Today people expect the books they purchase to have “extras,” such as online activities and games. We don’t just read books anymore; we interact with them! With that in mind, Loyola Press has two new wonderful books that come with extras. Audacious Ignatius by Paul Mitchell, illustrated by Katie Broussard—First of all, I love this book! I love its playfulness while telling the story of St. Ignatius of Loyola so that children can come to […]
Yesterday, we had our March session of Finding God family catechesis, and our topic was Catholic identity (part of Finding God Unit 3, which focuses on the topic of Church). We had a very good session! Here are some highlights: We welcomed back Patrick McGowan, our catechetical leader, after a medical leave. Patrick remained with me to do the parent session since Deacon Andy was unavailable. One of the catechists stepped in to Patrick’s usual […]
It’s nice to be invited to take the lead on an exciting project or to accept a new job offer that has come our way unexpectedly. It can also be very frightening! Such invitations always come with a fair amount of unknowns that cause us to hesitate and perhaps even doubt ourselves and our capabilities. This often happens when we sense that God is calling us to move in a new direction in our life. […]
I remember, in high school, being told by one of the Jesuit priests to listen for God speaking to me. After several weeks of listening, I told the priest, “This isn’t working. I don’t hear any voices.” He smiled and said, “Ah, I see I need to teach you to listen with your heart instead of with your ears.” It took me a while to understand what it meant to listen with my heart, but […]
In many family catechesis programs, such as the one I’m participating in at St. Barnabas Parish in Chicago, the parish catechists are limited to leading sessions with children once per month while parents complete the remaining sessions of a unit with their children at home. This, of course, is very different from the traditional practice of parish catechists leading sessions on a weekly basis. At the same time, it accomplishes what many catechists have been […]
Being humble is definitely not in vogue these days! In fact, quite the opposite is true as celebrities, athletes, and politicians all seem determined to toot their own horns as loudly as possible. Unfortunately, humility too often gets bad press in our contemporary culture, which tends to view it as a belittling of oneself. Humility, however, is “not thinking less of yourself, but thinking about yourself less.” (C.S. Lewis) Humility is simply seeing ourselves as […]
I am very excited to announce that our popular online formation and training experience for catechists, the Catechetical Formation Series, is now available in Spanish! Introducing Serie de formación catequética! The Catechetical Formation Series is a program I developed for Loyola Press to provide basic training and formation for catechists in the areas of being, knowing, and doing. As the program grew in popularity, along with that came requests for a Spanish version. To guide […]
For the month of March, our Finding God Family Catechesis gathering at St. Barnabas will focus on the unit on Church, with the theme of “Catholic Identity: Does My Faith Make a Difference?” I particularly love this topic, because we Catholics indeed have unique ways of thinking, speaking, and acting that can and should make us stand out from the crowd! In this session, we will explore five characteristics of Catholic identity as drawn from […]
Part of my growing up included working in my dad’s drugstore. As I grew older, I began to strategize ways to increase sales. I learned about the reality of impulse buying and proceeded to surround the check-out area with impulse items such as gum, disposable lighters, snack bars, breath fresheners, travel-size beauty items and sundries, and so on. The truth is, we do a lot of things on impulse, which means that we act without […]
As an introvert, I have a hard time making small talk. In fact, I often joke that people are hesitant to have lunch alone with me, because before long, the conversation will be deep—not heavy or controversial, but just meaningful. During the past month alone, three such conversations resulted in tears (a mixture of sad/joyful tears) being shared. I consider these meaningful conversations to be spiritual conversations, or conversations that touch the heart. In fact, […]
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