Articles by Joe Paprocki

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.

Pop-Up Catechesis: Christ the King and Noble Leadership

Joe Paprocki

Recently, Americans went to the polls to elect leadership that they hope will serve the country well. Before democracy came on the scene, most nations were headed by royalty, dating back thousands of years. While we tend to think of leaders like kings and queens as rulers, in truth, leaders are called to serve, and this service is called to be noble (virtuous, dignified, distinguished, extraordinary). In short, it is a call to be heroic, which means […]

Advent: The Season of Hope That We Really Need

Joe Paprocki

It is an understatement to say that 2020 has been a challenging year! We can’t wait to turn the page and move on to a new year. For Catholics, that turning of the page happens a month before the secular holiday of New Year’s Day on January 1. We celebrate the beginning of our liturgical year on the First Sunday of Advent, which is only a few weeks away, on November 29. Advent is always […]

Pop-Up Catechesis: Advent Hope

Joe Paprocki

People seem to be interested in knowing what the future holds for them—so much so that some will do everything from reading their horoscopes to visiting a fortune teller. The truth is, we don’t know what the future will hold for us, except for the one thing that we can be sure of: Jesus will be a part of our lives! We celebrate the season of Advent with this confident joy, knowing that abundant graces […]

A Prayer for Catechists - text next to icons indicating forms of prayer

Prayer: You Called Me to Proclaim Your Name

Joe Paprocki

Lord, thank you for all the people who have proclaimed your name throughout the past two thousand years. Many have given their lives so that today I can encounter you. I feel happy and fulfilled by my faith, knowing that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one awaited through the ages. You are the beginning and the end. You are the Lord of Life. Help me make our encounters increasingly frequent and […]

Prayer and Storytelling with a Digital Twist

Joe Paprocki

In my book, Preparing Hearts and Minds: 9 Simple Ways for Catechists to Cultivate a Living Faith, I emphasize the need for meaningful experiences of prayer and effective storytelling as crucial elements for a more evangelizing catechesis. As a Church, we have been praying and storytelling for more than 2,000 years, so these are nothing new. What is new, however, is the digital world of which we are all now citizens! The digital world has opened up […]

Pop-Up Catechesis: November, the Month of All Souls

Joe Paprocki

For Catholics, the entire month of November (leading up to the First Sunday of Advent) is commemorated as the Month of All Souls—an opportunity to remember, honor, and pray for all of our deceased loved ones. In this episode of Pop-Up Catechesis, we explore the practice of setting up a home altar of remembrance with pictures of deceased loved ones and candles to help us recall these special people and to pray for them throughout the […]

two young men talking - photo by Anna Vander Stel on Unsplash

Accompaniment: Giving People the “Time of Day”

Joe Paprocki

In the new Directory for Catechesis, there is a good amount of attention devoted to the notion of accompaniment. This is not surprising, since Pope Francis used the phrase “the art of accompaniment” in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. But what exactly does accompaniment look like? Simply put, to accompany someone is to give that person the “time of day”—a phrase we use to describe acknowledging someone and giving that someone our attention. It is to […]

Printable Saints Figures

Joe Paprocki

Celebrate the saints with our printable saints figures. Featuring art and saints from Finding God: Our Response to God’s Gift Kindergarten, these figures are a fun and simple project to color, cut, and fold. Here are a few ideas for how to use these saints figures: Display the finished figures on a classroom shelf or prayer table, or in the background for an online catechetical session. Fold the finished picture around a toilet paper tube […]

father and daughter watching video on tablet computer

Enhancing Sacramental Preparation with Engaging Videos

Joe Paprocki

I have long been an advocate of using engaging videos to enhance faith formation, as long as they are never used to replace the catechist. In other words, videos should always be seen as a supplement to the faith formation experience—a way of reinforcing important content visually and/or a way of telling a story that invites the viewer into a deeper experience of the theme being explored. In my years at Loyola Press, I have been […]