On this U.S. Thanksgiving Day, we pause with family and friends to share gratitude for all good gifts from God. This video is by my colleague Vinita Hampton Wright and includes her poem, “What Everyone Ought to Know about Being Grateful.” Find a PDF of the poem here and more from Vinita at the dotMagis blog.
Children ask a lot of pointed and profound questions about God that can be difficult for us to answer. Right up there with the question of “Why do bad things happen to good people?” has to be the question “What’s your story of faith?” or “Why do you believe in God?” While our students might not ask such questions using exactly these words, they will often try to ferret out from us why we believe […]
In a recent session, my class talked about being a disciple in the context of Ordinary Time. Since this Church season occupies most of the liturgical year, the discussion centered on how we can follow Jesus in everyday life. We focused on the works of mercy as ways to practice our discipleship. I set the stage by holding up a poster-sized copy of the liturgical calendar and gave a brief introduction to how we mark […]
We continue our series here on Catechist’s Journey on how to implement small faith groups in your parish. Today we look at the crucial step of identifying, inviting, and training small group leaders. This is by far the most critical step, since the small faith groups will conduct their sessions in parishioners’ homes, without parish staff present. This follows the successful model used by St. Barnabas Parish in Chicago last Lent. 2–3 Months Out Select […]
As you know, Advent begins on Sunday, November 30, 2014. Don’t forget the free Advent Prayer Packet that I’ve put together this year. This packet includes the following: Two fully organized Advent prayer services, one specifically designed as a Penance service. A guided reflection on the name Emmanuel, “God with us.” A family prayer card to encourage families. And finally, don’t miss the great variety of Advent resources available from Loyola Press. Let us approach […]
The parish is abuzz with questions already: “Have you started your baking, shopping, planning, list-making, wrapping…?” No sooner has Halloween moved on than we find Christmas bursting onto the scene in every grocery store, department store, catalog, and flyer. It is a cycle that encourages us to be always thinking of and preparing for “the next thing,” rather than taking time to stop and become aware of the blessings and graces our God is trying […]
Today we continue a series here on Catechist’s Journey that will lay out for you the steps to successfully implement small faith groups in your parish with an eye on Lent as a target. I am drawing on the successful experience of St. Barnabas Parish in Chicago, where last year over 200 parishioners gathered in homes during the season of Lent to participate in small faith groups. The success of the efforts at St. Barnabas […]
I was impressed by the Mass for Veterans that was celebrated at St. Barnabas parish in Chicago this past Sunday. Military personnel, past and present, from all five branches of the military were invited to participate in a rousing entrance procession complete with flags representing each of their branches. The music, which was splendid, was focused on the themes of marching and victory and peace. The homily, delivered by army chaplain Fr. Matt Foley, meshed the […]
This is the fifth article in a series about the spiritual life of catechists, inspired by the list of characteristics in the National Directory for Catechesis. Have you ever met someone who was “on fire” for God? When you encounter someone who speaks about faith with contagious enthusiasm, that’s missionary zeal. It’s memorable—and contagious. Zeal is not a word we use much today. The dictionary defines zeal as “great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of […]
Every November our school has a food drive for a local pantry, in which we practice the Catholic social justice teaching of caring for the poor. We have worked with The Heart Ministry Center for several years, and we have a very close relationship with them. As our students collect food with Thanksgiving in mind, our goal is to help provide a special dinner for each family. To make it fun we assign specific food […]
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