What advice would you give to someone who was about to become a catechist of primary age children (grades 1, 2, and 3)? What works? What doesn’t work? What approaches are most effective? What skills, techniques, and strategies are needed?
Serving as a catechist means dealing with kids whose minds are often elsewehere! All too often we find ourselves having to discipline kids because of disruptive behavior. Like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, we shake our heads and say, “tough crowd, tough crowd” and “I get no respect.” Fact is, we’re in good company. Scripture tells us about the many “tough crowds” that St. Paul faced as he proclaimed God’s Word. It comes with the […]
“Not Bad, If I May Say So Myself!” Bernadette shares some wonderful thoughts about a very successful lesson she taught: I was one of the facilitators at a weekend retreat for a small group of Confirmation candidates. The theme was”Who am I?” In the introductory session I invited them to play a simple game. As they sat in a circle we pinned the names of well know people (local & international) on their backs. Their […]
The Holy Spirit accomplishes some wonderful things through our efforts as catechists! So, as we share success stories, keep in mind that we are not bragging about ourselves but are giving praise to the Holy Spirit! With that in mind, let’s spend the rest of this week sharing stories based on the theme of “Not Bad, If I May Say So Myself!” Share a brief story (in the Comments box below) – just one or two paragraphs […]
Becky shared the following about her mentor: For me, my colleague and mentor, Charles Jumonville, from the Diocese of Baton Rouge is who I “owe it all to.” Charles sought me, when I was 24 years old, to come and work for the diocese. My initial reaction was “you have to be kidding!” After much thought and prayer, I finally said “yes.” His invitation changed the direction of my professional life. St. Ignatius suggests us […]
Welcome back to Stories on the Journey, our summer experience of sharing stories about the ups and downs and ins and outs of being a catechist. So far, we’ve shared stories on the following topics: Week One: How Did I Get Into This? Week Two: Kids Say/Do the Darndest Things Week Three: Touching the Sacred Week Four: Oopsies! I Goofed Our topic for this week is, “I owe it all to…” which means that we […]
Wonderful story from Christian! A long time ago my wife & I were put in charge of teaching RCIA. We’d run the adult class for a couple of years, had a lot of informed, motivated Catholics. Anyway, I would teach the first RCIA class, and figured we’d start with some basics: Faith & Reason/ Fides et Ratio by JP2. We’d studied it in the adult class, no sweat. But with the RCIAers, what a disaster! […]
Welcome to Week Four of Stories on the Journey! Thanks for all of the great stories you’ve shared so far! Betty from Arizona sums it up pretty well: Thanks for sharing these inspiring stories that keep me motivated to continue facilitating adult religious education at my parish! In case you missed the stories, here they are: Week One: How Did I Get Into This? Week Two: Kids Say/Do the Darndest Things Week Three: Touching the […]
As we enter into this weekend, I invite you to spend some time enjoying Stories on the Journey, our summer experience of catechists sharing their stories of the ups and downs, joys and challenges of being a catechist. This week’s topic is Touching the Sacred. What’s your story? Take a moment to describe a time when you really and truly felt the presence of God (the power of the Holy Spirit) in your work as a […]
Beautiful story from Karen: I teach RCIA for kids (2nd – 6th grades). During Lent, right before they will be baptized, we do the Stations of the Cross. We have some posters that I put up around the room and down the hallway. At the last minute, I decided to add a candle for each one since they had really enjoyed lighting the one we used for our opening prayer each week. We went through […]
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