With catechetical programs revving up all over the country, it’s my busy traveling time once again! This past weekend, I had the pleasure of spending Saturday with about 200 catechists in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM, and Sunday with about 200 catechists in the Diocese of Gary, IN. At both locations, we explored what it means to live (and teach) Under the Influence of Jesus. Thanks to all the wonderful folks who came out […]
Here’s an idea for your parish Adult Faith Formation program: it’s called One Book, One Parish (affectionately referred to as OBOP here at Loyola Press). One Book, One Parish provides spiritual works that explain our Catholic culture and history; books that illuminate, inspire, provoke, and entertain; books that have a unique perspective and compelling authority. We seek to help you establish communities of conversation around our faith and get people to re-engage with the parish […]
Let’s identify some saints that we can look to as models for the New Evangelization. I’d like to be able to take credit for this notion of saints serving as evangelization models, however, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI beat me to it when he canonized seven new saints in 2012: Jacques Berthieu, Pedro Calungsod, Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Marìa Carmen Sallés y Barangueras, Marianne Cope, Kateri Tekakwitha, and Anna Schäffer. In doing so, he referred to these […]
A catechist recently asked me for a resource that I had forgotten about! A few years back, I offered a Webinar based on my book Practice Makes Catholic and I offered a PDF with links to a number of resources that can make your religion class “more Catholic.” In looking it up, I realized that there was some pretty good stuff here so I thought I’d make it available once again. A handful of links […]
Last evening, I got together with Deb, the DRE at St. Cajetan, to do a “dry run” in preparation for next Tuesday’s Kick-Off for the Religious Education program. We had many logistics to go over such as the sound system, the lighting, the video, the music and so on. In particular, I realized that I have to practice my timing with the songs/videos that I’ll be projecting throughout the prayer service…it’s as if I’m the […]
I am very excited to share this news with you: discussion questions for my book, Under the Influence of Jesus: The Transforming Experience of Encountering Christ, ARE NOW AVAILABLE! Thanks to my good friend and co-worker, Carrie Freyer, and to the Marketing Department at Loyola Press for designing this resource and making it available for folks! These discussion questions make it possible for small faith groups and book discussion groups to spend some time reflecting […]
Here is a wonderful article by Jeffrey Essmann that appeared in America Magazine recently about how Jeffrey “stumbled” into the role of catechist. “Stumbling Onward” by Jeffrey Essmann Stumbling Onward I have come to trust my stumbles. Philosophically, I believe stumbling to be the natural human gait and that humanity’s steady march of progress has, indeed, genera… View on www.americamagazine… Preview by Yahoo
For some time, I have struggled with the reality that many catechists do not have access to AV equipment to show videos or PowerPoint presentations in their classes. Often, the RE program does not have equipment of its own and is not welcome to use the school’s AV equipment. While I show videos and PPT presentations all the time, the fact is, I purchased my own LCD projector some years ago because of the volume […]
This year, in addition to my work in Adult Faith Formation at St. Barnabas Parish, I am also assisting the DRE at St. Cajetan, Deb Breakey, where I served as a 6th grade catechist last year. Together, we are focusing on changing the “drop-off” mentality of the parents of kids in the Religious Education program. To that end, the first night of RE (September 16) will have a totally different look than in years past. […]
Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting in on the Men’s Spirituality group at St. Barnabas parish. This initiative began as a follow up to the parish’s Men’s Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP) and meets once per month under the direction of the Associate Pastor, Fr. John Hetland. From what I’m told, different guys come and go but in general about a dozen gather each month. There was an enthusiastic group of 9 on […]
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