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.

Evangelization and Catechesis: Enough About Content, Let’s Talk Tactics!

Joe Paprocki

Over the past couple of years, in an apparent effort to ensure orthodoxy of content, some Catholic dioceses in the United States have invested countless man hours and who knows how much money implementing lengthy and tedious processes to mandate a limited number of catechetical textbook series in their dioceses. This, despite the fact that dozens of textbook series have gone through rigorous scrutiny and have already been determined to be in conformity with the […]

Multicultural Ministry and the New Evangelization

Joe Paprocki

I know this is last minute, but I just became aware of this Webinar being offered tonight by a friend of mine, Ansel Augustine, on “Multi-Cultural Ministry and the New Evangelization.” Ansel, a greatly talented pastoral minister in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and an excellent speaker, will present and lead a conversation on the implications of the New Evangelization for multicultural ministry and vice versa—how can Catholic multicultural ministry shape and strengthen the New Evangelization? For […]

Final Assessment Results

Joe Paprocki

So last evening, I conducted a Jeopardy-like review with my 6th graders and then followed it up with a final assessment. Here’s a summary: As part of our opening prayer, we included prayers for all those affected by the bombings in Boston. It is lamentable that, in the course of several months, we catechists have had to talk to our young people about the Newtown tragedy and now this. Let’s pray for an end to […]

Faith that is CAUGHT, not TAUGHT – What Makes a Message “Contagious”

Joe Paprocki

In ministerial circles, it is not uncommon to hear the phrase “Faith is caught, not taught.”The point of the phrase is that faith is something that involves more than just transmitting information. With that in mind, it might be helpful to know just what makes a message go “viral” – what makes a message “contagious.” Seeking answers, I recently read a very good book: Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger (Simon & Schuster) […]

End of the Year Assessment

Joe Paprocki

This coming Monday, I will do a formal assessment to see to what extent my 6th graders have grasped the BIG ideas I attempted to teach them this year in religious education! First, we will do a Jeopardy-like review using a Powerpoint version of the game that I found online a couple of years ago. You can manipulate this according to your own needs, changing categories, questions, and answers and hyperlinking from the “game board” […]

Nice Blog Post: “The Choir Director as Catechist”

Joe Paprocki

I am a big believer in the role that sacred music plays in catechesis, so I was delighted to see this blog post from Andrew Motyka, the Archdiocesan Director of Liturgical Music and Cathedral Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis: The Choir Director as Catechist

“We’re Learning About Jesus in World History!”

Joe Paprocki

Last evening’s session was very enjoyable on a number of levels. First and foremost, I had an opportunity to once again teach an entire class and I think the kids enjoyed getting back to a sense of normalcy after all of the special events they were a part of over the last six weeks. We spent the evening focusing one more time on the Bible. The activity with this Bible worksheet (Session 23 Bible Worksheet […]

The Sights and Sounds of Pope Francis’ Election – A Primer on Catholic Identity

Joe Paprocki

The election of Pope Francis last month provided the world with what can be called a “primer” on Catholic identity. The images from St. Peter’s Square leading up to and including the introduction of Pope Francis were rich but often subtle…too subtle for the media to catch and articulate. In my book, Practice Makes Catholic, I identify 5 characteristics of Catholic identity: A Sense of Sacramentality – making the intangible, tangible; the invisible, visible (signs, […]

Encountering God in the Bible

Joe Paprocki

After what seemed like an endless string of interruptions (days off, practices for Seder Meal, Lenten and Holy Week prayer services, etc.) in our regular teaching schedule, I finally get to teach a lesson this coming Monday! With only 3 classes left for teaching, I am going to do one more session on the Bible this Monday before sending their Bibles home with them. Here’s my plan: Session 23 – Encountering God in the Bible Session […]

From Lent to Easter—From Fasting to Feasting (Savoring)

Joe Paprocki

We just finished 40 days of Lent in order to prepare to celebrate 50 days of Easter! During Lent, we practice specific disciplines: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. So how do we “practice” Easter? We certainly don’t give up on praying and almsgiving, although those are colored now more by joyful gratitude than penance. But what does it mean to move from fasting to feasting? Feasting is not to be associated with gluttony. Feasting, for Catholics, […]