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.

Celebrating Two New U.S. Saints!

Joe Paprocki

As you prepare your lessons for this week, you may want to include a little information about this coming Sunday’s canonization of 2 American saints: Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint, and Blessed Mother Marianne Cope, who spent the last 30 years of her life ministering to the sick on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. The canonization Mass will take place at the Vatican October 21, 2012. Included among the seven total saints […]

Session 5: Keeping it Simple!

Joe Paprocki

Knowing that we have a fire drill scheduled for Monday evening, I need to keep my lesson plan simple! The fire drill will probably eat up 10 minutes of the schedule which, if you do the math, is nearly 15% of a 75 minute class! With that in mind, I have a simple plan for this lesson which is to tie up some loose ends from the Learning Stations we did a few weeks ago. […]

A Year of Faith…So What?

Joe Paprocki

OK, that title above might be a little provocative. I am certainly not approaching the Year of Faith with a dismissive attitude. However, the “so what?” question is always key: we need to be able to explain what it is that we do as Catholics and why. So, a Year of Faith…faith in WHAT? Faith in whom? Simply put, our faith is not in a set of ideas or in an institution. It is in […]

Understanding the New Evangelization

Joe Paprocki

On this Columbus Day, it seems appropriate to talk about the New Evangelization. Why? Because the treks of Christopher Columbus and his contemporaries epitomize the “old” evangelization: the quest to bring the Gospel to foreign lands. For many centuries, evangelization was thought of as something relegated to missionaries who traveled to faraway exotic lands to convert pagans. Today, we are in need of a New Evangelization – an effort that includes ALL Catholics in “re-proposing” […]

Everyone Has a Right to Faith Formation

Joe Paprocki

This is a guest post by David and Mercedes Rizzo. Around the time of our daughter’s fourth birthday, she was diagnosed with autism. We refer to this period as when the autism bomb dropped. When faced with a diagnosis like that many thoughts flood the mind. One of the thoughts we had was how would Danielle be able to make her First Holy Communion and her other sacraments? We were fortunate that a parish close […]

What Challenge(s) Are YOU Facing This Year?

Joe Paprocki

One of the things that I take pride in about my blog is the fact that I always try to give an honest account of how my sessions go: the good, the bad, and the ugly! So, it’s no accident that my post yesterday included an honest self-assessment of my Monday evening session with a focus on a couple of the challenges that I face (trying to do too much; dealing with a child exhibiting […]

Biting Off More Than THEY Can Chew!

Joe Paprocki

If you have been following me here at Catechist’s Journey for any length of time, you know that my biggest chronic problem as a catechist is trying to do too much (biting off more than THEY can chew)! From time to time, I need to make an adjustment to narrow the scope of what I hope to accomplish (not lower my expectations, but just be more realistic). Last night was one of those nights. Overall, […]

The Bible Tells Our Story

Joe Paprocki

Here is the outline for my session on Monday, October 1, 2012: Big Idea: The Bible Tells Our Story Action Plan Preliminaries: (15 mins) Instrumental music in background (CD/player) Prayer intention slips and pens at places Prayer center objects on side table Hold bowl of holy water at the door Greet students at door with holy water – bless selves Students are seated and write out prayer intentions Take attendance Do Prayer Center Procession Opening […]

Talking About The New Evangelization on A Nun’s Life

Joe Paprocki

Tonight (6:00 – 7:00 pm CT), I’ll be engaged in conversation about the New Evangelization and the Year of Faith with Sr. Julie Vieira, IHM and Sr. Maxine Kollasch, IHM of A Nun’s Life as part of their In Good Faith podcast. You can join in at www.aNunsLife.org/LIVE. I had the pleasure of working with Sr. Julie at Loyola Press for several years before she moved on to take on A Nun’s Life as a full-time ministry […]

Answer Keys for Bible Learning Stations Fill-in Sheets

Joe Paprocki

Here are the Answer Keys for the Student Fill-in Sheets that we used for the Bible Learning Stations. While all the “answers” are on the learning stations, it’s nice for the catechist to have them at his/her fingertips when reviewing! Bible Learning Stations fill in sheets – Bible Basics – Answer Key Bible Learning Stations fill in sheets – Old Testament – Answer Key Bible Learning Stations fill in sheets – New Testament – Answer […]