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.

Nice Review of A Well-Built Faith

Thanks to the folks at Good News Daily for providing the following positive review of my new book, A Well-Built Faith!   New Book Helps Catholics Nail Down the Facts of Their Faith CHICAGO, (Christian Newswire) – The Catechism of the Catholic Church is over nine hundred pages long, so it comes as no surprise that many Catholics think of their faith as complex–and certainly too complex to share with others! In A Well-Built Faith: […]

8 Reasons to Bring Your Child Regularly to Mass

One of the biggest frustrations that catechists have is the fact that so many of our students are not attending Mass (because their parents are not attending). Here is a helpful resource I recently came across titled, “8 Reasons to Bring Your Child Regularly to Mass.” It is in a parent “magazine” called “Together: Preparing at Home for First Eucharist” ((written by Tom McGrath) that is a part of the God’s Gift: Eucharist program (Loyola […]

The Liturgical Calendar, the Paschal Mystery, and the Grand Canyon

If you’ve ever visited the Grand Canyon, you know that its immenseness is overwhelming: 277 river miles long, up to 18 mles wide, and a mile deep! All around the rim of the Canyon are numerous breathtaking look-out points. What do visitors to the Grand Canyon do? They walk along the trails and pause at various look-out points to take in the view from specific vantage points. Along the way, they are looking at the same […]

Learning Outcomes

Too often, when we catechists plan for our lessons, we concentrate on what it is that WE will be doing. “I’ll cover chapter 10, then play Jeopardy to review the main points of the lesson, then I’ll lead prayer, and so on…” It’s important to remember that, in our planning, the focus should be on what the participants will be doing. Today, most catechist manuals use the phrase learning outcomes to identify what the participants […]

Discerning the Call to Be a Catechist

To be a catechist is to have a vocation – a call from God. This means that if you are contemplating becoming a catechist, you need to involved God in the decision-making.  We call this discernment. Here are a few tips I’ve written on the practice of discernment: Many choices we face in life are very complex. How do we know what God wants us to do? What is God’s will for us? This is […]

Greetings, Australia!

What an amazing world we live in that a catechist in North America (me) can somehow connect with a potential catechist in Australia, some 10,000 miles away! I received the following comment from a prospective catechist in Australia after she viewed my catechist recruitment video. Joe, Viewed your video clip as I am considering the call to become a catechist in my Parish in New South Wales Australia.As you would be aware we have just […]

Catechetical Sunday – September 21, 2008

Have you marked your calendar for Catechetical Sunday? It officially takes place September 21, 2008. Of course, check with your parish DRE…some parishes celebrate on a different date because of conflicts in their local calendar (it’s not a liturgical feast, so parishes can celebrate it whenever they want).     Be sure to check out http://www.usccbpublishing.org/client/client_pages/catsun.cfm  

Recruiting Catechists – Check Out My Video

I have a new “weapon” in the ongoing battle to recruit new catechists! Click on this picture:     Recruiting catechists is one of the most difficult challenges that catechetical leaders face! We catechists know that the invitation to become a catechist, while flattering, can also be intimidating. We’re not sure if we are qualified or capable of forming others in the faith. As a result, we often come into this ministry with a pinch […]

Catechesis as Courtship

Does anyone remember courtship? Back in the day, the process of a young man and a young woman entering into an ever-deepening relationship followed a pattern. For some, this pattern still exists, however, with society’s casual attitudes about sex, for many the process is “out the window.” Anyway, courtship follows a definite pattern: the couple meet and introduce themselves the couple spends time getting to know one another as a relationship develops, the couple learns […]

An Excerpt From My New Book!

Here is an excerpt from my new book, A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe: Shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, there was a great deal of tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in many parts of the United States. In an effort to respond to the situation with Gospel values, I invited the Imam of a local Muslim community in the Chicago suburbs to meet with a […]

1 243 244 245 246 247 276