Most of us catechists would prefer to “preach to the choir.” In other words, we tend to hope that our classes will have good participants who are enthusiastic about faith formation. I know I do. Today’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus came to seek out the lost. This Gospel challenges us catechists to pay special attention to those participants in our group who are “lost.” I pray that this week as I teach, I will […]
I had a wonderful time in Peosta, Iowa, with over a hundred catechists, talking about the skills and knowledge that we need to be effective in our ministry. Thanks to all for the warm hospitality! I had a chance to visit the Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville! It was like a dream come true. This is one of my favorite movies of all time and it was so much fun to be there […]
I’m off to Peosta, Iowa, to meet with about 200 catechists from the Dubuque archdiocese! I look forward to talking with them about catechetical skills and strategies from The Catechist’s Toolbox. I’m glad I have a session of religious education under my belt so that I have some fresh experiences to draw on. While there, I plan to visit the “Field of Dreams”….the baseball field built in the middle of a corn field for the […]
Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I am blessed with a wonderful group of 8th graders! Tonight’s first class (I couldn’t wait till the morning to write this post!) went like a dream. I have 15 eighth graders – 8 boys and 7 girls – and from the moment they walked in, I could tell they were going to be a good group. They were polite and friendly, very outgoing, and very respectful. I […]
Here’s a copy of the e-mail I sent to my catechist aide, Kris, outlining the “game plan” for our first session which takes place this evening: Hi Kris, Fasten your seatbelt..opening day is here! Here’s the plan for tomorrow: We’re in room 24 I’ll be there by 6:40 itching to get into our room First one there (you or me) should pick up our bin and bring it to the room I’ll also pick up […]
This coming Monday is my first session (I don’t like to use the word “class”) with my 8th graders this year. I have 7 boys and 7 girls! How nice! Of course, this means that I’ll be spending a few hours this weekend planning my session. There’s always so much to do on the first day. My goal will be to be welcoming and engaging, to focus on getting to know their names, to lay […]
In today’s world, the concept of “coaches” has really grown. Now, we not only have coaches for sports, but we have business coaches, relationship coaches, life coaches, and so on. (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, just Google life coaches and you’ll see what I mean) I like to think of catechists as “faith coaches.” I used this term last night when I spent the evening with the 6th grade families at St. […]
I’m fulfilling my civic duty today: reporting for jury duty. I’ll be back tomorrow (unless I’m on some sequestered jury!)
Elton John had a song some years ago titled “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word.” He’s right and this morning I learned the hard way. While parallel parking this morning near the train station, the woman parked in front of me suddenly started waving her arms and yelling, while pointing at her bumper, “YOU HIT ME!!!” I’ve parallel parked thousands of times and I know when I “hit” someone. I told her I hadn’t […]
The first parish I worked in, St. Mary of the Assumption (Chicago), had a fairly substantial resource library of videos that could be used in religious education. Likewise, when I taught high school religion, we had a large collection of videos to use in religion classes. I realize that we often don’t have that much time in our classes however, showing a good video can be a very effective means of engaging those we teach. […]
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