To help you share the Christmas story with children, we’re happy to share a Christmas Bible story booklet with you. The text of the booklet is from the Loyola Kids Book of Bible Stories by popular Catholic children’s author Amy Welborn. Print out the booklet and share with your class in a session on the birth of Jesus, or send copies home for families to enjoy together. Use copies as Christmas cards to your students, […]
With both the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (a holy day of obligation) and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December, and the readings in the second half of Advent telling Mary’s story in the days before Jesus’ birth, this is the perfect time to teach the children in our classes about Mary. I realized in my planning my Advent arc of activities this year that the Finding God art prints […]
![O Come Emmanuel - By Einsideln (http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/sbe/0611) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://catechistsjourney.loyolapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/O-Come-Emmanuel-675x450-326x245.jpg)
During Advent, we sing the traditional hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” a beautiful song based on the “O” Antiphons from the Liturgy of the Hours (Vespers) for the octave (eight days) before Christmas (beginning December 17). One verse of that song is of particular interest to catechists, because it speaks of our longing for being taught to live according to God’s way: O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who orderest all things mightily; To us the […]
I had the privilege of leading a retreat for catechetical leaders from the Archdiocese of Baltimore earlier this week. In addition to being with such nice folks for a couple of days, we were located in Ocean City, MD, right on the ocean! What a blessing! Here’s a picture of the great folks I enjoyed my time with.
Who is this good-looking young man peeking around the corner of Catechist’s Journey? Why, it’s none other than Leo, the star of the new children’s book Leo’s Gift, written by Susan Blackaby and my friend and colleague (actually, she’s my boss!) Joellyn Cicciarelli and beautifully illustrated by my colleague Carrie Schuler. Leo is creative, shy, and in search of a special talent he can share with the world. He wonders how he’ll know what his […]
![The Adoration of the Magi by Jan Gossaert [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://catechistsjourney.loyolapress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Adoration-of-the-Magi-by-Jan-Gossaert-326x245.jpg)
Long-time catechists may find themselves going back to the tried-and-true activities that they’ve used before with predictable outcomes. But sometimes breaking out of that cycle can be a good thing. For a number of years, I would print out artwork that depicted the Nativity. I had 15–20 images from various artists. The first-grade children and I would sit in a circle on the floor, and I would show the images to the class and then […]
Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier every year. I am thankful that my school waits to celebrate Christmas, opting for a hearty Advent celebration instead. My classroom gets into the Advent celebration by including many fun traditions and service projects revolving around Advent. My classroom has an Advent wreath, and we use the Loyola Press Children’s Advent Calendar. Our school also has an all-school Advent wreath prayer service where we sing and pray together. […]
When it comes to supervising catechists, it helps to make a clear distinction between managing them and leading them. Managing what your catechists do and how they perform their duties is important. To help them flourish, an effective catechetical leader helps them understand why they serve as catechists: to help bring about the Kingdom of God. To be honest, learning to balance management and leadership took years for me to figure out. But I am […]
It’s not always easy to find good resources on the topic of Catholic Social Teaching. Thanks to Catholic Relief Services and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, however, we now have a free video resource with which to engage those we teach with the seven principles of Catholic Social Teaching. CST 101 is a collaborative seven-part video series presented by the USCCB and CRS. The videos bring the themes of Catholic social teaching to life and […]
Whenever I propose an idea for a new book to Loyola Press, one of the questions that I am asked by our marketing people is, “How is this different from anything else that’s on the market?” The better job I do of differentiating my work from anything else available, the better chance the book has of being successful. Is it possible that John the Baptist had a degree in marketing? When you consider his message, his […]
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