A great big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the Advent Webinar last evening! In that Webinar, I promised that I would make a number of resources available to you, so here you go!

• Preparing for Advent Lesson Overview and BIG IDEAS
• Advent Webinar Lesson Plans for Youth-Adult Activities
• Advent Webinar Lesson Plans for Children’s Activities
• Advent Prayer Service

Here are links to Advent resources on the Loyola Press Website:

• Finding God Activity Finder (Advent)
• Christ Our Life Activity Finder (Advent)
• Advent Intergenerational Event
• Advent Resources – General

Finally, here are links to the books I mentioned in the Webinar, just in case you’d like to take a closer look (remember, you can save 20% on these titles if you order before November 27, 2009 and use promotional code Advent1):

• Meeting St. Luke Today: Understanding the Man, his Mission, and his Message (Daniel Harrington, S.J.)
• Luke: The Good News of God’s Mercy (Six Weeks with the Bible)
  • Español
  • for teens
• The Power of Pause: Becoming More By Doing Less (Terry Hershey)
• Just As You Are: Opening Your Life to the Infinite Love of God (Paul Coutinho, S.J.)
• Simple Acts of Moving Forward: 60 Suggestions for Getting Unstuck (Vinita Hampton Wright)
• A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe (Joe Paprocki, DMin)
• Crafting Faith: 101 Crafts to Help Kids Grow in Their Faith (Laurine M. Easton)

Advent is only 10 days away! With that in mind, I’m pleased to be hosting an Advent Webinar TONIGHT! Hope you can join us live…if not, a recording of the webinar will be made available right here on my blog within a week.

Come, Lord Jesus! (I’m practicing!)

Advent begins on Sunday, November 29, 2009— are you ready? Joe Paprocki, National Consultant for Faith Formation for Loyola Press and veteran catechist, invites catechists, religion teachers, and RCIA leaders to join him in this Webinar that explores how to create engaging advent-themed faith-formation activities drawn from the Sunday Scripture Readings of Cycle C (the Gospel of Luke). Joe will take us through the readings for this Advent season, explore the theme for each week, and share some unique ways you can develop the theme into activities that inspire children, youth, and adults to enter more deeply into the beauty and holiness of Advent. In the days following the Webinar, Joe will offer additional Advent-related activities on his blog, Catechist’s Journey. If you are unable to attend the Webinar, you may view the video on Joe’s blog. It will be posted the week following the Webinar. This free Webinar is led by Joe Paprocki, an 8th-grade catechist in the Archdiocese of Chicago with over 30 years of experience in pastoral ministry. Joe, National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press, is the author of numerous books including the best-selling The Catechist’s Toolbox and A Well-Built Faith, as well as the host of the blog Catechist’s Journey. Register for this free Webinar today by clicking here. If you have additional questions about the Webinar, please contact Carrie Freyer at freyer@loyolapress.com.

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I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker at the Philadelphia Catholic Life Congress this past Saturday, November 14, and it was a phenomenal experience!

• From the moment I entered Archbishop Carroll High School where the event was held, I could feel a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation for the day.
• People were happily scurrying about, making last minute preparations for the conference, all while smiling and greeting each other with great affection.
• I was extended such warm hospitality and made to feel at home.
• The opening liturgy was perhaps the most amazing liturgy I’ve participated in for some time, primarily because of the incredible music provided by several combined choirs of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Even the auxiliary bishop who presided at the Mass couldn’t help but clap his hands during the rousing African-American spiritual that was sung following communion!
• I delivered my keynote to an audience of about 1000! What was disconcerting was that the spotlights shining in my eyes were so bright, I literally could not see the audience! I could tell they were there, however, from their lively interaction and responses!
• I spoke on the topic of: “Feast Your Eyes on God’s Transforming Word!” focusing on how our unique Catholic vision, which is characterized by a sense of sacramentality, a commitment to community, a respect for the dignity of human life and a commitment to social justice, a reverence for tradtion, and a disposition to faith and hope and not despair, holds the key to transforming hearts and minds.
• I was blown away by the numerous folks who stopped to talk to me afterwards, either in the hallways or at the Loyola Press display. I met so many wonderful people who shared their passion and enthusiasm for the catechetical ministry!
• Hats off to the folks running the show (at least the ones with whom I had contact): Augustine Carrillo, Mary Ann Harrington, Ann Menna, and Connie Scharff.
• Best wishes to all the good folks of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who are working so hard and succeeding at transforming all things in Christ!

Tonight, we begin our unit on Church History (St. Ignatius of Loyola pictured to the left). We kick off this unit by bringing all five 8th grade classes together for a PowerPoint presentation on Church history to give them a sweeping overview of major events in Church history over the past 2000 years. Each of the 5 catechists “narrates” a period of Church history and the kids take notes on a fill-in-the-blank note-taking sheet we provide them with. It’s an engaging way to introduce a topic that they may otherwise not find very interesting.

church history powerpoint in pdf part 1

church history powerpoint in pdf part 2