Faith Formation

CCD Year in Review

(2020-21)

Johnson Job is Director of Religious Education(DRE) at St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Boston. He has been involved with our CCD program since 2007. He has been a member of our church since 2006.

Johnson lives in Shrewsbury, with wife Rosely and daughters Maria and Sarah.

For year 2020-21, CCD classes for grades 1 to 12, were fully remote, made possible by a dedicated team of people led by Johnson Job. Johnson, in his second year as Director of Religious Education(DRE) looks back at CCD year 2020-21 and shares his thoughts.

What were your first thoughts when the lockdown was declared in 2020?

There were only a few classes left to complete when the lockdown was announced in March. We normally end the CCD year in May. My first thought was that probably we will not be able to do any classes for the rest of the year. Online CCD had not even crossed my mind. But after consulting the core team for CDD, we agreed to let the teachers handle online classes if they could conduct one. To my surprise all of them took it up and started scheduling the classes using Zoom. I really appreciate the dedication and thoughtfulness of the teachers here.

How did the SMCB CCD program adapt to the new norms of social distancing and remote learning?

As the COVID situation had become worse over summer, and the catechetical department of the Diocese gave clear guidelines regarding conducting CD classes online. Google suite was purchased and many, especially Praveen Paul and Roshan George did a lot of work to setup and configure Google Suite for our needs. Most of the students were already familiar with Google meet and then the teachers learned and went along.

Johnson presiding over the CCD graduation

Introducing the class of 2021.

What were the challenges and highlights?

Challenges:

Effectiveness of online CDD. Ideally CCD should not be taught online like other academic subjects. CCD is an experience of the faith, and the 1-hour class is just one part of it.
Some students gave up and disengaged.

Highlights:

How students and teachers made the best of the situation. They adapted to the circumstances and made the best of it.

What are your hopes for the next CCD year - 2021-22?

Hope to have in-person CCD next year.

Any words of advice or encouragement for aspiring DREs?

Be led by the Spirit of God. This not your work. It is the work of God.

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