Catholic VBS

In recent years, many catechists are finding themselves involved in teaching over the summer in “Vacation Bible School,” once a phenomenon found fairly exclusively in Protestant circles. Several Catholic versions of VBS exist and other creative DREs have found ways to adapt Protestant VBS to Catholic settings.

I’ve not been involved in VBS although I think its a great idea. The parish where I serve as a catechist has run a very successful VBS for a couple of years…maybe this year I’ll have a chance to sneak a peek although they usually take place when I’m at work.

If you have any experience with VBS in a Catholic setting, I’d love to hear from you.

About Joe Paprocki 2742 Articles
Joe Paprocki, DMin, is National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press, where, in addition to his traveling/speaking responsibilities, he works on the development team for faith formation curriculum resources including Finding God: Our Response to God’s Gifts and God’s Gift: Reconciliation and Eucharist. Joe has more than 35 years of experience in ministry and has presented keynotes, presentations, and workshops in more than 100 dioceses in North America. Joe is a frequent presenter at national conferences including the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the Mid-Atlantic Congress, and the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership. He is the author of numerous books, including the best seller The Catechist’s Toolbox, A Church on the Move, Under the Influence of Jesus, and Called to Be Catholic—a bilingual, foundational supplemental program that helps young people know their faith and grow in their relationship with God. Joe is also the series editor for the Effective Catechetical Leader and blogs about his experiences in faith formation at www.catechistsjourney.com.

4 Comments

  1. Thanks for that link! The lady who organizes our VBS cornered me 😉 for a meeting in May. I’m going to see what she has, and bring some of my own suggestions.

    Thanks!

  2. Last year we used a VBS program called, “Saint Patrick and the Holy Trinity” from the company, Growing with the Saints (growingwiththesaints.com).
    This was an excellent Catholic program and the kids had a wonderful time. We plan to use their new program this year, “Various Saints and the Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love”. As religious education coordinator, I oversee the program but have one person who takes the kit and organizes everything-makes the sample crafts, buys whats needed, makes copies of the material for each teacher and places everything in the teacher bins, ready to begin the day. Everyone is extremely happy with this program and I highly recommend this program.
    Mary

  3. Mary, thanks for the feedback and recommendation. I visited the Growing with the Saints website and liked what I saw. Good luck with the new program this summer!

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