(Introduction by Cindy Spencer, Children and Youth Ministries Coordinator at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, WA)
Developed by Jerome Berryman and rooted in the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori, Godly Play is a method of faith formation that is based on the work of Sofia Cavalletti, founder of the Maria Montessori Association for the Religious Formation of the Child. Berryman, an Episcopal priest and former headmaster of a Montessori school, first imagined the idea of Godly Play while working as a chaplain at Texas Children’s Hospital in the early mid-1970s and then formed a model Montessori classroom at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, Texas. Godly Play is used in all parts of the United States and Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Spain, Australia, Tanzania and many other countries around the world.