I enjoyed my first visit to Seattle and spent the day with about 100 catechetical leaders talking about how to care for our catechists. I had a wonderful time and I’d like to thank all the good folks in Seattle who welcomed me and made me feel so at home. Thanks also for all of the wonderful participation in this day of formation. You inspired me greatly! Here are the smiling faces that I got […]
I found the following article to be very interesting. Basically, it is saying that kids who grow up surrounded by lots of books grow up smarter! http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2010/06/02/summer_book_giveaway/ As always, I think of the ramifications for religious education. I wonder what we could do to expose our students to more age-appropriate books about the Catholic faith to help them be smarter Catholics. For example, wouldn’t it be cool if we catechists had access to a box […]
I’ve written about this before, but every year the issue comes up again when teams are playing for championships. The matter touches very close to home this year with the Chicago Blackhawks battling the Philadelphia Flyers for the Stanley Cup. A friend of mine who grew up in Chicago, is a big Hawks fan, but now lives in Princeton, NJ, not far from Philly, sent me the following, which is about a nun and priest […]
Last night, we had our end-of-the-year grade level meeting with Arlene, our DRE, and we talked about how things went this year and what we can do better next year. One of the main issues that came up was our concern over the kids’ behavior in church when we go over for prayer services or Mass. Each year, we go to the church probably five or six times: opening prayer for the year, Advent Reconciliation, […]
We have had many discussions here about the balance between reading from a textbook and working off-the-page/beyond the text. One of the most time-honored ways of working off-the-page in religious education is by doing craft activities. I am of the firm belief that no one is ever too old to do a craft! Here’s an example from one of my favorite books, Crafting Faith: 101 Crafts to Help Kids Grow in Their Faith. It’s called “Let […]
Last week, a catechist from Puerto Rico, Nancy, asked for some help with regards to info about tuition and fees charged for parish religious education programs. Your response was very generous and helpful. Thanks from me and here’s thanks from Nancy! Thanks to all of you!!! You have been a great help!!! Love always – from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico!! Nancy
For Your Vocation, a new Web site, is an initiative of the Bishops of the United States, and is meant to be a resource for men and women in discernment, as an aid for promoting a vocation culture within the home, and a range of tools for educators, youth leaders and vocation directors. The bishops’ goals for this site are To help individuals hear and respond to the call by God to the priesthood or […]
Over the next week or so, I’ll be making a few minor changes to the look of Catechist’s Journey…just doing a little “spring cleaning” and trying to spruce things up for you! Most importantly, I’ve reorganized my categories (see the column on the right side, scroll down) to make it easier for you to find things. For a while, I’ve not been satisfied with the categories I had (which is no one’s fault but my […]
A couple of days ago, I put up a post asking if folks could help Nancy in Puerto Rico who was asking about fees/tuition charged for parish religious education programs. Your response has been very generous! Here are more comments that came in by way of websupport: Hi Joe – I am a DRE in two parishes at the East End of Long Island which is part of the Diocese of Rockville Centre and I […]
This comment came from Nancy in Puerto Rico and she is looking for some help…I thought that y’all could pitch in with your thoughts/advice: Hi, Joe! I always look forward to reading your e-mails – you are a blessing for all of us!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything you do!!!! We just finished our classes at our Church and we already had our big end-of the- year meeting with our priest and […]
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