Articles by Joe Paprocki

About Joe Paprocki

Joe Paprocki, DMin, is National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press, where, in addition to his traveling/speaking responsibilities, he works on the development team for faith formation curriculum resources including Finding God: Our Response to God’s Gifts and God’s Gift: Reconciliation and Eucharist. Joe has more than 35 years of experience in ministry and has presented keynotes, presentations, and workshops in more than 100 dioceses in North America. Joe is a frequent presenter at national conferences including the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the Mid-Atlantic Congress, and the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership. He is the author of numerous books, including the best seller The Catechist’s Toolbox, A Church on the Move, Under the Influence of Jesus, and Called to Be Catholic—a bilingual, foundational supplemental program that helps young people know their faith and grow in their relationship with God. Joe is also the series editor for the Effective Catechetical Leader and blogs about his experiences in faith formation at www.catechistsjourney.com.

I End This Blog with a K.I.S.S.

Joe Paprocki

Before you think I’m getting all sentimental, let me explain that the K.I.S.S. I am ending the Catechist’s Journey blog with stands for “Keep It Super Simple.” My inspiration for this comes from a surprising source: Pope Benedict XVI. Why is that surprising? Because Pope Benedict was not a simple man! He was one of the most profound and complex theological minds of the 20th and early 21st centuries. And yet, in 2009, when asked […]

Abraham Activities Pack

Joe Paprocki

Abraham is a perfect model of someone who trusted and obeyed God. The Book of Genesis tells his story. Explore Abraham’s role in the story of salvation with an activity pack that includes a word puzzle, a diary that invites looking up passages from Genesis, and a sequencing challenge. The activities work particularly well for young people studying salvation history in grade 6.

Family Catechesis at St. Barnabas: A Pentecost Celebration

Joe Paprocki

We wrapped up the year of family catechesis at St. Barnabas with a wonderful Pentecost celebration that included a delicious catered hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns. After breakfast, we invited the children to join in a Pentecost procession led by Deacon Andy. To the sounds of Marty Haugen’s “Lord, Send Out Your Spirit/Psalm 104,” the children carried the sacred objects for the prayer table as they waved red ribbon wands to […]

young woman looking at her reflection in pool - text: Reflecting on Our Individual and Communal Prayer Mini-Retreat - Malte Mueller/fStop/Getty Images

Reflecting on Our Individual and Communal Prayer Mini-Retreat: The Lord’s Prayer

Joe Paprocki

In preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025, Pope Francis has asked Catholics to prepare by dedicating time in 2024 to “promote initiatives to remind people of the centrality of both individual prayer and community prayer.” With that in mind, I invite you to the final part of our three-part mini-retreat devoted to reflecting on our individual and communal prayer. May your life of prayer be enriched and filled with abundant blessings! The Lord’s Prayer Who is […]

Reflecting on Our Individual and Communal Prayer Mini-Retreat: Family Heirlooms

Joe Paprocki

In preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025, Pope Francis has asked Catholics to prepare by dedicating time in 2024 to “promote initiatives to remind people of the centrality of both individual prayer and community prayer.” With that in mind, I invite you to part two of our three-part mini-retreat devoted to reflecting on our individual and communal prayer. May your life of prayer be enriched and filled with abundant blessings! Family Heirlooms I was born in […]

Reflecting on Our Individual and Communal Prayer Mini-Retreat: Pray Without Ceasing

Joe Paprocki

In preparation for the Jubilee Year 2025, Pope Francis has asked Catholics to prepare by dedicating time in 2024 to “promote initiatives to remind people of the centrality of both individual prayer and community prayer.” With that in mind, I invite you to a three-part mini-retreat devoted to reflecting on our individual and communal prayer. May your life of prayer be enriched and filled with abundant blessings! Pray Without Ceasing I’m sure you are familiar […]

Pop-Up Catechesis: Spirituality Is Not a Slice of the Pie

Joe Paprocki

If you were to create a pie chart showing how much time you devote to your home life (including sleeping), work, exercise, socializing, and hobbies, how big of a slice would you show for spirituality? For many of us, we might be tempted to add up the time we spend in spiritual practices such as going to church, praying, reading the Bible and other inspirational literature, and perhaps visiting a spiritual director or participating in […]

St. Barnabas Family Catechesis: Pentecost Celebration

Joe Paprocki

It’s hard to believe that the catechetical year is wrapping up! This past year at St. Barnabas, doing the monthly parent presentations for the Finding God family catechesis program, has been such a wonderful experience! We have one more session on the calendar for Pentecost Sunday. This session will be an end-of-the-year/Pentecost celebration. Tops on the agenda is a full, hot breakfast being served to the families in the program. We will also have a […]

Subscriber Survey

Joe Paprocki

Now that Catechist’s Journey is preparing to go into dormition (That sounds so much more appropriate than “ceasing” or “ending”!), we want to get a sense of your interests and needs so that we can plan future online experiences. To that end, we invite you to complete a brief survey about your experience with Catechist’s Journey. As a thank you for your completed survey, you’ll be entered in a drawing for a set of three […]

Family Catechesis at St. Barnabas: Saving the Toughest Topic for Last

Joe Paprocki

This past Sunday was our last teaching session of the year for family catechesis at St. Barnabas, and we saved the “toughest” topic for last: the moral life! Of course, we didn’t actually save that for last; it just happens to be the last unit of the Finding God program. The theme of the session was, “The Moral Life: Stop Trying to Fix Yourself,” which gave us the opportunity to lay the foundation for the […]