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.

Leading Spontaneous Prayer, Part Two – You, WHO, Do, Through

Joe Paprocki

During our Webinar – Leading Prayer as a Catechist – we explored a formula to help us lead spontaneous prayer: remembering the words YOU, WHO, DO, THROUGH. Liturgical/Eucharistic prayer includes these 4 elements: YOU (we address God and praise him using divine titles), WHO (we describe the great things that God has done), DO (we pray for God to do something for us now), THROUGH (we pray to the Father, through his Son, Jesus, with the […]

Leading Spontaneous Prayer – You, Who, Do, Through

Joe Paprocki

Good Voices & Bad Voices

Joe Paprocki

The most successful part of yesterday’s class was our discussion of which voices we should listen to in order to shape a good conscience and which voices we need to avoid or “erase” in order to avoid temptation. First, I brought in a mini-cassette recorder and passed it around so that each child could say something which they really enjoyed. I played it back and they all got a kick out of listening to themselves […]

God Asks Us to Obey

Joe Paprocki

Here’s my plan for this coming Monday’s session: Monday, October 4, 2010 Theme: God Asks Us to Obey Big Idea: We shape and form our conscience so that we can know right from wrong and be faithful followers of Jesus Engage (15 mins) As kids enter, provide them with a small container of Play-doh and invite them to create a shape Opening prayer ritual Review of last session – show broken popsicle stick and rock […]

Shout Out to Eastern Penn DREs!

Joe Paprocki

These are just some of the happy faces at the 28th annual Eastern Pennsylvania DRE Gathering which took place over the past few days at the Golden Inn in Avalon, NJ. I was privileged to be the presenter for the event, offering 3 presentations over a couple of days, focusing on the theme of “Immersed in Christ – Proud to be Catholic.” What a wonderful event. Over 100 DREs gather for this formational and fun getaway […]

I Need Your Input

Joe Paprocki

For my next lesson, I plan to show my class some kid-friendly, Catholic Web sites where they can learn about the Catholic faith. I’m looking for Web sites that are appropriate for intermediate grade kids (grades 4-6), are interactive, and invite kids to learn about and practice the Catholic faith. I have a few in mind already, but I’d like to know what sites you know of and would recommend. I look forward to your […]

Leading Prayer Webinar

Joe Paprocki

My next Webinar – Leading Prayer as a Catechist – is one week from today! Here’s the scoop: Leading Prayer as a Catechist Facilitator: Joe Paprocki, DMin Tuesday, October 5, 2010 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. (CST) Becoming a catechist is exciting and, let’s face it, somewhat intimidating! New catechists are eager to learn some basic teaching skills to help them gain confidence as they begin their service in this vocation. This Webinar will provide catechists, […]

Except for Bathroom Breaks…

Joe Paprocki

Except for an excessive number of requests to go the the bathroom, last night’s class was extremely successful! 🙂 Although I had informed the kids on the first class that they needed to go to the bathroom before coming to class, last night at least 5 kids asked to go at separate times! It breaks up the momentum and takes my aide out of the classroom. Other than that, however, the class was extremely successful. […]

Trust Me!

Joe Paprocki

In my ongoing efforts to teach according to a principle set forth by St. Ignatius of Loyola—”When teaching, enter through their door, but be sure to leave through your door”—I have found a couple of cute video clips that fourth graders should be able to relate to as a way of introducing the concept of trust and how God can be trusted because he kept his promise of salvation. The first is the Geico insurance […]

Blessed be the LORD, My Rock

Joe Paprocki

For today’s class, we will be focusing on how we can trust in God, who is our “Rock” (drawing from Psalm 144:1). To reinforce the idea, I’m giving each of the students a rock with the words “Blessed be the LORD, my rock” Ps 144:1 Where did I get these from? It so happens that I live near some railroad tracks, so I went over there and picked out a number of gray rocks with […]