2019-2020:  15 weekly CGS sessions offered  

• TARDINESS: We have observed many students arriving late and not prepared L (prepared means not coming hungry, using the restroom and washing hands prior to class.) Please consider our policy. Arriving 10 minutes prior to class, getting a drink of water, using the restroom (with the parent) and washing hands.
• SESSION TIME: VARIES
  • LEVEL1 – Pre-K to 1^st graders:  is typically 60 minutes. Please look at the whiteboard.
  • LEVEL 2 – 2^nd graders and older: is typically 90 minutes but can be 120 minutes. Please look at the whiteboard.
• EARLY PICKUP – any student being picked up early from class should have permission prior to the start of class. This should be avoided! Attend another class session instead!
• Attendance is tracked. Please do not miss more than 2 classes. The only missed classes should be – 1. Vacation for a week 2. Illness for a week. (Always go to another scheduled class and we count this for your %100 attendance.
• We are tracking Parent Formation. Parents are required to attend 4 sessions year if your student is a Sacrament YEAR 1 or Year 2 Student (2^nd grade and older) Sign up when you sign in. Two parents per session are desired to observe and assist!
• JOIN: REMIND Time/Day example 330Sun or 630Tuesday
• JOIN: Instagram – Find us at CGSHolyName
• Check out our website: theholynameofjesus/CGS

• TUITION: Please, if you have not completed your payment – please do so at this time! It is $60 per child. No multi-child discounts offered within the program or within parish programming.

     CGS Atrium 2019-2020 Offerings

•    Sunday        11:30am, 1:30pm, and 3:30pm
•    Monday       3:30pm and 6:30pm
•    Tuesday       3:30pm and 6:30pm
•    Wednesday  3:30pm

            Sacred Heart Academy Students

•  Monday          1:30pm
•  Tuesday         8:15am, 10:30am, 1:15pm 
•  Wednesday    8:30am, 1:05pm 
•  Thursday       8:30am 

PARENT AID AND CATECHIST AID TRAINING WENT WELL: 
These SPECIALLY DESIGNED Catechist Aid sessions were adapted for our parish and will be required for those who will be working in our Parish Atrium with the children.
Please note: To become Nationally Certified in this ‘work’, one must complete a 4-week course by a Nationally Certified Formation Leader for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. The tuition for the completion of that course is typical $635 for certification in each Level, I and II. Our Holy Name of Jesus formation sessions are brief and designed for catechist aids and are offered for free for parishioners or our Academy Parent or Aids. 
Please prayerfully consider joining us for this formative endeavor! 
We will plan to have more in the future! Stay tuned!

Dear Catechetical Leaders and Parents: 
Some of you have had an experience with Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) and I think it’s great for us to share with each other by word of mouth, what that experience has been. But, there is an element of the ethereal in this catechesis that eludes us with words alone. I am speaking partly from my own experience with CGS. Like many of you, I did hear about it and was curious to learn more, but I was not convinced until I sat in the atrium and had my own encounter with the Good Shepherd. This brief experience with CGS has given me something that I will treasure for my whole life and share with my family and parish, but there is a wealth of richness to be mined here. I truly believe this catechesis is more than a program or methodology, although it has elements of these, it is a Gift from God to his whole church, I would not dare keep it to myself! I hope that you will accept the invitation of the Good Shepherd who calls each of us by name, to come and become like children and quietly listen to the words of Jesus as if you had never heard or read them before. Choose to visit an atrium and get a sense of the work that is being done there. Please prayerfully consider this invitation to experience it. 

Blessings,
Ray Almanza - San Bernardino Diocese Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Consultant
 Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfg9RfBk-fY

History of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

A Global Catechesis 

The National Association of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (USA)

The forming of a national association for the United States began in the summer of 1983, in a series of meetings at a religious order house in Washington, D.C. Sofia Cavalletti had come from Rome to offer a course that included materials for children and discussions on the theme of Eucharist. During several evenings, Sofia and some of the course participants gathered and explored several questions: Do we need an association? If so what would be its aims? What are the needs we perceive? How do we respond?

Those who were present, from several places in North America, had encountered this catechesis in St. Paul, Chicago, Houston, Washington, D.C., or Rome, Italy. They already shared a vision: a world where the religious life of the child was honored. It was not surprising that the first stated aim of the association was: “To involve adults and children in a religious experience in which the religious values of the child are predominant, keeping in mind that the contemplative nature of the child indicates to the adult a certain way of drawing near to God.”

Proceeding slowly, a street address was chosen and a newsletter was created. The following year a five-member board was elected and discussions were held to choose a name. We were incorporated in the State of Maryland on October 7, 1986 as The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Inc. Our first membership directory listed 54 members.

Today we have three offices: the National Director's office in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Formation Office in  Marietta, Gerogia, and the Membership Office in Urbandale, Iowa; 2,000 members; and about 90 formation courses for adults. There are over 120 formation leaders who offer these courses. We now have an elected seven-member board, but now we also have a staff of eight: a national director, a formation director, two administrative assistants, an office manager, and coordinators for Shepherd's Closet, Membership and Spanish-language CGS.

In the United States there are over 1,250 atria (that we’re aware of) in Catholic, Episcopal and Orthodox settings, as well as in several other Christian churches