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S1E1: Learning from Mistakes · Mentoring In Ministry

• 0:02
  Welcome to the Mentoring in Ministry podcast. In each
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  episode, we approach various catechetical
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  topics from different perspectives.
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  Welcome to Catechetical Conversations. I'm
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  Drake McAllister here with Scott Sollom, and
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  we're answering some commonly asked questions that
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  catechists ask on a regular basis. So,
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  Scott, from your experience, quite a few years, what have
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  you found that has gone badly
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  in your teaching that might be helpful for our audience?
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  I'm not sure how much time we have to answer this. I could
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  go on for a long time, but let
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  me just give a couple of kind of key principles that I've
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  realized over the years. And the
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  first is this, my own spiritual preparedness going into a
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  catechetical session makes all
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  the difference in the world. I've had times when I thought
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  I was preparing a great lesson,
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  a great session, I was making the right connections, I
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  thought I had a funny joke at the beginning,
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  and I thought it was just going to go fantastically. And it
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  turns out, when it was all said and
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  done, I felt like it really didn't go that
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  well. It seemed to kind of miss the audience
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  or it didn't seem to be something. There's
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  something wasn't right. And what I realized
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  later is what wasn't right is I wasn't entering into this
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  in a real kind of humble, spiritually
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  astute manner where I was really there to
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  serve the people and to love the people. I
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  was thinking, I'm going to give a talk, a
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  really good talk. And the thing is, talks
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  don't necessarily work, but the Holy Spirit
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  does the work. And by the way, conversely,
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  I've had times when I thought I was underprepared.
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  Sometimes my fault, sometimes not, you know
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  how it is. Sometimes there's a lot going on
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  and things are crazy at home and things are
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  crazy at work. And maybe I go to a particular session and
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  I'm thinking, oh man, I don't
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  know what to do here. And I've just got a few things to
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  work on. And somehow it really works.
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  And it might be because I'm less worried
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  about saying all the things perfectly and
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  I'm more present to the moment. And really maybe in that
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  sense, desperately asking the
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  Holy Spirit for help because I know in that moment that I
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  really need it. But that's the
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  first and main thing I realized that whether I think I'm
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  really well prepared or poorly
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  prepared, it's the spiritual preparation that is really
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  going to actually kind of sing or
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  actually speak to the people. The second thing I would say
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  is keeping it simple. I have a
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  way, this is probably different for a different catechist.
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  I have a way of, in my mind, there's
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  all kinds of things I need to say. I need
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  to say them just right at just the right
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  time so that I become stuck on all the complex things I
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  want to say and get across and I'm
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  wonderful. And I just forget to keep it simple. This is
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  about Jesus, relationship with Jesus.
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  This is about us coming to know more deeply what God has
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  revealed. And just to keep it
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  in a much more maybe conversational tone and just whenever
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  there gets to be too much difficulty
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  or complexity, just bring it back to God,
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  God's love. We're trying to respond. We're
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  not going to be able to respond. By God's grace, we
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  respond. And then everything else
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  just makes sense around that matrix of God loving us and
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  helping us to respond to Him.
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  And maybe third and finally is I, of course, I like to have
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  discussion. I know you do too.
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  I need to keep it discussional where people can ask
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  questions. I tell them, interrupt
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  me, you know, like every question is a good question.
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  Sometimes though I realize I need
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  to kind of get a few things across in a very clear way so
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  those people who don't have questions
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  can follow the main points in the A, B, C fashion. Whereas
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  if I have someone who's asking
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  a lot of questions over and over again, it ends up being
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  we're over here and now we're
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  over here and now we're up here. And I can
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  begin to see on the other participants, the
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  other people there in the session starting
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  to get a little bit, maybe not annoyed, but
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  a little bit kind of like wishing that we could kind of say
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  a few things straightforwardly
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  and get to the point. And so I had this difficult time
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  sometimes balancing, taking questions,
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  answering questions as they come, but also being true to
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  giving a catechesis which makes
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  sense is orderly, is kind of progressing and reaching a
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  precise goal. But those are the
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  three things I would think, at least at the top of my head
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  for now is keeping it, making
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  sure I'm recognizing the spirituality that
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  underpins it, keeping it simple, and then
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  try to tending pastorally to every person while also
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  sticking to the actual lesson so
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  that it makes sense to everybody.
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  Yeah, well said, I think years ago, I woke up late, I was
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  running into whatever ministry
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  venue I was doing and as I was running in,
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  because I was totally late and unprepared,
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  I said, " Okay, Lord, it's all you today. "
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  And I heard the Lord clearly say, " Well, who
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  is it on all the other days? " I was like, " Oh, God, it
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  should be you all the time. " So,
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  well said. Thank you, Scott.
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  Thank you for listening to this episode of
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  Mentoring in Ministry. You can also find
• 4:31
  us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
• 4:33
  @ the Catechetical Institute or join our online
• 4:35
  community of catechests at franciscanathome.com/guild.
• 4:38
  Link to all of those
• 4:40
  in the show notes. This podcast is an outreach of
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  Franciscan University of Steubenville's
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  Catechetical Institute.