Joe Paprocki, Author at Catechist's Journey

Calling Forth Catechists - text near loudspeakers

Recruiting, Nay, Calling and Forming Catechists

Recruiting and forming catechists is a primary responsibility for catechetical leaders and is an ongoing challenge. You’re not just looking for any warm body but for people with the gifts that enable them to apprentice others into the faith. With that in mind, I prefer to use the word calling instead of recruiting. We recruit people to perform a function. We call people to live out a vocation! Serving as a catechist is more than simple volunteerism. […]

Microshifts for Catechists: Working on Positive Presence

Joe Paprocki

One of my favorite new books from Loyola Press is Gary Jansen’s Microshifts: Transforming Your Life One Step at a Time. This book makes so much sense to me, because few of us wake up one day and decide to be evil and accomplish it in one huge fell swoop. We tend to “wade” into unseemly thoughts and actions on a gradual basis, often without paying attention to where we are going until we find […]

Use Vacation to Renew Your Vocation

Joe Paprocki

Feeling a little flat? Except for having a flat tummy, it is usually not a positive thing to say that something is flat. Food, music, a carbonated drink, an acting performance, an athletic performance: if any of these are referred to as flat, that’s not a good thing! Sometimes, as catechists, we can find ourselves feeling “flat.” The General Directory for Catechesis tells us that, to avoid being flat, we catechists need formation that is […]

The Place of the Textbook in Faith Formation

Joe Paprocki

Years ago, a very wise person—Sr. Marlene Halpin, O.P.—explained that the reason young people walk away from the Catholic faith after Confirmation is because they never developed an affective relationship with Jesus Christ. As a result, they are walking away from a “subject”—religion—in the same way they walk away from other subjects they learn in school but are not particularly interested in. Today, as we continue to see the “hemorrhaging” of young Catholics from the […]

Six More Strategies for Empowering Families to Be the Domestic Church

Joe Paprocki

The following is excerpted from All God’s People: Effective Catechesis in a Diverse Church by Donna Toliver Grimes. As a catechetical leader, you are called to form not just children but entire families. Moving forward, your task is to equip and empower families to once again embrace their role as the domestic church: a place where faith takes root and is nurtured. What approaches does the twenty-first-century catechetical leader need to take to make this […]

Five Strategies for Empowering Families to Be the Domestic Church

Joe Paprocki

The following is excerpted from All God’s People: Effective Catechesis in a Diverse Church by Donna Toliver Grimes. As a catechetical leader, you are called to form not just children but entire families. Moving forward, your task is to equip and empower families to once again embrace their role as the domestic church: a place where faith takes root and is nurtured. What approaches does the twenty-first-century catechetical leader need to take to make this […]

Grow Your Soul: 7 Ways to Experience New Life During Easter

Growing Your Soul: 7 Ways to Experience New Life During Easter: #7 Unleash Your Imagination

Joe Paprocki

Welcome to the final installment of my Easter series, “Growing Your Soul: 7 Ways to Experience New Life During Easter,” drawing from my book, 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness. Today we explore the last tip: Unleash your imagination! Following Jesus’ Crucifixion and Death, all hope was lost, as was epitomized by the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were overwhelmed with despair, so much so that they weren’t concerned with where to go […]

Poll: Growing in Your Skills as a Catechist

Joe Paprocki

With this catechetical year winding down, it’s a good opportunity to stop and assess or evaluate yourself as a catechist. One way to do this is to use the Catechist’s Self-Evaluation that I put together. I encourage you to complete this and to share it in discussion with either a fellow catechist or your catechetical leader. Of course, anyone who knows me and my work, knows that I am a tireless advocate of ongoing formation […]

Grow Your Soul: 7 Ways to Experience New Life During Easter: #6 Seek Beauty

Joe Paprocki

Welcome to the next installment of my Easter series, “Grow Your Soul: 7 Ways to Experience New Life During Easter,” drawing from my book, 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness. Today we look at the notion of seeking beauty. On Easter Sunday, we expect the weather to be beautiful. We count on it being a sunny, mild day so that we can all put on our Easter best without having to be covered up by layers of […]

Poll: What Age Level Do You Work With?

Joe Paprocki

One of the best things about a blog such as Catechist’s Journey is that it is not a one-way street where I do all the talking! I love to read and respond to your comments and e-mails and especially enjoy taking unscientific surveys to learn more about the visitors to Catechist’s Journey. We had fun and learned a great deal from our last poll question, which asked you to share how long you have been serving as […]