• An interpersonal relationship is always a mystery; it is more so when it involves a relationship with God; when the relationship is between God and the child the mystery is greater still. (Sofia Cavalletti, RPOC, p. 30)

Central to this approach is the preparation of the atrium, a lovely environment which may be likened to a retreat center for children, and the use of beautiful hand-made materials that help concretize scripture, sacraments, liturgical gestures and key liturgical moments. Once children are given a lesson on a certain theme, the accompanying material remains available to them so that they are free to continue their meditation on that lesson whenever they choose. The Archdiocese of New York calls CGS the "preferred method" of catechesis.

• We try to put the child in touch with those "sources" through which God reveals and communicates Himself in living form; namely, the Bible and Liturgy, in balanced proportion.  (Rebekah Rojcewicz, RPOC, p.28)

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd was inspired by Maria Montessori's pioneering work in the field of education and her observations concerning the developmental and spiritual needs of the child. In 1954, Sofia Cavalletti, a Roman Catholic Hebrew scholar, and Gianna Gobbi, a Roman Catholic Montessorian and educator of children (Montessori herself signed her teaching certificate), founded the first atrium in Rome.  Cavalletti and Gobbi drew upon Montessori's research and experience with liturgical catechesis as depicted in The Child in the Church. Cavalletti's classic work describing her experience with children in the atrium is The Religious Potential of the Child (Chicago, Illinois: Liturgy Training Publications, 1992).

• The atrium is the name Maria Montessori gave to the environment dedicated to the child's religious life, recalling that space in the ancient Christian basilicas which served as the anteroom of the church, both in the material and metaphysical sense of the world.  Montessori intended the atrium to be an intermediate space between the classroom and the church.  It is a place where the child comes to know the great realities of ...life as a Christian, but also and above all, a place where the child begins to live these realities in meditation and prayer.  There is nothing of the academic classroom about the atrium; it is not a place for religious instruction but religious life.  (Sofia Cavalletti, RPOC, p. 56)

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd has been in the United States for over 25 years and has been spreading steadily from parish to parish. The National Association of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd was founded in 1984 to support the work of catechists throughout the U.S. and issues certificates upon completion of an approved course.  

• The materials aid the children in their understanding of Scripture & Liturgy.
• The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd takes its name from the parable and image of Jesus that seemed to appeal most to young children, no matter what their race, gender, and/or socio-economic status.  The statue above is representative of the one of the earliest known Christian images, discovered in the catacombs of Rome.*

                                     The Cenacle

Biblical geography helps place Jesus in time and space.

Photos are from an atrium in Alexandria, Virginia http://www.sharonchapel.org/cate03.html