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Pictured at their first Communion May 11 at St. Veronica Church are, front, students Alan Alvarado, Ferdinand Feria, Patrick Viola and special needs catechist Sandra Zicke; back, student Kristopher Mariano and special needs catechist Ken Sweeney. (Photo by Karen Guglielmoni)
June 3, 2019
Nicholas Wolfram Smith
At the heart of Sandra Zicke’s mission as a catechist has been the radical inclusion at the heart of the church.
“Everyone has a right to the sacraments,” she told Catholic San Francisco.
Zicke, a retired special education teacher, has taught in the special needs faith formation program at St. Veronica Parish in South San Francisco since it began in 1999. She said her involvement began because she never saw any of her classroom students in church on Sundays. At the same time, BVM Sister Julie O’Neill had been fielding requests for special needs catechesis from parents in St. Veronica.
“It started as a small program out of need and grew from there – like most things,” said Zicke.
The parish offers sacramental preparation classes for first communion and confirmation, taught by Zicke and fellow parishioners Rosa Avalos and Ken Sweeney. Each program takes two years to complete and students may enter at any age. Zicke said this year’s students ranged from 8-25 years old. The special needs program is supported by the archdiocesan Office of Faith Formation and funded by the Knights of Columbus.
Students can have “delayed cognitive skills, or be on the autism spectrum, or have severe behavioral issues, so there’s quite a range,” Zicke said.
In February three students were confirmed and in May another five students received their first communion.
Zicke said catechizing students with special needs requires determining what their learning styles are and modifying the materials to serve them.
“We have a general overview to get students to understand, and then we weave those concepts into different learning styles,” she said.
The Saturday morning classes draw families from around the Bay Area. Parents stay in the classes with their children, which helps to reinforce at home what students learn about in class.
Zicke said she’s noticed over the years parents being more comfortable bringing their special needs children to church. Parents used to be afraid their children’s behavior “wouldn’t be acceptable” during Mass, she said, but she has seen “a huge change where parents are bringing kids to church at very young age.”
“It’s about feeling welcomed into the church,” she said. Zicke said special needs students, and by extension their families, often felt challenges with inclusion, “and we want to make sure they’re always included in church.”
For more information about special needs catechesis at St. Veronica, contact the parish’s faith formation coordinator Karen Guglielmoni at (650)-588-1455.