Catholic Special Character Formation Videos

These Religious Education resources were created for the use of teachers and students in New Zealand Catholic schools. During his secondment with NCRS and NZCEO, Maurice Atkinson filmed a number of interviews with Catholics from around New Zealand. Material from these interviews have been turned into series of educational videos.

The primary aim of these videos is to provide a useful resource for teachers that is accessible, New Zealand specific and Catholic. It is our hope that these videos will be used in a number of ways, including teacher professional development, as the basis of whole class discussions or even as a resource for independent student inquiry. It is not expected that all videos will find equal application in all Catholic schools but it is hoped that all teachers will find at least some of the topics discussed useful.

How do we access them?

Over forty videos have been created and are categorised into eight topic playlists below. Teachers can choose videos from playlists as they see fit or watch a whole playlists to get familiar with a topic.

These videos may be browsed one-by-one on the Aotearoa Catholic YouTube site.

Motivating students to engage in prayer is not always easy. The following videos offer a few suggestions on ways to encourage students to pray and reflect. The videos will be especially useful for school retreats. Most of the material for these resources has been provided by Lyn Smith from National Centre for Religious Studies.

The Catholic perspective of the Bible can be easily misunderstood. The following videos offer a few responses to some of the more common questions concerning the Catholic understanding of scripture.  Most of the material for these resources has been provided by Dr Elizabeth Julian RSM and Fr Joe Grayland.

Do really know what the seven Sacraments are all about? Have you ever heard of Sacramentality? This series of videos attempts to provide answers to these questions and more. The videos are intended for anyone desiring a better grasp or sacramental theology.

Encouraging students to understand the complexities of issues in bioethics can be difficult.  The following PowToon’s (animated presentations) are an attempt to assist teachers with understanding and explaining the Catholic perspective in a clear and positive manner. Most of the material for these resources has been provided by Dr John Kleinsman and Grace Carrol of the Nathaniel Centre.

Catholic Social Teaching has sometimes been called ‘The Church’s Best Kept Secret”. These videos attempt to explain what Catholics mean by Social Justice. Catherine Gibbs, from TCI provides most of the material for these videos.

The central importance of teachers in Catholic schools cannot be over emphasised. This series of videos offers some advice to our Catholic educators. Much of the material in these videos has been provided by the director of NCRS, Colin Macleod, and Cardinal John Dew.

What do we Catholics actually mean when we talk about liturgy? This series of videos attempt to explore this question and provide some practical advice to ministry and liturgy teams in our Catholic schools. Most of the material in these videos has been provided by Fr Joe Grayland.

It is not always easy being Catholic in 21st century New Zealand. This series of videos explores some of the challenges and opportunities experienced by Catholics today. Much of the material in these resources has been provided by Cardinal John Dew.

This series of videos, produced by the Christchurch Catholic Education Office, explains the nature and purpose of the Mass. The material for these videos has been provided by Bishop Peter Cullinane.

Curriculum Matrix

To support teachers in making use of the Religious Education Formation Videos we have created a matrix highlighting the connections that can be made between the videos and the topics in the Understanding Faith curriculum. See the PDF view below or click here to open it as a downloadable PDF document.

Formation Videos Matrix FINAL