April 2014 - Page 2 of 2 - Catechist's Journey

Bishop David O’Connell’s 5 “i’s” For Effective Catechesis

I mentioned that when I was in the Diocese of Trenton, NJ, last week, I was inspired by Bishop David O’Connell’s homily in which he outlined, among other things, what he considers to be 5 essential elements for effective catechesis and effective catechists. Here are his 5 “i’s” – Identity: get in touch with the Lord Jesus Christ through his Word, through prayer, through meditation, through the sacraments especially Penance and the Eucharist, through […]

This is MY Story!

Joe Paprocki

I was delighted to discover last evening that my 6th graders had retained a great deal of what we covered during the year! In essence, I really emphasized 3 main topics this year: Old Testament stories, the Ten Commandments, and the Sacraments. Last night, we did a review of the Old Testament stories and it went very nicely. Here’s a pic that sets the stage: On the board is the theme/big idea for the session […]

Tonight’s Session: What’s Your Story? “This is MY Story!”

Joe Paprocki

This evening is the last chance I have this year to review with my 6th graders so I’m going to make the most of it! Here’s my plan: Big Idea: What’s Your Story? (This is MY Story!) Preliminaries (15 mins) Collect permission forms for Ronald McDonald House Mercy Experience Go over details for the upcoming Mercy Experience Opening procession and prayer ritual Engage (20 mins) Do “What’s Your Story?” ice breaker in which you ask questions […]

Finding God in Trenton, NJ!

Joe Paprocki

I had a wonderful experience this past weekend with many good folks from the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey! On Friday, I enjoyed lunch with the staff of the diocesan catechetical office, Fr. Douglas Freer (Vicar for Catholic Education, Director of the Ministry of Catechesis and Evangelization), Jill Kerekes (Associate Director for Parish and School Catechesis), and Matthew Poole (Coordinator for Adult Faith Formation and New Evangelization). It was great to take the time to […]

Navigating the Old Testament

Joe Paprocki

Our session this past Tuesday went very well. The focus of the class was to review the stories that we learned from the Old Testament this year and to locate them in the Bible. We began by inviting each student to recall the name of someone we learned about in the Old Testament this year. Every student recalled someone and we had a good list of names on the board: Adam and Eve, Cain and […]

Using Arts & Faith: Holy Week with Young Adults

Special Contributor

Following are suggestions for using videos from Arts & Faith: Holy Week with the young adults of your parish. Invite your group to deepen their experience of Holy Week through reflection and discussion of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday. Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion Since I’m a chronic planner, living in the present moment is always hard for me. I like to think through all the possibilities and then take the next […]