Year of Faith Retreat – Week 1, Day 2: Trusting God’s Word

WEEK ONE: The Creed DAY 2: Trusting God’s Word (Scripture and Tradition) If someone claims to have authority to perform a very important task, we want to know that we can trust that individual. If someone pounds on your door and says, “Open up! Police!” you certainly want to verify that they have a badge before you let them in. Authority and trust go hand in hand.  When it comes to our faith, the question of […]

Year of Faith Retreat – Week 1, Day 1: God’s Revealing Moments

Welcome to our online summer retreat, Preparing for a Year of Faith! Take  a few minutes each day at your convenience to “gather” here on my blog as we seek to add some flavor to our faith lives by deepening our understanding of the truths of our faith as given to us in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Learn more about the Year of Faith. Watch a brief video explaining what this online retreat is […]

Catechists in Action Compilation Video

As you may know, this past year, I ran a feature here on my blog called Catechists in Action consisting of videos of various catechists “doing their thing” so that we could watch like a fly on the wall. Now, we’ve put together a 4-minute compilation of all 8 catechists we visited so that you can see in a nutshell what the ministry of catechesis is all about. I encourage you to share this video […]

Online Summer Retreat: Preparing for a Year of Faith

As you know by now, we will be celebrating a Year of Faith beginning this October, 2012, through November, 2013. I’m happy to announce that I will be offering an Online Summer Retreat: Preparing for a Year of Faith beginning one week from today on Monday, July 30, 2012 (on the eve of the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola!). The online retreat will take place right here on Catechist’s Journey. The retreat is free and there […]

More Positive Reviews for 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness!

The positive reviews for my book, 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness, continue to roll in! I was delighted to read the following 2 great reviews. The first is by Heidi Schlumpf (National Catholic Reporter, 7/20)… Antdote to Spiritual Sickness …and the second is from RTJ’s (Religion Teachers Journal) Creative Catechist. 7 Keys Review in Creative Catechist

Fidelity Oaths for Catechists?

One of the stories in Catholic news recently is the issue of some dioceses requiring catechists and religion teachers to take an oath of fidelity. In particular, the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, has been in the news after some teachers and catechists quit rather than submit to taking the required oath of fidelity. The oath, which is to be signed and publicly administered on Catechetical Sunday, basically asks catechists to state that they, “with firm faith, belive […]

Another Plea for Help

OK, friends, another colleague of ours has sent out a plea for help! This one comes from a catechetical leader named Steve. Please offer your advice, thoughts, comments, and questions in the box below under Leave a Reply and thanks in advance for so generously sharing your wisdom. Joe, Last year I had several problems with some middle school kids who were unable to change behavior on their own.  In several instances I had a parent […]

Catholic Press Association Awards – 2 of My Books Honored!

I am humbly grateful to learn that 2 of my books have been singled out for awards by the Catholic Press Association!             Living the Mass: How One Hour a Week Can Change Your Life (co-authored with Fr. Dom Grassi) was awarded second place in the Liturgy category. BTW, this book will be available in Spanish come this Fall, 2012! Practice Makes Catholic: Moving from a Learned Faith to a Lived Faith was awarded third […]