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Creative Moments

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!

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Newsworthy

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 […]

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Creative Moments

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 […]

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Getting Started as a Catechist

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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Growing as a Catechist

In Case You Missed It…Free Webinar

In case you missed the free Webinar I conducted on April 27, it is now available as a recording. You can watch it at your convenience and perhaps get together with a few other catechists to watch it together and discuss as you go along, pausing the recording as you wish. You can download the pdfs of the Catechist’s Self-Evaluation as well. Enjoy!

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Joys and Frustrations

This is the Day the Lord Has Made…

You may recall from some of my previous posts, that this year, I began each religious education class by inviting the 8th graders to stand and respond “Let us rejoice and be glad!” to my invocation of “This is the day the Lord has made.” This became a very joyful part of our class and the kids routinely responded with great enthusiasm and vigor. Lo and behold, at our end-of-the-year Mass on Monday evening, the […]

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Sharing Stories

One Word to Describe Your Year as a Catechist

During last evening’s Webinar (for which a recording will be available soon right here on my blog), I asked catechists to choose one word that summarizes their year as a catechist. Here’s a sample of some of the words that came up most: enlightening­­  exhausting­­ uplifting­­ rewarding­ growth ­­serving­­ whirlwind ­­exciting­­ different ­­busy­ comprehensive   ­­love­­  adjustment ­­challenging­­ hectic­­ powerful­­ loving­ ­connected­ ­learning ­eventful ­struggle­ ­exposure­   ­effortful­  ­fulfilling ­surprising­ ­changing­ ­compromise­ ­special­ ­enjoyable­ ­enriching­ […]

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Growing as a Catechist

Growing as a Catechist: Self-Evaluation PDFs

As promised, here are the PDFs of the self-evaluation that we used in tonight’s Webinar. GROWING AS A CATECHIST Self Evaluation I encourage you to share this evaluation with another catechist, a group of catechists, or with your DRE. It’s always good for us to reflect on our experience to see how the Holy Spirit is calling us to grow in our ministry.

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Teaching Skills

The Digital Technology Divide: What Does it Mean for Catechists?

There’s been an article buzzing around on Facebook that deals with the “digital technology divide” in education. The article presents the fact that, since this generation (digital “natives”) is the first to grow up completely surrounded by digital technology, they think and process information differently than us digital “immigrants” do. In particular, the article states that “Educators must relinquish the idea of being all-knowing and replace that concept with an attitude of being a facilitator, knowing that […]

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Comings & Goings

Viva NCCL!

I had a marvelous time at the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership (NCCL) in Las Vegas this week! Not because it was in Vegas (although that was fun) but because the NCCL is like a huge family reunion! I got to see so many good friends who are DREs, Diocesan directors and staff, publishers, and catechists and made MANY new friends, including a number of folks who visit my blog regularly…how nice to meet you […]