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.

Pop-Up Catechesis: Aligning Ourselves with God

Joe Paprocki

During week 2 of our Faith Refreshed online retreat, we are focusing on “Aligning Ourselves with God” and how the second pillar of our Catholic faith—the Sacraments—summarizes how we, as Catholics, worship. In this episode of Pop-Up Catechesis, we explore how through our worship, we realign ourselves with God and God’s will. For more information about how we align ourselves with God by celebrating the sacraments, check out the following links: A Well-Built Faith: A […]

Faith Refreshed - text over photo of water droplets by lemonade glass by Charlotte May on Pexels

Faith Refreshed Online Retreat Week 2: Aligning Ourselves with God

Joe Paprocki

Welcome to Week 2 of Faith Refreshed, an online retreat to help us “hit the refresh button” in our spiritual lives so that we might better see things we weren’t previously seeing and return to our lives and ministry with a new outlook. Throughout this retreat, I am drawing from my best-selling book, A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe. We revisit the four pillars of our Catholic faith—the […]

Pop-Up Catechesis: God’s Revealing Moments

Joe Paprocki

During week 1 of our Faith Refreshed online retreat, we are focusing on “God’s Revealing Moments” and how the first pillar of our Catholic faith—the Creed—summarizes what God has revealed about himself over the course of salvation history. In this episode of Pop-Up Catechesis, we explore how sometimes, we may need to “stare our way” into recognizing how God is revealing himself to us in our everyday lives. For more information about recognizing God’s revealing […]

National Eucharistic Revival - bread and wine wheat and grapes

The Eucharistic Revival and Inclusion

Joe Paprocki

As we journey deeper into our Eucharistic Revival, let’s be mindful of our responsibility to call all of God’s people to the Table of the Lord, especially those with disabilities! Recently, the National Community of Catechetical Leaders (NCCL) hosted an online conference that focused on inclusive catechesis that engages learners of differing abilities. One session in that conference featured the work of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD) and was presented by the Executive […]

Faith Refreshed Online Retreat Week 1: God’s Revealing Moments

Joe Paprocki

Welcome to Week 1 of Faith Refreshed, an online retreat to help us “hit the refresh button” in our spiritual lives so that we might better see things we weren’t previously seeing and return to our lives and ministry with a new outlook! Throughout this retreat, I will draw from my best-selling book, A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe, as we revisit the four pillars of our Catholic […]

Pop-Up Prayer: Guest Jonathan Schott

Joe Paprocki

Young adults in college are seekers in so many respects. They are seeking for identity, relationships, careers, and for meaning in their lives. Prayer is a relationship, and relationships thrive on communication: talking and listening to one another. In this episode of Pop-Up Prayer, we turn to Deacon Jonathan Schott, Assistant Director of Campus Ministry at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, NY. Jonathan enlightens us about the need to encourage young people to talk […]

Join Me for an Online Retreat: Faith Refreshed

Joe Paprocki

When surfing the Internet, we may occasionally find ourselves on a webpage that is moving slowly or has frozen. In such cases, it can help to hit the refresh button. Refreshing the page basically tells the browser to go back to the server and see if there is anything new, thus reloading or updating the page. Often, after refreshing a webpage, we find ourselves delighted to see something that wasn’t there before. These are like […]

8 Steps to Energize Your Faith video series

8 Steps to Energize Your Faith, Step Eight: Be Still

Joe Paprocki

God knew the importance of taking a rest after six days of hard work creating the cosmos! We can participate in the divine life and tap into divine energy by observing the Third Commandment that insists we take a day off from work to remind ourselves that we are human beings, not human doings. As we conclude our reflections on the steps from my book, 8 Steps to Energize Your Faith, I invite you to […]

Living the Mass the Other Six Days of the Week: The Eucharistic Prayer

Joe Paprocki

We continue to journey through the National Eucharistic Revival and reflect on the parts of the Mass and what each part is calling us to do and be the other six days of the week. Our inspiration is my book, Living the Mass: How One Hour a Week Can Change Your Life, co-authored by Fr. Dominic Grassi. In this episode, we look at the Eucharistic Prayer and reflect on how it helps us to begin the work of […]

Parts of the Mass Word Puzzles

Joe Paprocki

Practice vocabulary related to the Catholic Mass with a crossword puzzle and word search. The word search includes words related to the Order of the Mass, and the crossword puzzle invites exploration of what we see and what is happening when we go to Mass. The puzzles are available as printable worksheets and as online games. Use them in sacramental preparation classes or as a review in faith formation sessions across grade levels. Explore more […]