I prepared my students to pray with a guided reflection, telling them that using their imaginations to have a conversation with God might take some practice. I gave them permission to “not get it” the first time. This was important for establishing trust and tone. I then played the “Called by Name” prayer track from the CD that came with our Finding God program and sat down with my students to participate in the imaginative […]
My classroom is filled with statues, icons, and pictures of saints. These holy men and women who lived heroic lives of virtue and great charity constantly inspire me. I hope they inspire my students too. I am always looking for ways to help my students learn about the saints. Our school celebrates All Saints Day with a kindergarten parade. They dress up as their favorite saint or as a saint who shares their name. (The […]
In my humble opinion, Pope Francis believes that the most effective way for the Church to have a greater impact on the world is to speak less and to act more. Knowing that the Church has lost a lot of credibility in recent decades because of scandalous actions on the part of some clergy and bishops, he has been calling for the Church to re-assert its moral authority through actions instead of through pronouncements and […]
For any dedicated catechist, having a devotion to the Blessed Mother should be part and parcel of our spiritual lives. Mary, as the first and best catechist, provides a model for our own ministry of catechesis. Three aspects of the life of Mary, drawn from Evangelii Gaudium, serve as a guide for our ministries: 1. Finding God in All Things 2. Pointing to Jesus 3. Seeking Out Help Finding God in All Things St. Ignatius […]
When my mom was 13 years old and unbaptized, she hung around with her best friend Ramona who, like the rest of her family, was a practicing Catholic. Once, when my mom went with Ramona’s family to Sunday Mass, she observed them all go up to receive Communion and come back to their places to kneel in prayer with a look of joyful contentment on their faces. After Mass, my mom asked Ramona’s mother, “What […]
This is the third article in a series about figures in Salvation history and their relevance for catechists. Moses’s name might conjure up images of Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments or the 1998 animated film The Prince of Egypt. Moses’s life was so dramatic that it still inspires us today. His story is also part of our Salvation History. Through Moses, God saved his people. This tale is so important that it is retold […]
None of us is purely original. The fact is, we human beings learn by imitation. As infants, we begin making sounds that imitate the sounds made by those around us. Before long, we are shaping words with those sounds, achieving the ability to communicate with others. Our imitation doesn’t stop there, however. Scientists have shown that imitation cannot be dismissed as some sort of lower form of learning but is a quite sophisticated intellectual activity. […]
St. Luke the Evangelist left us great treasures by writing the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. We as Christians have learned so much about Jesus and the faith of the Church from his writings. Luke was a master at sharing the Gospel, and catechists can learn from both what he wrote and how he wrote it. Know Your Audience Luke wrote his Gospel for believers who came from a Gentile background rather than […]
Prayer is essential for a relationship with Jesus Christ. One of the most important responsibilities we have as catechists is to help our students develop a life of prayer. I encourage my students to find ways to pray with their families, and to facilitate that I invite parents and younger siblings to be part of our prayer circle at the end of each class. While children haven’t yet learned to be self-conscious about prayer, parents […]
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This is the second article in a series about figures in Salvation history and their relevance for catechists. Every catechist is probably familiar with some of the stories about the patriarch Abraham. Abraham—originally known as Abram—was a wealthy man in the ancient city of Ur. God called Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, […]
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