CGS training, day 1

Training began with morning mass at a church in central Leiden. I discover that I am the only course participant who is not Roman Catholic.

apologies for a wonky perspective

The plan was to travel to a different church almost every morning. I thought, "I needn't have worked so hard to find a B&B close by our training location." But then we found that one of us on the course is a priest. We are training in a parish center, so it is agreed that from now on we'll start the day with him saying mass for us in a chapel here. My B&B choice is justified after all!

We then had coffee in the atrium, so as to get a quick sense of where it is and what it looks like, and then we were off to a clasroom space for a morning's lecture. Before beginning, though, Linda asked each of us to introduce ourselves. The majority are Dutch, but some of us have traveled from farther afield, including Norway and Japan, and are originally from countries such as India, Argentina, and Brazil (though all those participants now live in Europe).

We are asked to share not just names and origins, but a bit about how we had discovered CGS and why we had chosen to come this week. I am the only person to mention Godly Play; the only spark of recognition I get comes from a recent convert from the Lutheran Church. Oh, and nobody calls it CGS, although Linda writes it that way in her notes. Some say the whole mouthful, some only "Catechesis", and some "The Good Shepherd"!

When I was a child my family belonged to an evangelical Protestant church. I remember missionaries coming to speak about their evangelistic efforts in foreign lands. Some, at least, saw Roman Catholics as being as much in need of salvation as they did the pagan. As our tutor, Linda, talked today about the catechist as "matchmaker" between the child and Jesus, I couldn't help but imagine these foreign missionaries collapsing in a faint. 

Linda continues, "Christianity is about someone", emphasizing that last syllable.

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