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 40 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.

Adult Faith Formation: It’s About Relationships!

Joe Paprocki

I had the pleasure of chatting with a co-worker here at Loyola Press, Julie Berggren, about her role as a Minister of Care at her parish, St. Francis Xavier in Wilmette, and the ongoing formation that the ministers of care are involved in there. First a little background: SFX Parish has between 80-100 Ministers of Care who visit and bring Holy Communion to the sick and homebound, in hospitals and in homes and nursing homes. […]

Purchasing Objects for Your Prayer Table

Joe Paprocki

Whether you are doing child catechesis or adult catechesis, it is crucial to establish a climate of prayer and one of the most effective ways of doing this is by setting up a prayer table. People ask me where they can get the objects they need for a prayer table and I thought I had posted on that sometime ago but I guess I was dreaming! So here are some suggestions for purchasing objects for […]

Combatting the Drop-Off Mentality, Peoria Style

Joe Paprocki

I enjoyed a wonderful day in the Diocese of Peoria, IL, on Saturday (8/2) with about 175 catechetical ministers and was privileged to deliver the keynote and the closing talk for the day. In between, however, I enjoyed sitting in on some workshops delivered by local catechetical ministers. I really enjoyed participating in a breakout session for catechists of fifth and sixth grade children (since I taught sixth grade last year) that was led by […]

Adult Faith Formation – Laying the Foundation

Joe Paprocki

I met this morning with Maryellen, the staff liason for Adult Faith Formation at St. Barnabas, for our first meeting to begin laying out a vision for what we hope to accomplish in AFF this year. We both agreed that the place to begin is NOT with a program but with a VISION and a PLAN! With that in mind, we are looking to meet with the Faith Formation Commission of the Parish Pastoral Council […]

Happy Feast Day, St. Ignatius of Loyola!

Joe Paprocki

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Ignatius of Loyola – a saint who has had a major impact on my life. I attended a Jesuit high school (St. Ignatius College Prep), a Jesuit college (Loyola University of Chicago), a Jesuit graduate school (Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University of Chicago), and have now worked for Loyola Press for 13 years! That’s 25 total years of Jesuit influence…almost half my life! To celebrate, I […]

Catechists for Parish Organizations

Joe Paprocki

The post I put up the other day about designating catechists for Men’s and Women’s clubs in parishes struck a positive chord with lots of people. In particular, a comment posted by Maureen summed up precisely what I was aiming at when she said that the idea: …also speaks to one of the foundational principles of the USCCB pastoral plan for Adult Faith Formation, “Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us”: parish life itself is the […]

How About Catechists for Parish Women’s and Men’s Clubs?

Joe Paprocki

Too often, we Catholics approach adult catechesis with the notion of beginning a program that we hope to get folks to attend, when in fact, many people are already attending parish functions but not necessarily receiving faith formation as a part of the experience. One such example are Women’s and Men’s Clubs (Mother’s and Father’s Clubs, Holy Name Society, etc.) These are groups that gather numerous parishioners on a regular basis for a wide variety […]

Getting Started as a Catechist Webinars (Archived)

Joe Paprocki

For those who are beginning their ministry as catechists, take advantage of the recorded Webinars available here on my blog: Getting Started as a Catechist. There are four 60-minute recorded Webinars tailor-made to your needs: Getting Started as a Catechist of Primary Age Children Getting Started as a Catechist of Intermediate Age Children Getting Started as a Catechist of Junior High and High School Students Getting Started as a Catechist of Adults And, if you […]

Combatting the “Drop-Off” Mentality

Joe Paprocki

This afternoon, I met with Deb Breakey, the DRE of St. Cajetan Parish in Chicago, to brainstorm a new way to kick off the catechetical year this Fall designed to combat the “drop-off” mentality that so many parents have when it comes to their children’s faith formation. We are working on designing an experience on the first night of religious education that, in essence, will be an intergenerational event. Parents will be asked to gather with […]