74. The Spiritual Preparation of the Adult with Anita Vincent

The Good Shepherd and the Child

“Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:13

Anita Vincent joins us on the podcast to discuss her article that was in the most recent CGS Journal, The Spiritual Preparation of the Adult. She speaks about how adults need to be not only mentally ready but also spiritually ready to encounter God and the Child in the atrium and how this is spoken about by Maria Montessori as well as Sofia and Gianna. We should contemplate who we are in a relationship with, God, as well as the child. She lifts up those capital “sins” of pride and anger that the adult must give up in order to be prepared spiritually.

Anita has been involved in CGS since 2004. She is a recognized Level I Formation Leader. She is also a certified Elementary Montessori teacher. She graduated with the MAPS-CGS degree from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in 2012. She has continued research and collaboration with a broad group of religious educators and Montessorians. Her work with children spans everything from toddlers to high school. She is currently the Director of Religious Education and Formation at St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Parish in Hellertown, PA. Her most recent contribution is a chapter for a book on homiletics for racial justice. Some of her work includes:

Anita Vincent. “Dismantling the Ecclesial Legacy of Colonial Attitudes.” In Preaching Racial Justice, edited by Gregory Heille OP, Maurice Nutt CSsR, and Deborah Wilhelm. Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, forthcoming in 2023.

Building a Beloved Atrium Community – series of presentations made in collaboration with the Center for Children and Theology, Washington, D.C.; August 12th, 2020 to June 15th, 2022 (notes and/or videos provided upon request).

Build Bridges, not walls – presentation made at Weaving Our Gifts conference, Washington, D.C.; October 2019

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in the Third Plane of Development – paper presented at the Cavalletti Symposium, Aquinas Institute of Theology, St. Louis, Missouri; August 2017

Hope Embodied in Human Hands: Faith Formation in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd – paper presented at the annual conference of the Religious Education Association, Pittsburgh, PA; November, 2016.

Building a Foundation for Interfaith Understanding with Children in the 3-6 and 6-9 Atria of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd – a study of catechetics from an inter-faith and non-violent perspective. Center for Children and Theology, Washington, D.C.; June 2014. (https://cctheo.org/occasional-papers/building-foundation-interfaith-understanding)

Suggested Reading:

• The Spiritual Preparation of the Teacher – an Interfaith Approach, Issue XXIV, May 2017; http://cctheo.org/news/interfaith-spiritual-preparation/
• The Monastic Heart: 50 Simple Practices for a Contemplative and Fulfilling Life by Joan Chittister
• Yes, and...: Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr O.F.M.
• Soul Care in African American Practice by Barbara L. Peacock

2022 Journal of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

Information about Membership to CGSUSA

AUDIO VERSION of The Religious Potential of the Child by Sofia Cavalletti, read by Rebekah Rojcewicz. CGSUSA has created a Premium Podcast Channel for this audiobook through Podbean. The cost is $29.00 and does include the audio version of all chapters of The Religious Potential of the Child, 3rd Edition all read by Rebekah Rojcewicz. We have provided both video overview instructions and written instructions on accessing this audiobook. Please use these resources. Unlike the regular podcast, which will remain free and available on many podcast players/apps, this new resource is available only on the Podbean App, which you may download from the IOS App store or the Google Play App store. Learn more here! Step by step instructions here!

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