Reading from the Textbook: Breaking Up the Routine, Part One

Most of us catechists are appreciative to have excellent catechetical textbooks from which we can draw forth the content of our rich Catholic heritage. That’s a fancy way of saying that in our lessons, we plan to have students read from the textbook. The problem is, that can become very routine and boring. Fear not! There are ways we can break up the routine while still reading from the textbook. I covered some of these ideas in […]

The Ascension: Did Jesus Really Go Up?

As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, it might be good to look at an FAQ associated with this feast, namely, “Isn’t the Ascension of Jesus based on outdated science?” I have to admit that this question has popped into my mind, making me wonder just what it is that we are celebrating on this feast. If science has shown that “heaven” is not to be equated with “outer space,” then where […]

RCIA Catechists: Getting the Newly Initiated to “Come Back” for Mystagogia

I had a nice discussion last evening with some RCIA coordinators, catechists, and sponsors, who were lamenting how difficult it is to get the newly initiated to return for sessions following the Easter Vigil. (Sounds very similar to the struggle we have getting kids to come back after Confirmation, eh?) The Easter season is to be a period of “mystagogia” (miss-tuh-GO-jyah) – an opportunity to reflect upon the mysteries of our faith (which basically describes […]

May Crowning – Revisiting a Popular Post from Last Year

Last year, I posted about May Crownings during the month of May and it was a very popular post with lots of feedback. I invite you to take a look and, if you have some new comments, insights, or thoughts to share on the topic of May Crownings, leave them here on this post. Likewise, here’s a link to a post from last year about May Crowning from a blogger named Mary G. in Virginia!

Did I Hear You Ask About ACTIVITIES?

Back on 4/27/10, I received this comment from Michael N. It seems that Catholic religion textbooks (we use one designed for schools) are painfully bad…to the point of being almost unusable. I think I’d do much better if they just gave me a religious-themed coloring book! Any websites you recommend for ideas/content (games, songs, prayers, activities, printable sheets, etc.)?? God bless you! Michael Although I don’t agree with Michael’s assessment of Catholic religion textbooks (what […]

Passport to the Holy Land – Pics!

You may recall that during Lent, I passed along some info about a friend of mine, Victor Valdez (DRE at St. Athanasius, Mountain View, CA), who was organizing a special event for his religious education program titled Passport to the Holy Land, 2010. Recently, Victor sent me an email reporting that the event came off very nicely and he sent along the following description with some very nice pics of the event. Enjoy! Passport to […]

Webinar Follow-up

Q & A During last week’s Webinar (which you can catch a recording of right here), a number of folks sent in some questions that I would like to respond to, now that I’m back at my desk! I did the web seminar on Advent and I loved it, is there any way in which I can listen to the Lent web seminar? (Natalie) Yes, you can catch a recording of the Lenten Webinar right […]

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