At the end of Monday evening’s session, I asked each of the kids to share one thing they learned that evening: spiritual and corporal works of mercy, social justice, service, and living the Beatitudes. I was struck by how many of the young people referred to the poverty quiz that they took in the social justice session with Chris. Many of them pulled the quiz out and quoted a fact or figure about poverty in […]
For last night’s session, we had the kids assemble Works of Mercy mini-booklets as you see pictured here. Depending on the time available, you can either have the kids assemble the pages of their booklets or you can do this ahead of time. Given the short time that I have for the mini-sessions, I chose to assemble the (blank) pages of the booklets at home. I made 60 of them in about a half-hour while listening to […]
Happy New Year everybody!!! I hope, pray, and trust that this year will be filled with many blessings for you in your role as a catechist! Tonight, when I teach, I plan to wear my Blackhawks jersey, which I’m wearing here in this picture at last night’s Hawks’ victory (my daughter Amy’s first Hawks game). I want to point out that we make a statement by what we wear. I’ll then ask the kids to […]
I’d like to take this opportunity, before signing off for the holidays, to wish each and everyone of you a very blessed Christmas! May Jesus be born again in each of our hearts and, as catechists, may we help others to experience the birth of Christ in their lives. Here are a few words from our Holy Father that we can all take to heart: “Today, as in the time of Jesus, Christmas is not […]
Here is my latest contribution to The Busted Halo Question Box: Why are the non-canonical gospels not considered valid? Also, here’s the link to my radio interview yesterday with Relevant Radio…click on Hour 2.
Of the many hats that I wear, one of them is as the author of the regular feature What’s Your Catholic IQ? in Catechist Magazine. Lots of catechists enjoy this regular feature and I enjoy writing it because I learn a lot in my research! Check it out: What’s Your Catholic IQ? January, 2010.
Yesterday, I provided a rather glowing summary of Monday evening’s Confirmation Intensive. Indeed, the evening overall went very well and was a positive experience. On the other hand, there are always a few moments that provide sobering reminders of the troubles that some of these kids have. The Confirmation Intensives allows me the opportunity to catch a glimpse, so to speak, of each of the five 8th grade classes. For the most part, each of […]
I began class last night by inviting the kids to join me in another room that I had set up with my “crystal ball!” I have a light fixture – a globe – that is tinted white and I placed a battery operated flickering candle inside of it and wrapped a purple cloth around the base of it. All of the lights in the room were turned off and I had a CD playing in […]
Tonight, as we begin our first of five Confirmation Intensives (class will be for two hours instead of 75 minutes, comprised of five different mini-sessions), I will be teaching about images of the Holy Spirit: water, anointing, fire, and a dove. To introduce this concept, I am bringing in a blank red octagon that I cut out of construction paper and afixed to a stick. I plan to show it to the kids and to […]
Thanks to all of you who sent in such heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of my 3rd “blogiversary!” It means a lot to me to read about the many ways that my blog has touched the lives of catechists! Congratulations to Sue who sent in the following comment and is the winner of the drawing for an autographed set of my Loyola Press books! “Well done,my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in […]
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