What’s My Line?

A Surprise Vocation Activity

Sisters, brothers, and some priests are members of religious communities who work together, striving for personal holiness and serving others.

Directions

1. Invite a religious sister and a brother to your youth group but make sure they are unknown in your area. Keep them out of any interaction with the young people until the moment they are introduced.

2. Divide students into teams of four. Tell them that they are about to meet two people, but do not give them any indication of who these people are. The students’ goal will be to determine the fact that the guests are a religious sister and brother, but they should start out with no frame of reference whatsoever.

3. Tell the group that they are going to play “What’s My Line?” Since they are not old enough to remember that television show, explain how it works: They are to ask only questions that can be answered by a simple “yes” and “no.” Their specific goal is to find out what work these people do.

4. Allow the groups to get together to prepare their questions. Remind them they need to work together within the group and to listen to the responses given to all questions. Suggest that they may want to select a leader and a recorder for each group to facilitate the writing of questions and the recording of answers.

5. When the guests enter the room, allow the groups to take turns asking questions. They can only ask one question to one guest when their turn in the rotation comes.

6. When the students have discovered who their guests are, invite each guest to speak for a few minutes on his or her call and on the life that each has led. Then allow the students to ask questions.

Compliments of the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry