I was back subbing in school for a day last week. As luck would have it, it was the day that the Catechist was coming.
For those of you not in the know, a catechist is like an inspector for Religious Education.
When I was in Primary School we were always terrified by their visit. You had a list of questions and prayers to know off by heart and God love you if you got any wrong. Nowadays it's a very casual chat, with the catechist ( usually a retired teacher, not a priest) trying to find out what they know as opposed to what they don't know.
She was asking them about blessing themselves with the Sign of the Cross, and when they would do it. I was very impressed with their answers.
"Passing a church."
"Passing a graveyard where your deceased relatives are."
"When you meet an ambulance with flashing lights."
Very impressive
Then she said
" Did you notice that during the World Cup some of the players made a sneaky Sign of the Cross. Why do you think they did that?"
Sitting back in my teacher's chair I immediately thought of
"Well he's asking God to help him score the penalty."
One of the nine year old boys put up his hand and answered
"Maybe they are remembering all the workers that died during the building of the stadium.
Wow, even after 37 years of teaching, kids can still astound me with their knowledge and understanding.
The Catechist looked at me in amazement and then back to him.
"Excellent answer young man, that would be a lovely reason to do it but unfortunately I think the players might have had a more selfish reason for it."
Let kids rule the world, It might be a better place.
