written and are introduced to saints they would not otherwise have known about.