I am pleased and excited to announce my newest book:

THE BIBLE BLUEPRINT: 

A Catholic’s Guide to Understanding and Embracing God’s Word

Here’s the promotional copy on it:

In The Bible Blueprint, best-selling author Joe Paprocki cleverly uses a blueprint metaphor to help Catholics gain a solid understanding of the structure and organization of the Bible, and to help them build confidence in navigating its pages. Among other topics, Paprocki covers the different genres of biblical writing, key figures in biblical history, the methods Catholics rely on to interpret the Bible, and how to use commentaries. Witty cartoons, sidebars, and quizzes throughout the book keep the tone fun; eight perforated Bible bookmarks (four for the Old Testament and four for the New Testament) are bound into the book.

For the large number of Catholics who have never felt comfortable with the Scriptures, and for any Catholic new to the faith, The Bible Blueprint serves as an effective, non-threatening introduction to God’s Word as well as a gateweay to a deeper relationship with Christ.

The book is also available in Spanish (Los planos de la Biblia)! A Leader Guide will be available on the Loyola Press Web site. If you are familiar with my earlier book, God’s Library, this new book, The Bible Blueprint, is like God’s Library on steriods! I’ve added so much more while keeping the popular bookmarks from God’s Library. AND, you’ll be getting MORE for LESS! The Bible Blueprint lists for only $9.95, which is $4 less than God’s Library!

The book is scheduled for an August release but you can call Customer Service at Loyola Press now to place your order: 800-621-1008.

Sean Herriott, host of Relevant Radio's Morning Air program

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of doing a phone interview with Sean Herriott for his Morning Air program on Relevant Radio. The topic was my book, A Well-Built Faith. Thanks to Sean for this great opportunity. If you’d like to give a listen, here’s the link. I’m on for the first 23 minutes of Hour 2.

http://www.relevantradio.com/Page.aspx?pid=1274&cid=17&ceid=2868&cerid=0&cdt=4%2f15%2f2009

I wish you a very Blessed Easter season!!! May the grace of the Risen Lord be with you always!

Experiencing the Triduum was a blessing as always. Holy Thursday and Good Friday were at St. Julie Billiart parish in Tinley Park and the Easter Vigil was at St. Clement in Chicago. All were celebrated with great reverence, style, and grace, and the the richness of the sacramentality of these days filled all of my senses.

I wish I could say that my class last Monday put the kids into the right frame of mind for Holy Week but it was less than successful. First, we went to church for the Living Stations of the Cross, “performed” by 8th graders. The kids involved did a nice job and, for the most part, were reverent. Keeping the others quiet and attentive was a task. They have trouble getting over the giddyness of seeing classmates in costume and resisting the temptation to make them smirk, smile, or laugh. Keeping them attentive and well-behaved for the remainder of the Stations required a great deal of vigilance.

When we got back to class, we had about 20 minutes remaining so I did a lenten activity that I had posted earlier – Looking for Clues. I placed pictures of all of the “objects” mentioned in Mark’s Passion reading inside of plastic Easter Eggs and “hid” them all around the room ahead of time and I began by sending them on an Easter egg hunt. The problem was, they were already hyped up from coming and going to church for the Living Stations, it was getting late, and they were also hyped up about beginning Easter vacation later that week. Needless to say, their behavior was not good and I had my hands full quieting them down for the last 15 minutes

Inviting 8th graders to do an Easter Egg hunt runs the risk of bringing out their "inner 4-year-old!"

while we opened the eggs one at at time and talked about the objects and how they fit into the Passion story. It was frustrating to say the least. I realized that if I were to do this activity over again, I would do it at the start of class and allow for much more time (we were too rushed) and I would have them use their Bibles to locate the objects pictured in the eggs and to summarize that part of the story for the group. As it was, the focus was on me to explain the objects. This allowed the students to assume a passive role…never a good idea! We live and learn, don’t we?

This week, we are off for Easter vacation and then the following week is the last opportunity I have to actually teach them. The following week will be a Mass and awards ceremony followed by a pizza party. So, over the next few days, I’ll be brainstorming ideas for making next Monday’s class a fitting conclusion to the year! My goal will be to build a session that expects much of THEM and requires THEM to show that they are leaving with more than they came with. I’ll keep you informed.

Hmmm…the Easter season is 50 days. Maybe I should post 50 Easter activities in 50 days? Not gonna happen! However, if you have any Easter activities to share, by all means, send them along!

I was very pleased with last evening’s class, for a variety of reasons. Here’s a summary of what transpired:

• A number of 8th grade students were in church rehearsing for the Living Stations of the Cross (next Monday). I was missing 4 of my students but picked up 4 from my colleague Jim’s class since he had taken the night off to do a college visit with his son. His other students went to another class.
• We had a guest with us: a 22 year-old seminarian from Germany named Benedict! He is a delightful young man and he apparently met a lot of the kids at their Confirmation retreat a week or so ago. I invited Benedict to introduce himself to the kids and they really enjoyed meeting someone from another country and someone who is preparing for the priesthood. Benedict stayed for the remainder of the class and participated like one of the students!
• Classes always seem to behave better when a guest is present and this was no exception…they listened silently as Benedict spoke. I was then able to “ride that wave” when he was done, enjoying better attention than I am accustomed to!
• We briefly reviewed the first 3 Commandments (love of God) and then segued into the next 7 (love of neighbor), focusing on Commandments 4, 5, and 6 on this evening.
• I began this segment by showing them a 7 or 8 minute clip from the powerful film Sophie’s Choice (Meryl Streep) – the scene in which “Sophie” flashes back to the horrible moment when she was faced with her “choice” (I won’t do a spoiler here!). This scene was very powerful and reinforced for us the notion that moral choices can be very complex and often do not have a clear satisfactory solution.
• I then arranged them into groups of 3 or 4 and had them spend 15 minutes completing a worksheet on the 4th, 5th, and 6th commandments that asks them to indicate which commandment the example pertains to and whether it is a virtuous or sinful example.
• The group work went very nicely with 2 of the groups working very diligently and one requiring a lot of attention, prodding, and discipline! Typical, eh?
• We then spent the last 25 minutes going over each of the items, pausing occasionally to comment on how the example pertains to a particular commandment. I was pleased with their behavior and the maturity they showed (overall), especially when dealing with examples that pertained to sex (6th Commandment).
• Probably our best moment came when talking about how high school prom night (just a few short years away) is an experience that often brings kids face to face with the issue of sex. They listened pretty intently as I talked very openly about the fact that reserving hotel rooms has become part of the “ritual” of that evening and how they do not have to cave in to that pressure. I love when kids who often are not paying close attention lock eyes with me as I’m talking about something important…it’s one of those moments when you feel like you’re getting through.
• Probably the other moment that impacted them was when I shared an example from my own past (they love the “real” stories) – an example of how I once failed to honor the 4th commandment. As a teenager, I was with a group of friends at one friend’s house when his grandmother came in. She was a nice lady although bordering on eccentric and senile. Some of us started to poke fun at her…not laughing with her but at her. My friend pulled me aside and told me he didn’t appreciate it. He said that he knew that his grandmother was a bit eccentric but he would not tolerate anyone making fun of her – she deserved respect. I felt bad and learned my lesson. Kids love hearing that you screwed up when you were their age! But it’s good to show how lessons are learned.

Next Monday is Living Stations of the Cross. One of my students will have the role of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, one will be Veronica, one will be Simon of Cyrene, and another is a part of the “crowd.” I look forward to this experience and I hope to share photos next week.