Features
Sue Ryan
30 August 2012
Initiation in Eucharist continues long after the children make their first Communion – in fact it is just the start of a lifelong learning process.
This is the message of faith educators and biblical storytellers Rina Wintour and Carol Danby who took their Education Convention workshops on a tour of the archdiocese.
In the process more than 600 teachers and parishioners from around the country thrilled to discover a variety of fun and creative ways of learning about scripture.
As well as attracting crowds of more than 100 to their workshops at the Education Convention, August 8 to 10, Rina and Carol from the Archdiocese of Brisbane also packed their workshops during the fortnight in the archdiocese.
They began the tour in the Wairarapa Pastoral Area with a workshop for teachers and others from Masterton, Carterton and Featherston.
Their two workshops at the convention, ‘Keeping families connected after sacramental celebrations’ and ‘Sacraments – programme or process’, showed the high level of interest in these issues, of the teachers, priests and bishops who attended.
The tour included two South Island pastoral areas with teachers from St Paul’s School Richmond, St Peter Chanel Motueka and St Joseph’s Nelson enjoying two hours of fun – learning how to do ‘echo mimes’, ‘liquid pictures’, ‘sound effects’ and ‘frozen tableaux’, to enliven the Good News.
The pair also visited the Marlborough Pastoral Area where teachers at St Mary’s Blenheim amazed the Australians with their exuberant approach to interactive scriptural activities that demand a high level of creativity.
The tour ended with two meetings for teachers from the Wellington and Hutt Valley areas and a visit to St Bernadette’s school Naenae.
Here Carol and Rina, worked first with the junior pupils and then with seniors, using their storytelling techniques to keep the children and adults engaged for more than an hour and half.
To find out more about fun and creative ways for children to engage with the bible, visit the Mountjoy Enterprises website.