Being a Catechist Archives - Catechist's Journey

Family Catechesis at St. Barnabas: A Pentecost Celebration

We wrapped up the year of family catechesis at St. Barnabas with a wonderful Pentecost celebration that included a delicious catered hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns. After breakfast, we invited the children to join in a Pentecost procession led by Deacon Andy. To the sounds of Marty Haugen’s “Lord, Send Out Your Spirit/Psalm 104,” the children carried the sacred objects for the prayer table as they waved red ribbon wands to […]

St. Barnabas Family Catechesis: Pentecost Celebration

Joe Paprocki

It’s hard to believe that the catechetical year is wrapping up! This past year at St. Barnabas, doing the monthly parent presentations for the Finding God family catechesis program, has been such a wonderful experience! We have one more session on the calendar for Pentecost Sunday. This session will be an end-of-the-year/Pentecost celebration. Tops on the agenda is a full, hot breakfast being served to the families in the program. We will also have a […]

Family Catechesis at St. Barnabas: Saving the Toughest Topic for Last

Joe Paprocki

This past Sunday was our last teaching session of the year for family catechesis at St. Barnabas, and we saved the “toughest” topic for last: the moral life! Of course, we didn’t actually save that for last; it just happens to be the last unit of the Finding God program. The theme of the session was, “The Moral Life: Stop Trying to Fix Yourself,” which gave us the opportunity to lay the foundation for the […]

How to Be a More Evangelizing Catechist (Video)

Joe Paprocki

The below video introduces nine strategies we learn from the kerygma—the first proclamation of the Gospel by the Apostles to people who had not yet encountered Christ—that we can use in our faith formation to be more evangelizing catechists. For details on these strategies, read Preparing Hearts and Minds: 9 Simple Ways for Catechists to Cultivate a Living Faith.

Family Catechesis at St. Barnabas: Our Last Monthly Session for the Year

Joe Paprocki

We will have our last monthly session (not counting a celebration in May) for family catechesis at St. Barnabas on Sunday, April 28, as we explore the theme of Unit 5 of the Finding God series: “The Moral Life: Stop Trying to Fix Yourself!” Here’s a quick peek at the plan: Our learning outcomes are: Explain how we are all created in the image and likeness of God. Describe how being in a relationship with […]

Catechists as Echoes of Mercy - microphone image

Catechists as Echoes (Part IV): Echoes of Mercy

Julianne Stanz

This is the final article in a series about the word catechist, which comes from the Greek word, “to echo.” The Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy (2015–16) was an opportunity for the Catholic Church—and for each one of us—to reflect on the merciful love of God the Father (Luke 6:36). Holy doors were opened in every diocese throughout the world as symbols of hope, healing, and love to announce the mercy of God, “the beating […]

Parents arrange themselves with "The Order of the Mass Floor Puzzle" pieces in order of the parts of the Mass.

St. Barnabas Family Catechesis: A Walk Through the Mass

Joe Paprocki

This past Sunday was our penultimate parent session as far as delivering content. (Our May gathering will be a Pentecost celebration!) Our focus was on the Eucharist as that which sustains us, and we primarily did a “walk-through” of the parts of the Mass. Here’s a summary of how things went: Attendance remained steady, which was good to see; it has not fluctuated much from month to month since about November. I was “flying solo” […]

Family Catechesis: Reporting from Inside the Home

Joe Paprocki

Recently, I had the privilege and pleasure of being invited into the home of a family to observe a mom working with her third-grade son on a Finding God faith formation lesson! I’m excited to share my observations of this wonderful experience. Mrs. K. is participating in the Finding God family catechesis program at St. Barnabas Parish. As regular readers know, I have been volunteering there this year to lead the monthly parent sessions. Mrs. […]

Adaptive Sacramental Preparation Kits from Loyola Press

Bringing Children with Disabilities to the Sacraments

Joe Paprocki

Most of us are familiar with the tool for cropping an image on our computer or smartphone. While we intentionally crop images to center attention on a specific focal point, sometimes we unintentionally crop out features that are critical to telling the whole story. For too long, people with disabilities have been “cropped out” of the total picture of our faith communities. When Loyola Press courageously decided to create faith formation resources for people with […]

St. Barnabas Family Catechesis: The Mass and the Eucharist

Joe Paprocki

It’s hard to believe that we have only three more monthly sessions of family catechesis at St. Barnabas for this catechetical year! The time has flown, and we continue to learn about the most effective approaches to engaging the whole family in faith formation. Soon I will be posting about my experience of visiting the home of one of the families in the family catechesis program to observe the parents working together with their child […]