Advent is, above all else, a season of hope – a virtue that is all too rare in our world. To live as a person of hope is to behave in such a manner as to draw suspicion that we are behaving somewhat erratically as far as worldly norms go. This new type of behavior – what some may even call erratic behavior (the behavior that led people to conclude that the Apostles were “under […]
By now, I’m sure you know that Pope Francis issued an extraordinary document last week, an Apostolic Exhortation – Evangelii Gaudium (ee-van-JEH-lee-ee GOW-dee-um). If you get a chance to read it on your own, I encourage you to, however, it is rather long. With that in mind, I thought I would give it a good read and then provide you with a summary, which you can access below. Evangelii Gaudium Summary by Joe Paprocki Also, […]
I’m happy to announce that I will be doing an Advent series (Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) here on my blog, Catechist’s Journey, beginning Monday, December 2, 2013: 9 Advent Attitudes: How to Dispel the Darkness with Uninhibited Hope Advent is a season of HOPE…something our world desperately needs. To live as a person of hope is to behave in such a manner as to draw suspicion that we are out of touch with reality! And […]
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Virtual Wall of Remembrance, a special way to remember those who’ve gone before us during the month of November. Here are photos of your loved ones. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Last evening was our scheduled monthly Mass in church which was moved from 6:15 to 6:45 PM to give us one solid block of teaching before Mass (6:00 – 6:40) rather than a brief one before Mass (6:00 – 6:10) and another short segment after Mass (7:10 – 7:30). This worked out very well because Mass still went about an hour but didn’t take away from class time! I don’t think parents minded that the […]
A great big THANK YOU to all the good folks who came out to the Santa Clara Faith Formation Conference this past weekend and especially to those who sat in on my presentations! It’s always a delight to travel to California (especially when it’s cold in Chicago!) and to share faith with you. I also had a chance to get together with my cousin Mike and his wife Mary Kay who live in San Jose…it […]
Last evening was one of the most delightful evenings I’ve ever had as a catechist! I decided that, since we would be doing a lot of storytelling, that it would be nice to do so sitting around a campfire! I just needed to figure out how to build a pretend one indoors which luckily I found here. The kids absolutely loved it and it made for a very fun and engaging setting for getting a […]
This evening’s session is all about storytelling! First, we need to finish our work on the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac from last week but then we will segue immediately into the great stories of that rascal, Jacob! To set the mood for the storytelling, I’m going to build a pretend campfire! Take a look: (For directions on how to make the pretend campfire and marshmallows, visit http://www.funinthemaking.net/2009/02/17/pretend-to-campout-how-to-make-a-pretend-campfire-and-paper-marshmallows/). Here’s the overall plan: BIG IDEA: […]
One of the greatest challenges that catechetical leaders face is reaching out to parents and families. Loyola Press to the rescue! Here are a number of FREE resources to help you strengthen ties with the parents and families in your parish program. One of the huge benefits of using a program such as Finding God is that you have so many of these FREE resources at your fingertips! (Downloads require Adobe Reader. Click here to […]
We had a very enjoyable session last evening, learning about God’s plan of salvation established with Abraham. I was most impressed with how the kids asked if they can collect money for the people suffering in the Philippines in the aftermath of the typhoon. They truly have charitable hearts! Here are some highlights of the evening: Our Big Idea was: Abraham trusted in God’s plan because God cares. We began by talking about how some […]
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