Editor’s note: Jump into our online book club! We’re reading Jane Knuth’s The Prayer List…and Other True Stories of How Families Pray. This week we focus on chapters 10–12. Learn more about the book club here. Today, I have a story about family prayer that is not in The Prayer List. This one requires a visual, so go put your hands on a set of rosary beads before you read any further. If you don’t […]
In a previous post, I wrote about the importance of apprenticing others into discipleship. Since then, I’ve been asked, “Is it possible to apprentice young children into discipleship, or does this apply only to teens and adults?” Without hesitation, I would say that yes, we are called to apprentice young children at the earliest possible age! So, what does this look like? By way of quick review, an apprenticeship involves the following: the mentor and […]
Isn’t it funny how, when you’ve known someone for a long time, you can tell by the look on his or her face what she or he is trying to say to you? We don’t always need words to communicate with someone. By the same token, it can be difficult to know how someone truly feels unless one puts it into words! When it comes to our prayer lives, at times we can rely on […]
As catechists and parents, we are keenly aware that there are a lot of ideas competing for our attention during Lent. When deciding on a focused Lenten practice, there are three questions to ask: Is this practice focused on God, others, or myself? Does this practice help me fast from something that I truly struggle with? Do I give, pray, and serve out of love or out of my own selfishness? After speaking with parents […]
The Trinity is a beautiful mystery that cannot be fully explained or understood through human language, which makes it a challenge to communicate to children when we rely on words in our catechesis. The early Christians came to know God as trinitarian through their lived experiences of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We can help children to identify their own experiences of the Persons of the Trinity and therefore come to a […]
Many contemplative practices involve the use of a mantra, or the repetitive uttering of a sacred word or group of words (or sometimes a sound) in order to deepen one’s focus, avoid distractions, and create a sense of calm that permits one to enter into an “altered state.” Too often, Catholics are suspicious of such practices, thinking of them as foreign to our tradition. Nothing could be further from the truth! One of the best examples […]
“In his proclamation of the Kingdom, Jesus seeks, encounters, and welcomes people in their concrete life situations.” Directory for Catechesis #198 While the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, many states have seen the easing of restrictions around larger gatherings, and there has been an increasing sense that life is returning to some sense of normalcy. This fall, parishes and schools will find themselves welcoming students back to class after a much-needed summer of rest and […]
In the midst of this COVID-19 threat, many parents find themselves in the position of doing a certain amount of homeschooling with their children, including teaching religion lessons that would normally be taught in Catholic schools or parish religious education programs. Teaching religion lessons is different from teaching other subject areas, because in faith formation, we do not teach a subject, we facilitate an encounter with Jesus Christ! With that in mind, here are 10 […]
I love teaching the Rosary to my first graders. The Rosary helps them learn important prayers, highlights Scripture stories, and keeps their hands occupied when we are sitting together in a circle. In May I hand out rosaries to each student, usually a week after they learn the Hail Mary. I explain that they were blessed by a priest earlier in the day. (One year, I actually took a photo of our pastor with his […]
Last fall, Joe Paprocki provided 20 tips for catechists. The ninth tip stuck with me: as catechists, we are not teaching a subject, but we are facilitating an encounter with Jesus. All of us encounter Jesus in different ways on any given day, and our students are no different. Offering a variety of prayer experiences for children can open up new ways for Christ to work in their lives. When I’m praying with my first-grade […]
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