“These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one floc, one shepherd.” Luke 10:16
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Donna Turner and Anna Hurdle dive into what CGS looks like in the Episcopal Church and its unique history that it has in our work in the United States.
Anna Hurdle is a catechist and formation leader at levels I, II and III. She is a retired elementary Montessori guide and coordinator of CGS at her parish in Charlotte, NC. Anna serves the National Association through the Episcopal Committee and the Formation Advisory Council.
Donna Turner has been a catechist since 1994. Donna has experience working with children in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in Level I, Level II, and Level III. She has been a Level III catechist and volunteer CGS coordinator for 24 years at St. Philip Episcopal Church in Memphis, TN. Donna has been a Formation Leader since 2001. She is the Co-Director of the Good Shepherd Center in Memphis, TN. Donna serves CGSUSA as a member of the Formation Committee and Episcopal Committee and assists with the Level III Materials Manual. She and her husband, Bob, live in Germantown, TN.
NAMTA Quote:
The following is a quote from the Spring 1999 NAMTA conference entitled The Spiritual Development of the Child in which Sofia spoke via videoconference:
“…Of course, there are other traditions, which stress different richness and propose different ways of relationship with the transcendent.
To be faithful to my tradition-is it a limitation? In some sense it is, but I have to remember here that there is another basic human need: to belong. We want to belong to a family, to a country, to a culture, and so on. To be a citizen of the world is a very noble ideal and aspiration, but there is a risk in it: the risk of becoming somebody without roots, somebody who has no soil under his or her feet.
In this regard, we have to learn a lesson from nature; in nature there are many trees, small ones and big ones, and in order to be alive they have to strictly observe a rule: the breadth of the foliage has to correspond to the size of the roots. If there is not a balance between the foliage and the roots, the tree will fall down and die.
In human beings, the roots are our traditions and the foliage is the capacity of being open to wider and wider horizons. We have to take care of both. Only if we are firmly bound to our soil-our tradition-will we be able to have a vital interchange with other cultures and traditions. Only if we are firmly rooted in our tradition will be able to offer others our richness, be open to receive others’ richness, and be capable of taking advantage of it.”
Further Reading:
Purchase Nurturing the Whole Child HERE
Other Episodes with Donna or Anna:
Episode 35- Baptism with Donna Turner
Episode 41- The Elementary Aged Child with Anna Hurdle
Other Episodes About Ecumenism-
Episode 29- CGS and Christian Unity with Bishop Talley
Learn more about the 40th Anniversary Celebration of CGSUSA HERE