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.

Have a Cup of Joe with Joe!

Joe Paprocki

If you are attending the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress this week, I’d like to invite you to join us for a conversation about the New Evangelization. I will lead the conversation with a group of catechetical ministers from all over the country as we share our thoughts and insights about the meaning and implications of the New Evangelization. Complimentary coffee & breakfast pastries will be served. When: Friday, February 22, 2013, from 7:30 a.m. […]

Lenten Webinar in a Year of Faith: Recording Now Available!

Joe Paprocki

Thanks to the speedy and careful work of my colleagues Nick Yonto and Rosemary Lane, the recording of the LentenWebinar is now available!

Q & A from Lenten Webinar

Joe Paprocki

Just a reminder that a recording of my Lenten Webinar will be posted here shortly…stay tuned. In the meantime, I received a number of questions from participants during the Webinar and did not have time to address them that evening so I’m happy to do so now. Here they are: Lent 2013 Webinar Q & A (PDF) Lenten Webinar Q & A – Word Document Lenten Webinar Q & A (Word 97-03) [photo courtesy of Matt […]

Letting Go of Bad Habits During Lent

Joe Paprocki

During my Webinar last evening, I asked participants to share suggestions of bad habits we can let go of during Lent. What a great list of suggestions! What resonates with you? What might you add? Gossiping Lack of patience Anger Being judgmental Laziness TV Shows Negative self talk Being opinionated Spending too much time on Facebook Watching too much TV Spending too much time on the Internet Negative thinking Not praying enough Unkind words to […]

Lent in a Year of Faith Webinar – A Note-Taking Sheet

Joe Paprocki

To assist you during this evening’s webinar – Lent in a Year of Faith: How to Proclaim the Gospel with Power – I have put together a Note-Taking Sheet which you can download and print. It’s available in 3 formats in case you have trouble opening one or the other: Lenten Webinar Note Taking Sheet – Word Document Lenten Webinar Note Taking Sheet – Word 97-2003 Lenten Webinar Note Taking Sheet – PDF If you’ve […]

Prayers for Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI on the Announcement of his Resignation

Joe Paprocki

Just a few months ago, I read an interesting book titled The Pope Who Quit that tells the fascinating tale of the election and subsequent resignation of Pope Celestine V in 1294, the only pope to ever abdicate the Chair of St. Peter. That story provides a context for us to understand just how historic is the announcement of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Given the significance of this moment, it is evident that our […]

Lent 2013: Here Are My 40 Ideas for 40 Days!

Joe Paprocki

Just in time for Lent, here are my 40 Ideas for 40 Days! Special thanks to my colleague Linnette Mathys for getting all of these ready for posting! New this year: each activity can now be downloaded as a Blackline Master in PDF form! See the bottom of each activity for a link to download and print these PDFs! Also, don’t miss my Lenten Webinar, coming up on Tuesday, February 12, 2013. Click on […]

A “Typical” Year in the Life of a Catechetical Leader/DRE

Joe Paprocki

A couple of years ago, I posted a chart outlining the “typical” responsibilities that a catechetical leader/DRE is faced with over the course of a year and I received great feedback and suggestions on how to flesh that out and make it more accurate. I recently pulled that chart back out, did some updating, and invited a few DRE friends to do the same and once again received some great suggestions. Here it is once […]

6th Grade Psalms

Joe Paprocki

We had a very enjoyable session last evening focusing on the Psalms. In case you missed it, here is what I had planned. The kids enjoyed the opening activity of describing the emotions portrayed in a series of pictures and selecting one that best described how they felt at the moment (they almost all selected the picture that represented being tired except for one very peppy young man who said, “I’m just happy to be […]

The Psalms: The Sound of Music Returns!

Joe Paprocki

No, I’m not showing the Julie Andrews classic! I’m simply referring to the fact that my session for this evening will include a return to the use of music as a key feature. I’ve done a lot with video this year so I thought it would be a good idea to do something more auditory. For tonight’s session, I’m going to focus on the Psalms. Due to a quirk in the calendar, this is really […]