Theology 1: Introduction to the Human Person and Catholicism

Want to enter more deeply into the prayers that are already part of your day at Guerin Catholic? You will receive seven “Prayer Pages” over the course of the trimester about different kinds of prayer that also provide mini-challenges for you and your family to complete. You will also have the opportunity to listen to interviews with alumni who grappled with the same prayers and today enjoy an authentic friendship with Christ. Another opportunity involves each family member choosing a saint to learn more about and then share with the family. Learning about the life of a different saint provides different models of holiness to which the family can aspire.

Option 1: Prayer Pages
Minimum requirements: Read five prayer pages with at least one family member, try five mini-challenges, AND listen to two (2) Alumni Prayer Project interviews with at least one family member.

Option 2: Saint Generator
Minimum requirements: Each member of your family will draw a patron saint from the saint generator and be able to share the basics about the saint’s story with the family. Click here to “draw” a saint from the saint generator.

Theology 2: The Blessed Trinity

The two greatest mysteries of our Catholic faith are who God is: a Trinity of divine persons and that the Son of God became man in the Incarnation. You will receive a picture frame where you can display a card each week that features a unique image of Christ on one side and a related Scripture passage on the other side to encourage you to grow in wonder at the mysteries you study and through Lectio Divina (a contemplative way of reading the Bible). Another related opportunity involves watching the contemporary show, The Chosen, about Jesus and the apostles.

Option 1: Display a weekly picture of Jesus in frame
Minimum requirements: Put the frame where it’s visible. Trade out cards each week. Prayerfully read one together as a family.

Option 2: Watch Season 1 of The Chosen (eight episodes) as a family
To watch the show, download the free The Chosen app or stream from https://watch.thechosen.tv
Minimum requirements: Watch all of Season 1 with at least one family member.

Theology 3: The Paschal Mystery

Want to stop going through motions and make the mysteries of our faith a real part of your life? Then consider attending a monthly tour at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral that will feature food for thought about the life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus (aka the Paschal Mystery) as well as delicious Greek gyros to share with your family. Other ways to make the most of the liturgical year will vary by season: attend the Dia de los Muertos celebration at Our Lady of Mount Carmel to attend Mass in Spanish and pray for the dead, pray the Stations of the Cross with your family during Lent, or go on a pilgrimage of seven local churches on the evening of Holy Thursday, keeping watch with Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Option 1: Visit Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in southwest Carmel (3500 W 106th St) hosts a Gyro Night every first Thursday of the month from 5-7 p.m. with Greek food for sale and cathedral tours for the public at 6:30 p.m. Check the website to confirm the day and time.
Minimum requirements: Attend the church tour (6:30 – 7:00 p.m.)

Option 2 (first trimester only): Join Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s Apostolado Hispano in celebrating El Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead in November
Minimum requirements: Go to the 7 p.m. Spanish Mass with a family member. Pray for a deceased loved one at the Altar de Muertos with a family member. Try a new food at the reception after Mass and learn what it symbolizes. Check the website to confirm the day and time.

Option 3 (third trimester only): Go to Stations of the Cross with your parish during Lent, and bring your family.
Minimum requirements: Participate in the full Stations of the Cross liturgy with at least one family member.

Option 4 (third trimester only): Do the Seven Churches Visitation as a family
The traditional practice is to visit seven churches on the night of Holy Thursday and to spend time in prayer at each one (seven because of the seven basilicas in Rome). One possible route is (1) Our Lady of Grace, (2) St. John Vianney, (3) Holy Spirit, (4) St. Simon, (5) St. Louis de Montfort, (6) St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and (7) Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Minimum requirements: Make a pilgrimage to three churches on the night of Holy Thursday and spend time at each church in prayer with at least one family member.

Theology 4: Church History

The history of the Church is like an adventure novel with villains and heroes. We call our heroes saints! We have a selection of these amazing heroes of Church History displayed on each stained glass window in our chapel at Guerin Catholic. You will receive a holy card each week from your Theology teacher with a beautiful image of one stained glass window. Your family can display this keepsake in a central location for the week. Use the QR code on the back of the holy card to watch a powerful video witness about the saint, given by one of our Guerin Catholic faculty or staff members.

Option 1: St. Joseph Chapel Stained Glass window cards
Minimum requirements: Display four holy cards and watch four videos with at least one family member.

Theology 5: Moral Theology

Moral Theology can sound weighty, but it actually teaches us how to live in beatitude – fulfilling the purpose by which we were created. You and a family member will have an option to make sacrifice beads. These beads were kept in the pocket of St. Thérèse of Lisieux who used them to count the good deeds or sacrifices that she performed each day for the Lord. You can pick up the supplies from your Theology teacher. Another great opportunity is for the family to participate in the sacrament of Reconciliation together. This sacrament is a beautiful cleansing experience which has a powerful effect when your family experiences that grace together. You might even consider getting ice cream together as a treat afterwards!

Option 1: Go as a family to participate in the sacrament of Reconciliation
Minimum requirements: You and at least one family member receive the sacrament of Reconciliation on the same occasion. Check your parish website for days and times.

Option 2: Your family can make your own sacrifice beads
Kits for making the beads, which include instructions and all the materials needed, are available in your classroom. Minimum requirements: Make sacrifice beads together with at least one family member (each family member gets a kit). Use the beads and try to count ten good deeds or sacrifices in a day.

