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May 1, 2021Tricia Jaggard (with her dog/co-catechist Abby)
1st Grade Catechist
St. Joseph Parish, Homewood
Married almost 25 years, have 2 children- 4th grade and senior in high school.
I have been a catechist for 14 years starting out at my husband’s home parish of St. Liborius in Steger, IL. I went through the RCIA program there and while attending the program I wanted to volunteer but didn’t know how to go about it. My mother was a Sunday School Teacher while I was growing up and she even taught one year in a VBS program. I started my volunteer work with the Religious Education program and was asked to teach Kindergarten- my oldest daughter was starting Kindergarten- and my first class was 10 children. Sharing with them Catholicism that I learned in RCIA along with my background (my family is a mix of Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Baptist, and I went to Lutheran Grade School and took Judaism in college) gave me the knowledge and tools to share my faith. And as I taught them I also felt stronger in my faith and it keeps growing each time I am in class with my students. It also reminds me of different Bible stories and verses that I had to memorize- John 3:16, Lord’s Prayer, Ten Commandments, Story of creation- just to name a few. As time went on I participated in 1st communion retreats, parish retreats, confirmation retreats, and taught not only Kindergarten but also, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th grades. The highlight has been teaching my oldest while I was pregnant with my youngest-she was in 2nd grade and 2 days after concluding classes and her receiving 1st communion that my youngest was born. I will always remember that year.
Starting this year with no classroom and going virtual was challenging but I prayed every day on it and had my lesson plans ready to go, and my letter to my parents ready to be emailed. Well, honestly I threw out my lesson plan the first day and my 1st graders and I talked about our “new normal” through Zoom. The Holy Spirit was there for us in our “virtual” classroom and Abby became my assistant. We just discussed the world and I incorporated Jesus and his teachings into the conversation. So now each class we talk about how Jesus would live in our world and helps us grow in His Love. We do our lessons but have fun, and I get parents to join in when they are there- they get stumped but their child knows the answer. A recent example is Ash Wednesday- we did the Sign on the Cross on our foreheads and say , “Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return” and then they did it to the adult in the room- one child was off mute and we listened to her – she did a wonderful job. We also wrote down what we could do for Lent- see picture. Dry erase boards are my go to- they have them from school- we still draw and answer questions that can be shared with the group. They participate, the parents participate and we do the “Floss dance” which we want to teach Jesus one day.
I have had such a wonderful year and my children are great- We are part of Jesus’ Family.
