Religious Education Initiative

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Religious Education Materials for the Family

This site provides the weekly reading selections for the Religious Education Initiative. These readings are intended for use in the home by Orthodox Christian families, as well as in catechetical schools in the parishes.

How to use this material:

The members of each household should gather together three times a week (we recommend Monday, Wednesday, & Friday).

One family member (the head of household or whoever they ask to do the day's reading) should read aloud the selection, and then guide the family through the discussion questions. It can also be very helpful if one parent reads the selection, and the other leads the family through the discussion questions. We make a point to provide at least one point of interest for whoever leads the discussion, as an italicized answer to the first question. You can find more thoughts on the video recordings on the Youtube playlist.

Feel free to come up with questions of your own, or talk freely about the passage and what you think about it. The best approach we have found in using these questions in the Bible Study and Sunday School classes is to ask each person the first question ("What did you notice about this reading?") in turn, and to discuss those answers. Those answers often lead to a discussion of other topics, and if that happens, there's no need to ask the other questions, although it is often helpful to ask the 4th question ("Was there anything that confused or bothered you?") of the group at large. If you aren't able to answer those questions yourself, please send them on to Fr. Anthony, and he'll make a point to answer them.

Most days, the reading will only take a couple minutes, leaving plenty of time for discussion without stretching beyond 10 minutes or so. Parents should not feel that they HAVE to read the entire thing. If there are mainly younger children in the home, feel free to pick a shorter selection from the reading provided. But remember as well - the goal of this is for the kids (and for all of us) to grow accustomed to readings that we probably won't understand the first time we hear. It may be a good thing for even younger kids to learn to listen to their parents or older siblings read Scripture that they don't understand right away...they will learn soon enough.

You can also watch the videos from Fr. Anthony and see what he has to say about theses passage. The videos can serve as a chance for parents to prepare for the readings with their kids, or even as a backup in case the family isn't able to do the readings together -- everyone can watch/listen to the videos, either together or separately.

The Playlist for Fr. Anthony's reflections on these readings may be found here:

REI Youtube Playlist

Religious Education Initiative

A new approach to religious education for families and parishes in the Orthodox Church

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