Theology 6: The Liturgy and Sacraments

As important as it is to have a particular parish to attend consistently with your family, have you ever considered attending Mass in a different rite or language at a church in the area? Such an experience expresses the beautiful richness of the Church’s universality as she offers worship to the Father through the Son and Holy Spirit. Besides many options to experience diverse liturgies in the community, you have an opportunity to delve more deeply into the first sacrament, Baptism, in which you and your family first received the seed of faith and began a relationship with Almighty God. Consider attending a Baptism with your family or sitting down together to share about this most important event in the life of faith.

Option 1: Diverse Liturgies
– Byzantine Rite Mass (St. Athanasius, Indianapolis, Sunday 10 am) Please note: Eastern Rite Catholics, including Byzantine Rite Catholics, are in communion with the Pope. This Mass DOES count towards your Sunday obligation. (Eastern Rite churches are commonly confused with Eastern Orthodox churches.)
– Latin Mass (Holy Rosary, Indianapolis, Sunday 8:30 am) Experience the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (the Ordinary Form is more commonly used after the liturgical reforms of Vatican II)
– Catholic Mass in the African American and African Cultural Traditions (Holy Angels, Indianapolis, Sunday 9 am)
– French Mass (St. Monica, Indianapolis, 2nd Sunday of each month at 4:30 pm)
– Spanish Mass (St. Monica, Indianapolis, Sunday at 12:30 p.m. or 3:00 p.m. (or a Spanish Mass at your own parish)
– Easter Vigil Mass at your parish (third trimester only) Check your parish website for information.
Minimum requirements: Attend at least one of the listed liturgies with at least one family member.

Option 2: Attend a Baptism at a Catholic church AND pick one of the following: Put a holy water font in your house OR learn about your own Baptism with your family.
Minimum requirements: Attend a Catholic Baptism with at least one family member AND either put a holy water font in your house or learn about your own Baptism with at least one family member.

Theology 7: Christian Vocation

How incredible that you have been given the gift of a vocation by God that will allow you to flourish as a human person through a loving gift of yourself to another person in marriage or to the Church through priesthood or consecrated life! There is no need to know yet how God is calling you, but you can still seek ways to cultivate an openness to listening to His gentle and peaceful voice that always desires your good. How about inviting a priest, deacon, or seminarian to your home for dinner and asking him to share his vocation story? Alternatively, you could write a letter expressing gratitude to your parish priest or chaplain and maybe include a spiritual bouquet of prayers for him. Consider praying for vocations with your family and watching a short video about one of the three vocations, or ask your parents to tell you about their wedding.

Option 1: Invite a priest, deacon, or seminarian to your home for a family meal and ask him to tell his vocation story.
If you invite a priest or deacon, you might also ask him to bless your house. OR Write a thank you card to your parish priest or chaplain and include a spiritual bouquet (prayers for him).
Minimum requirements: Have a priest, deacon, or seminarian come to your home and tell his vocation story, OR Write a thank you card with a spiritual bouquet for a priest or chaplain.

Option 2: Pray for vocations as a family and then watch a video about vocations in general and/or one of the three vocations: marriage, priesthood, or consecrated life.

Vocations in general:
Fr. Mike Schmitz, “What’s my Vocation?”

Marriage Videos
Bobby and Jackie Angel Part I
Bobby and Jackie Angel Part II

Holy Orders
“I Will Follow”
Fr. Chase Hilgenbrinck vocation story

Consecrated Life
Undivided Heart (Nashville Dominican Sisters)

Minimum requirements: Pray for vocations and watch one of the videos with at least one family member.

Option 3: Ask your parents about their wedding.
You might ask about the church in which they were married, who the celebrant was, and what the readings and songs were. Do they remember anything from the homily? What was it like to be married in the beginning, and how has it changed over the years? Look at some pictures of the wedding together.
Minimum requirements: Look at pictures of the wedding (if they exist) and ask at least the questions listed above.

Theology 8: Catholic Social Teaching

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you learn in class and what grade you earn, unless you put it into practice in your own life at Guerin Catholic and beyond! This is your chance. What about getting outside of your comfort zone and volunteering to help those who are less fortunate than you in the community? There are many options for local charitable organizations where you can volunteer with your family. Finally, we wouldn’t be Christians unless we brought Christ, not just ourselves, to our neighbors. How better to witness to His enduring presence and power than to join in a procession with the Holy Eucharist, the source of our faith and the secret of our strength as we “fight the good fight” for Christ?

Option 1: Volunteer together as a family to serve the poor at one of the listed locations.
Before and after your service, reflect on the experience as a family.
Minimum requirements: Complete one hour of service with at least one family member at a location on the list provided. Discuss the pre- and post-service reflections with this family member.
Pre-Reflection Questions
1. When you think of God’s call for us to love your neighbor, what does that look like to you?
2. Do you see serving others as a chore or sacrificial love?
Post-Reflection Questions
1. After your service, has your opinion about what it means to love your neighbor changed?
2. Has your view of serving others changed in light of your experience?
Click here for a list of volunteer opportunities.

Option 2 (Summer only): Participate in a Corpus Christi procession
Participate in a Corpus Christi procession with your parish to give public witness to your faith. The Eucharist is the heart of the Church’s social teaching and gives grace for all efforts to bring the Gospel to the public square.
Minimum requirements: Participate in a Corpus Christi procession with at least one family member.