I received this email from a self-described “newbie-DRE” who is looking for some advice. Let’s help her out! Does anyone have practical suggestions for saying “no” to a potential catechist who responds to your “call”? My assistant and I feel that he wouldn’t be able to control a classroom, and he has no filter when speaking so he tends to over-share about his personal life. Something about his personality is just giving us a bad […]
It’s hard to believe that tomorrow evening is the first catechist meeting of the year for the 2013-14 catechetical year! I will once again be teaching 6th grade (Finding God), however, I will be doing so at a new parish! I will now be at St. Cajetan Parish on the far southside of Chicago, about 5 minutes south of my home in Evergreen Park. With the retirement of Arlene Astrowski, the DRE at Most Holy […]
Our FREE Webinar – Forming a 3-Dimensional Catechist (Being, Knowing, and Doing) – takes place on Thursday, August 22, 2013 at 7:00 pm (CT). This will be a very interactive Webinar! With that in mind, here are some handouts that you’ll want to have with you as you participate in the event. BKD Webinar Handouts 1 – BEING BKD Webinar Handouts 2 – KNOWING BKD Webinar Handouts 3 – DOING There’s still time to register…just […]
In his book, Growing An Engaged Church (Gallup Press), Albert L. Winseman explains that, without true engagement, volunteers burn out quickly. He identifies 3 ways to make an immediate impact on the level of engagement of church members: clarify the expectations of membership help your members discover what they do best create small groups I think these can (and should) be easily applied to catechists, who, without engagement, do indeed burnout quickly. Those catechists who […]
I received another pic from my visit to Iowa the other day! This one is from Melissa Holthaus who writes: “Awesome day yesterday Joe!!! Attached is our Great picture from yesterday!!! Thank You for All our your very Inspiring words and thoughts!!!” You’re welcome, Melissa, and thank you!
It seems that most years, I resume my travel schedule (after the summer lull) with a beautiful 5 hour drive to Iowa! This year, my destination was Waterloo, IA, where I met with about 160 Catholic School Administrators and Parish Faith Formation Leaders as they kicked off their year. I also had the privilege of meeting the new Archbishop of Dubuque, the Most Reverend Michael O. Jackels, who celebrated a beautiful Mass for the whole […]
Recently, we began a series here on my blog about the six tasks of catechesis, focusing on the notion that God is calling each of us to fulfill a role that he has planned for us. Just as actors rely on certain strategies to immerse themselves in character, we too rely on certain strategies to “immerse” ourselves in the role that God is calling us to fill: the “best version of ourselves” (to borrow a phrase from […]
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