Catechist's Journey

In this segment of Catechists in Action, 7th grade catechist Len Astrowski shares some details about how he prepares for his lessons. Watch for the following: Len explains that he has all of his lessons on computer and makes adjustments each year as needed Len shows the outline that he develops for class each week and [...]

In this segment of Catechist in Action, 8th grade catechist Chris Brett reads and discusses the Sunday Gospel with his students. Watch for the following: Chris has a key line from Gospel (the story of the Transfiguration) written on the board Chris tells the students what to listen for and what to do as they [...]

As we enter this holiest of weeks, I thought I’d share an article with you that came to my attention that does a very nice job of explaining why children (of all ages) are especially receptive to the images, events, and themes of Holy Week. The article is called Holy Week is for Children and it is [...]

A very effective way to lead guided reflections for younger children is to use popular children’s storybooks. You can read a story to the children and then follow it with a guided reflection so that the children can use the imagery from the story as a context for their conversation with God. Many catechists are [...]

More and more today, we hear people saying that they are spiritual but not religious, meaning that they believe in God but choose not to encounter him within the context of the institutional church. One young man has chosen to post a video on YouTube in which he recites a poem about how he loves [...]

Here’s a good example of how times have changed and how catechists need to be aware of how kids will respond to something. As I was observing a 2nd grade class last evening, the catechist was asking the kids to name the 7 Sacraments and giving them clues to help them recall each of them. [...]