catechetical leaders Archives - Catechist's Journey

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Five Ideas for Accompanying Catechists Back to the Classroom

“But, really, is there such a thing as a catechist who is not creative? Creativity is what sustains us as catechists.” (Pope Francis at the International Congress on Catechesis, September 27, 2013) Catechists and catechetical leaders have certainly proved themselves to be flexible and creative during this past year and a half of upheaval. Many catechists and catechetical leaders exercised great creativity and “stick-with-it-ness” in reaching out to their students and families with great enthusiasm and […]

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Catechists and Catechetical Leaders: How Often Do You Talk to One Another?

Joe Paprocki

During my years at Loyola Press, I have had the joy of working with and reporting to a number of directors who can vouch for the fact that one of the first things I ask from them is a regular meeting (weekly or bi-weekly) to ensure that we have open and ongoing communication. Without such communication, any relationship suffers. So when it comes to catechists and catechetical leaders, I must ask the question: how often […]

The Commitment to Catechesis

Fr. David Loftus

The overarching goal of catechesis is to “encourage a living, explicit and fruitful faith.” (General Directory of Catechesis #66) We strive to achieve this goal through instruction and experience. In my experience, most of our efforts in parish catechetical work tend to focus on doctrinal instruction. I can still hear my grandmother’s voice in my head, saying, “if only they knew their commandments.” She was convinced that “doctrinal instruction” alone could resolve all our difficulties […]

The Pastor and Catechesis

Fr. David Loftus

“It is a proper and grave duty,” reads the Code of Canon Law, “especially of pastors of souls to take care of the catechesis of the Christian people so that the living faith of the faithful becomes manifest and active through doctrinal instruction and the experience of Christian life.” (#773) I may not remember much of my canon law from seminary, but whenever I see the word grave I know it refers to something that […]

Managing and Leading Catechists

Jayne Ragasa-Mondoy

When it comes to supervising catechists, it helps to make a clear distinction between managing them and leading them. Managing what your catechists do and how they perform their duties is important. To help them flourish, an effective catechetical leader helps them understand why they serve as catechists: to help bring about the Kingdom of God. To be honest, learning to balance management and leadership took years for me to figure out. But I am […]

The Real Life of Catechetical Leaders

Joe Paprocki

When I was a parish catechetical leader, I used to joke with my fellow DREs that we should create the real curriculum needed to earn a degree in pastoral ministry—one that would include courses in how to make coffee and serve refreshments; how to rearrange, set up, and take down tables and chairs and other furniture; how to clean bathrooms and unplug toilets; how to fix jammed printers; how to organize fundraisers; and so on. While we […]

Lent as a Catechetical Leader

Paul Gallagher

Our annual Lenten journey has begun. I don’t know about you, but it seems like I always start this penitential season really well, but then quickly fall into the same old busy-ness of parish life. In fact, for most catechetical leaders, Lent is our busiest time of the year. How do we counter that? First and foremost, we have to make a commitment to prayerfully focus on what the season means. It’s a time to […]

Jersey Joe

Joe Paprocki

Here are a couple of pics from my visit to Newark, NJ, last week, spending a couple of days with about 65 parish catechetical leaders reflecting on the 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness. Thanks, folks, for a great experience! Here I am, back to the camera, participating in one of the beautiful prayer experiences they put together. And, here I am, participating in one of the […]

A “Typical” Year in the Life of a Catechetical Leader/DRE

Joe Paprocki

A couple of years ago, I posted a chart outlining the “typical” responsibilities that a catechetical leader/DRE is faced with over the course of a year and I received great feedback and suggestions on how to flesh that out and make it more accurate. I recently pulled that chart back out, did some updating, and invited a few DRE friends to do the same and once again received some great suggestions. Here it is once […]

Thinking of Becoming a Catechist?

Joe Paprocki

I have an exciting new page to share with you titled Becoming a Catechist which consists of numerous links to posts, videos, articles, and other resources from my blog that can help someone to discern if they wish to accept the call to serve as a catechist. The page includes my popular Top Ten Reasons to Become a Catechist, stories from current catechists about their calling and dedication to this ministry, videos from my Catechists […]