CCD Fourth Year

Theme: As the new People of God, we are bonded together by divine love. This relationship of love calls forth from us a personal response of fidelity to Him and a heightened responsibility for each other. The parameters for this response are the commandments, the teachings of Jesus, and the Church with her sacraments.

Doctrine.

• Recognize God as the benevolent Lord and giver of all Life.
• Possess an implicit awareness of his/her identity as a child of the Covenant and (through Christ) as an adopted son or daughter of our heavenly Father, growing in knowledge and love of the Lord.
• Recognize our obligation to respond to God's love by living a life worthy of our dignity and kinship with Christ.
• Relate in his/her words the story of Moses and the Decalogue.
• Recite the Ten Commandments.
• Give examples of how certain commandments touch our life and experience.
• State Jesus' two-fold Law of Love.
• Give examples from experience on how to carry out Jesus' Commandment of Love.
• Recognize and be able to explain in his/her own words the Beatitudes.
• Recognize the law of the Church to participate in the Sunday Eucharist.
• Give particular examples of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

Scripture.

• The Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).
• The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12).
• Jesus' Great Commandment (Luke 10:25-37; Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34).
• The Rich Man (Mark 10:17-31).
• The Gift of the Spirit (John 14:15-31).
• Love of God and Love of Neighbor (Mark 12:28-34; 1 John 4:7-21; 1 Peter 4:8-10).
• Jesus Living Out the Rule of Love (Luke 7:1-17, 36-50; 14:1-6).

Prayer.

• Sign of the Cross, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Prayers Before and After Meals, a Morning Offering, an Act of Contrition, the Apostles' Creed, an Act of Faith, and the Angelus.
• Recite and/or sing selected communal prayers and responses of the Mass: Responses to the Readings, Gospel Acclamation and Response, Sanctus, Lamb of God, Eucharistic Acclamation, and Great Amen.
• Be at ease with praying aloud together as a group or class.
• Express sorrow for his/her sins through prayer.
• Express brief silent meditation.
• Experience such devotions as the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, prayer to his/her patron saint or important saints on their feast days.
• Experience spontaneous prayer, including prayer of petition in the "prayer of the faithful" format.

Worship and Sacraments.

• Plan and execute class liturgies or paraliturgies.
• Participate with adults in the prayers and hymns of the Sunday Eucharist.
• Experience communal celebration of Penance with individual Confessions.
• Be familiar and comfortable with the procedure for the individual reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation according to his/her abilities and moral development.
• Describe in his/her own words something of the significance of the different liturgical seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter.

Moral Development.

• Realize that the Lord wants us to make the right choices and to act responsibly.
• Show respect for life-- one's own life, that of others, and in the natural order.
• Recognize the need for obedience to lawful authority and to evidence this in behavior.
• Give examples of unloving and selfish behavior for which people often ask pardon.
• Acknowledge personal failings in regard to Jesus' Law of Love, the Beatitudes, and the Ten Commandments.
• Give examples of how reconciliation may take place.
• Exemplify an appreciation for honesty and an understanding of fairness.