Tonight, at the NCCL conference, I attended a preview of Fr. Bob Barron’s exciting new Catholicism Project. Fr. Bob was a teacher of mine in my Doctor of Ministry program and is one of the most brilliant minds in Catholic thought today. His Catholicism Project is a multi-textured introduction and explanation of the depths of the Catholic faith. What sets Fr. Bob apart from other Catholic “personas” is his ability to speak intelligently about the Catholic faith while also speaking like a regular guy. No false pomposity or overly pious airs about him as is found in too many priests who appear on various Catholic TV programs. Some segments of this program are set to air on Public Television this Fall. I think it will make us proud! Here’s what his project is all about…I encourage you to look into it.
Understanding Kids
Books, Books, Books!
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 […]
Books
The 4 Pillars of Our Faith: the Moral Life
This week, I’m featuring short excerpts from my book, A Well-Built Faith, focusing on the 4 pillars of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Here’s a brief look at the third pillar: the Moral Life. Country and Western songs tend to be filled with heart ache, telling tales of good loving gone bad. Two people in love are supposed to treat each other in a certain way and when that doesn’t happen, relationships faith. Just […]
Intermediate Grades
Closure
Tonight is the last session that I will be teaching for my 6th graders this year (next week is our closing Mass). I’ll reflect soon on what this experience has been like for me (in brief, it’s been wonderful!) but for now I’d just like to offer a glimpse of what I’ll be doing tonight. Preliminaries (15 mins) Gather, attendance, misc. – young people write prayer intentions Opening prayer ritual/procession Engage (10 mins) I plan […]
Joe,
Fr. Barron did such a wonderful job on this and I’m so excited to see it when it comes out in August!
William, I have no doubt you’ll find a creative way to put it to use in your parish too!
I’m excited to see this as well. I have some of Father Barron’s other DVDs. I see on Catholicismproject.org that you can pre-order. Based on what you saw at the Conference, Joe, do you think this could be used for 9th or 10th grade? There are too many DVDs to show the program in its entirety to the teens but I assume each DVD stands alone and that one or two could be selected if indeed a teen audience would like it?
Hi Mary. Yes, I think this would be good for 9th or 10th grade because it is visually captivating and the study guide will help the teacher to guide the students. Yes, each appears to be stand alone. Best wishes with this and all your catechetical efforts!
We have so many heroes out there, it s time to let the world know our own story as the video trailer says, let us continue building the body of Christ and spread the love of his word.
Looking forward to see the full video…
Again, greetings from Tijuana Mexico…
How true, Susana.
Talking about our unknown heroes, I will ask you all to pray for the soul of one of our priests in Tijuana that was brutally murdered this week, his name was father Salvador Ruiz.
Let us pray for OUR CHURCH AND OUR PRIESTS.
So sorry to hear about this Susana. Prayers are assured.