January 2016 - Catechist's Journey

God's Gift DVDs for sacramental preparation

Great Resources for Sacramental Preparation

I’m very excited to tell you about some wonderful resources for sacramental preparation from Loyola Press! A new edition of the already popular God’s Gift program for First Eucharist and First Reconciliation, available in English and bilingual versions, includes some wonderful new features: God’s Gift Intermediate was developed to pass on the truth and beauty of the sacraments to teens or other young people preparing to celebrate the sacraments out of typical sequence. God’s Gift: […]

Five Ideas for Including the Year of Mercy in the Classroom

Shannon Chisholm

After my first year working as the Director of Faith Formation, I realized that I had spent very little time focusing on Christian service with my students. Though service has been a great influence on my own faith, with our calendar already packed with so much curriculum to cover, service seemed like something extra—something nice to have if we could find the time. The Year of Mercy, however, offers catechists a unique opportunity to be […]

A Magnificent Banquet

Lisa Brown

During the “Christmas honeymoon”—those few weeks of Ordinary Time between Christmas and Lent—I found that I had been lulled into a sense of complacency. My second-grade class had covered a lot of material during the fall, and I felt good about their grasp of the material. But then reality hit me—their First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion were only weeks away! I started to panic, and I wondered if my students were really prepared for […]

How Do You Approach Lesson Planning?

Denise Gorss

How do you plan your lessons for faith formation sessions? The majority of us catechists don’t hold education degrees, so we likely don’t have much, if any, formal training in lesson planning. A good catechetical textbook with a teacher’s manual may outline ways to approach each lesson. This can be a great starting point, especially for new catechists. But with some experience, we can approach lesson planning in ways personalized to the group we have […]

Kicking Off Small Faith Groups at Christ the King Parish

Joe Paprocki

This year, I have been dedicating my efforts to building up adult faith formation at Christ the King Parish in Chicago. Our first foray into this area is forming small faith groups for the season of Lent, and I am happy to say that they are getting off the ground as I write this! Over the past five months or so, I have been meeting with the pastor, Fr. Larry Sullivan, and his staff to […]

Lent 2016

Joe Paprocki

Yes, my friends, it’s that time of the year already! Can you believe that Lent is only a couple of weeks away? (Ash Wednesday is February 10.) We’ve barely had time to take down and store away our Christmas decorations. As always, this season of Lent promises to be full of abundant graces for us and for all those we serve in the catechetical ministry. And, as always, Loyola Press is ready to assist you in […]

Lenten AWE: Reaching Out to Young Adults

Julianne Stanz

Research indicates that young adults are highly likely to be present at Ash Wednesday services and to engage in Lenten practices such as abstaining from meat on Fridays and fasting. When I worked in parish young adult ministry we were especially attentive to those young adults who would come to Ash Wednesday services but were rarely seen at other times of the year. To reach out to this group, we started a Lenten initiative called […]

The Mercy Rule: How to Teach the Works of Mercy

Darcy Osby

Are you familiar with the “mercy rule” in sports? The mercy rule states that if one team is ahead by an insurmountable lead, the game ends so as to not drag out the humiliation of the losing team. Since many children play sports, they are familiar with the mercy rule. It can be a great starting place for teaching mercy and the fact that we are called to show God’s compassion to everyone, even our […]

What Would You Ask the Pope?

Joe Paprocki

If you could ask Pope Francis one question, what would it be? What would the children you work with ask the Pope? In Dear Pope Francis, the Pope’s first book for children, he personally responds to 30 questions from children around the world. The book is published by Loyola Press, and we’re excited to share it with you. The Wall Street Journal shares the story behind the project and the book’s trailer here. Dear Pope […]

The Wedding Feast at Cana: A Call to Community

Joe Paprocki

Have you ever noticed that many heroes in popular culture are loners? These heroes save the day, but they tend to do it all by themselves. Think of Batman, Superman, Ironman, Wolverine, and for those of us who are a little older, the Lone Ranger. Our heroes tend to be rugged individuals who, even if they engage in an alliance or loose affiliation with others, do so reluctantly. A good example of this is Han […]