25-06 Liturgy in Catholic Schools

Description 

Catholic Schools have unique needs and opportunities for liturgical formation. They can shape their school culture to support the values of worship and liturgy. While serving diverse students, including non-Catholics, they are able to shape their liturgical ethos with other activities in the community, and to help students see the celebration of the Eucharist as a high point in school life which brings communal priorities into sharper focus. This course will encourage educators to name their hopes for the students who worship with them and to imagine a Eucharistic school culture. It will also provide practical tips and guidance for preparing Catholic school liturgies. 

Course Goals

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Develop short-term and long-term strategies to prepare students to celebrate Mass,
• Create a liturgical checklist to streamline liturgical preparation,
• Reflect on the ways school culture and circumstances and their relationship to the liturgy, and
• Draft a liturgy statement for one's community, integrating cultural insights, hopes for the future, and communal priorities. 

Course Content

Unit One: Liturgy in Context: What does liturgy look like in YOUR school?

Unit Two: Preparing Students: Short-term and long-term strategies

Unit Three Title: Fundamentals of Liturgy Preparation

Unit Four: Liturgy and School Culture

Unit Five: Student Formation

Unit Six:  Integrating insights: The Liturgy Statement

Course Format

• Seven weeks in duration; first week for orientation.
• Up to 20 students in each course.
• Video lectures with text transcripts available.
• Supplemental readings are provided to encourage further exploration, internet links provided for all readings.
• Written assignments (ao\pproximately 250 words) with a practical emphasis required.
• Facilitator-moderated weekly Zoom sessions with participants.

Participation Requirements

• Watch or read the lecture for each unit.
• Read assigned texts as desired, keep notes, questions, and comments for class discussions.
• Answer a weekly discussion question. 
• Respond to weekly unit assignment.
• Attend weekly Zoom for each unit. If you cannot attend in “real time” you can still meet the participation requirements.
• Complete the course evaluation.
• Course Certificate

An electronic certificate of completion awarding 25 contact hours will be available in course when completing all course requirements.

Course Developer

Margaret Felice is a doctoral student in Theology and Education at Boston College's Clough School of Theology and Ministry. She returned to studies after eighteen years at Boston College High School where she taught religion, directed the liturgical musicians, and developed an experiential learning program of spirituality- and worship-themed activities for 7th and 8th grade boys. She is an assistant director of the Liturgy Arts Group at Boston College, a music minister who sings throughout the Archdiocese of Boston, and was a member of the inaugural cohort of Notre Dame's Mathis Liturgical Leadership Program from 2022-2024. 

Margaret holds degrees from Boston College and The Boston Conservatory. She has published a number of resources for teens and their families with Twenty-Third Publications including Hearts on Fire: A Guide to Catholic Spirituality for Teens and How to Talk to Teens about Faith, God, and Prayer. Originally from South Windsor, CT, she lives with her husband Robert in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.