I’m excited and proud to tell you about my upcoming book, A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe, to be published by Loyola Press (available late this summer). Here’s how I describe the purpose/goal of the book in the Introduction: We Catholics seek to be people who have the right tools and a firm foundation to serve God and others. How do we do this? Through faith formation. Catechesis […]
I just received a handout from a friend, titled “40 Days, 40 Possibilities.” It provides some very practical suggestions for practicing the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Click here to access it. I hope you find it helpful for yourself as well as for those you teach.
I’m glad that we receive ashes only once a year and have the opportunity to receive the Eucharist everyday (and not the other way around!). Both actions express the same message: we are incapable of sustaining ourselves. On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of what we are when no longer sustained by God: dust. The Eucharist, on the other hand, IS what sustains us—God’s grace—the presence of Jesus within us. The message of Ash Wednesday […]
Alas, we were snowed out in Naperville last evening! However, we are going to work hard to re-schedule so I still hope to meet the army of 300 catechists! I will miss my upcoming Monday night RE class because of a management seminar I need to attend. I’ve been very careful about keeping Monday nights “sacred” for my commitment as a catechist, but this is one that the company is sending me on. Luckily, my […]
The movie 300 tells the tale of the brave and elite Spartan army of 300 soldiers that went up against the Persian army of over a hundred thousand. Good movie. Tonight, I am gathering with another brave and elite army of 300…catechists, that is! Weather permitting, I will be in Naperville in the Joliet diocese, speaking about The Catechist’s Toolbox to 300 catechists from a number of parishes in that area. The DREs are treating […]
Here are some great thoughts from a contributor named Maura about how they get parents of older kids to attend a few RE events at their parish: Our solution to getting parents of older students to attend has been to build their participation into an opening and closing session for the Jr. High schedule. Parents are asked to attend the first and last class of the year with their child during which we do a […]
Last night, our religious education Open House attracted a number of parents of children in the lower grades, however, for the upper grades, the parents were nowhere to be found. I asked the young people at the start of class if any of their parents would be attending and they all said no, one of them saying, “My mom says it’s the same thing every year, so why bother?” That’s disappointing. I would have loved […]
The other day, I announced the publication of a Leader’s Guide for The Catechist’s Toolbox and indicated that it was free with a purchase of 25 copies of The Catechist’s Toolbox. I’m told by the folks in Customer Service and Sales at Loyola Press that, for those of you who made a previous bulk purchase of The Catechist’s Toolbox, you are welcome to call to request a free copy of the Leader’s Guide.
This coming Monday evening is our Open House for the School of Religious Education and we anticipate parents coming to sit in on their children’s sessions. Of course, we want to be sure that some very engaging things are going on that evening! I’ve decided to do a Bible activity with my group which is based on my book God’s Library: A Catholic Introduction to the World’s Greatest Book (this book is now out of […]
I am proud to announce that Loyola Press has published A Leader’s Guide for The Catechist’s Toolbox! I wrote this guide to assist catechetical leaders in using The Catechist’s Toolbox with their catechists. The guide consists of 18 brief inservices – one for each chapter of The Catechist’s Toolbox. Each inservice is designed to be 30-45 minutes in length. The Catechist’s Toolbox has sold nearly 40,000 copies already and this Leader’s Guide will now assist […]
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