Whether you work with little children, teenagers, or adults, you are not alone in catechetical ministry. These posts highlight stories from catechists and faith formation leaders in the field, sharing the ups and downs of their work.
Our session this past Tuesday (Jan. 14, 2014) was very enjoyable and was a study in contrasts. I actually began the session (after preliminary chit-chat and our opening prayer ritual) with a guided reflection in which I invited the young people to talk with Jesus about what they have learned in the first half of the year. The kids were amazingly quiet! It was a very prayerful experience and, in all, lasted about 15 minutes. You […]
Here is my lesson plan for this evening! Tuesday, January 14, 2014 BIG IDEA: “Remember all my commands!” Scripture: Numbers 15:37-41 Learning Outcome: As a result of this session, students will be able to recall and articulate the major concepts covered in the first half of the year, especially the Ten Commandments Preliminaries/Engage (20 mins) As they enter, have the young people write down one thing they remember learning during the first half of the […]
As it turns out, our session was canceled last evening due to the extreme conditions here in Chicago. Thankfully, temps are on the way back up to more normal frigid Chicago standards! In the meantime, I took the opportunity to look ahead and rearrange the schedule a bit, and I see that after we review next week, we’ll be ready to begin exploring the establishment of the Kingdom of Israel, beginning with a couple of […]
After 2 weeks off for the Christmas holidays, religious education sessions are scheduled to be back in session tomorrow evening. Of course, we’re keeping an eye on the weather here in Chicago. Schools are closed today with a foot of snow on the ground and temps at -10 degrees (for a high!). Tomorrow it’s supposed to get up to a balmy zero degrees for a high! In the Book of Job, God responds to Job’s laments […]
When I was in Santa Clara in November, I had the opportunity to see good friends Nick Wagner and Diana Macalintal (the best looking couple in ministry!) who run TeamRCIA, an excellent Web site for those working in RCIA ministry. Nick and Diana invited me to participate in a Podcast devoted to the topic of “How to build a strong Catholic identity in the RCIA.” They were kind enough to share that podcast with me. […]
On pg. 40 of my book, The Catechist’s Toolbox, I mention that one of the top ten things that can go wrong for a catechist is “You’re done with your lesson and you still have 35 minutes to go!” Would you believe 50 minutes? That’s exactly what happened to me last night! We took our 6th graders to church for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and we were told to anticipate that it would take the […]
This is a guest post by Pamela Tremblay. Christ’s Birth as an Invitation to Enter the Messiness The reflection states that Christ, “enters messily into the imperfection of our lives.” It then ends with the challenging question of “How will she bring his light to the world?” Young adults are a generation filled with passion and desire to change the world. They want to be people of greatness and are at a time in their […]
Tuesday’s session on Moses and the Exodus event was a very enriching experience! Unfortunately, we had 2 students absent, including the one who asked the great question last week about whether or not God was doing bad things by sending the plagues upon the Egyptians. I had hoped she would be present to benefit from our further exploration of the topic. We started by giving the kids a quiz on the first 3 commandments which […]
I could use your help! In tonight’s session, as we learned about the Ten Plagues, one of the young ladies asked, “Why would God do bad things?” I responded that, first of all, Pharaoh and the Egyptians were doing something very wrong – enslaving the Hebrew people, and that God’s purpose was to bring about an end to the oppression. My wife added that God always gave Pharaoh an opportunity first to repent but, since […]
Here is my plan for this evening’s session. BIG IDEA: God Leads His People from Slavery in Egypt to Freedom PRELIMINARY (10 mins) Begin with opening procession to O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Aaron Shust). Bell ringer = Maddie Opening prayer ritual (final collection for Catholic Relief Services – Philippines) Instead of sharing petitions, sit quietly and listen again to O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, reflecting on how/where we need God to come into our […]
