Santo Niño Regional Catholic School Parish Project

Recently, the students of Santo Niño Regional Catholic School did a project in 3 ^rd and 4 ^th grade to learn more about the history of their Catholic faith.  The students were to research a parish around the Archdiocese and create a diorama of the church. 

To create their project, the students had to visit the parish and learn as much as they could about the church, often times talking to the parish priest. It is a wonderful way to teach multiple lessons at once.  First, they must research the parish to understand the history behind it.  Second, the students must observe the structure of the building, where the pews and altars are, and how the priest and parishioners’ worship in the church.  Third, their artistic ability gets to shine in the construction of the diorama. 

The students had a great deal of fun working on these dioramas and are extremely proud of their creations. There is also a lesson it in for the school as a whole: Catholic Identity and the universality of the Church.  The different parish may look different, the altar in different places, the pews arranged differently, but the worship is near universal.  As you look at the dioramas, there is the striking similarity of all parts of the church is directed towards their altar where the priest presides “in persona Christi” preparing the Holy Eucharist.  What JOY!