A very blessed Easter to you all! My wife and I had the pleasure of attending the Easter Vigil at St. Clement parish on the North side of Chicago. It was a beautiful and moving experience. It was doubly special because a friend and co-worker was being received into the Catholic Church that night. Fr. Ken Simpson, the pastor, gave an excellent homily. He spoke about what he called “the angel with an attitude” from […]
I always found it interesting that society as a whole embraces the Christmas story…creche scenes abound and the story is told and sung of a child being born in humble surroundings. For Easter, we have bunnies, jellybeans, colored eggs, and flowers! And yet, the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place is because it is the birth of the one who died and rose from the dead. Without Easter – the Resurrection – there […]
Not too long ago, I offered information about my “new” DVD, Welcome to God’s Library. Read the details here: http://www.catechistsjourney.org/2008/02/10/welcome-to-gods-library-on-dvd/ I wanted to pass along some very nice feedback I received from a catechist by the name of Vera: Dear Joe, A few days ago I watched the Welcome to God’s Library DVD and was impressed with how you un-complicated the Bible. I’ve always thought that I had to memorize where certain stories were in […]
Last night, the 8th graders did the Living Stations of the Cross and they did a beautiful job. They showed a reverence that was very refreshing. 4 of my students had prominent roles: narrator, Simon of Cyrene, Veronica, and one of the women of Jerusalem. I was very proud of them and of all the 8th graders, including the rest of my group that behaved well as part of the assembly. Kudos to our DRE, Arlene, […]
In honor of Holy Week, I offer you these links to prayerful reflections on the Seven Last Words of Christ and the Stations of the Cross: The First Word The Second Word The Third Word The Fourth Word The Fifth Word The Sixth Word The Seventh Word The Stations of the Cross
As we approach Holy Week, it is not unusual to see Catholic parishes, often the religious education programs, hosting a Seder Meal – the ritual meal that Jews celebrate to mark Passover. The intention, it would seem, is to show the connection between Eucharist and Passover. It is true that there is an intimate connection between the Eucharist and the Passover. I would venture to say that one cannot fully grasp the Catholic understanding of […]
Here are some interesting facts about how the Internet has influenced kids’ traditional viewing habits: 64% of kids report going online while watching TV, with 49% of Teens doing the same from three times a week to several times a day. 73% of kids are actively multitasking, which is up by +33% since 2002. 50% of 9 to 17-year-olds visit websites they see on TV even as they continue to watch 45% of teens have […]
I had a list of topics that I’ve wanted to blog about and couldn’t decide which one to pick so I thought I’d address them all! Here goes: They came back! Kudos, once again to my DRE, Arlene, for making it clear that Confirmation is not the end. All of my students (save for one absentee) returned last night for their first class after Confirmation! Their biggest comment about Confirmation? “The bishop put SO much […]
Tonight, we enter into the post-confirmation era which begins with the big question: will they be back? Last year, all of the confirmandi returned for religious education classes after the sacrament was celebrated. Our DRE does a good job of communicating to parents that confirmation is NOT the end of the the religious education program. Let’s hope the message got through again this year. Even so, tonight’s class will be somewhat smaller than usual because […]
How often do we hear kids say, either about Mass or about religious education class, “It’s boring”? Too often, I’m sure. Kids (and most of us in general) are engaged when there is drama involved. That’s why sports is so big…we don’t know how the game is going to turn out and so we are engaged. Movies and video games are big because we don’t know how they will end. One of the challenges we […]
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