Being a Catechist Archives - Page 125 of 142

Getting to Know Your New Textbook/Catechist Manual

I’ll be meeting tonight with 30-40 catechists in Munster, Indiana, to help them get to know the new textbook series they’ve adopted (Christ Our Life, 2009). Becoming familiar with a new textbook and the catechist manual is a crucial step in your planning and preparation process. If you are using a textbook/catechist manual for the first time this year, here are a few pointers that may be helpful: Read through the children’s book first…get to […]

Inspiration from the Olympics

Joe Paprocki

Many people, including me, see great parallels between athletics and the spiritual life. To me, the greatest parallel is that both require discipline. The biggest difference, however, is that, while in athletics, one needs discipline in order to achieve something, in the spiritual life, one needs discipline in order to receive something! Of course, we do not earn or achieve grace as if striving to earn or achieve a gold medal. On the other hand, […]

More On Batman

Joe Paprocki

Here is an email from a DRE in the northern suburbs of Chicago, writing about how he uses Batman Begins to teach Catholic Social Teaching! Joe: I appreciated your post on the Dark Knight (although I did not read it in detail, since I have not yet seen the movie, and I’m trying to avoid spoilers!) I use the previous movie (Batman Begins) as a way of pointing out themes in Catholic social teaching. For […]

Batman, The Dark Knight, and Moral Issues

Joe Paprocki

You may have heard me say this before but I risk repeating myself: St. Ignatius emphasized that, when teaching, we should “enter through their door but be sure to leave through your door.” This means that we need to engage people where they are at and then invite them to move toward the Gospel of Jesus. Right now, Batman: The Dark Knight can most definitely be considered “their door” – it is where we can […]

More About the Church's Catechetical Documents

Joe Paprocki

The other day, I offered some quotes and reflective questions on the Church’s catechetical documents. I thought it might be good to follow-up with a little annotated bibliography of sorts, describing just what these various documents are about. In the weeks before many religious education prorgrams begin, you may want to read one or several of these documents (the shorter ones of course…if you wanted to read the Catechism, the General Directory for Catechesis or […]

What 4th Graders Say About Prayer

Joe Paprocki

I recently received a report from a catechist (Kim) who has been doing reflective prayer (meditation) with 4th graders. What follows is a summary of their responses to 3 simple evaluation prompts: the thing I like most about our prayer times together is… / What I have learned about myself and my relationship with Jesus during our prayer times is… / Additional comments… Here’s what 4th graders are saying about prayer: The thing I like […]

8 Reasons to Bring Your Child Regularly to Mass

Joe Paprocki

One of the biggest frustrations that catechists have is the fact that so many of our students are not attending Mass (because their parents are not attending). Here is a helpful resource I recently came across titled, “8 Reasons to Bring Your Child Regularly to Mass.” It is in a parent “magazine” called “Together: Preparing at Home for First Eucharist” ((written by Tom McGrath) that is a part of the God’s Gift: Eucharist program (Loyola […]

Learning Outcomes

Joe Paprocki

Too often, when we catechists plan for our lessons, we concentrate on what it is that WE will be doing. “I’ll cover chapter 10, then play Jeopardy to review the main points of the lesson, then I’ll lead prayer, and so on…” It’s important to remember that, in our planning, the focus should be on what the participants will be doing. Today, most catechist manuals use the phrase learning outcomes to identify what the participants […]

Catechesis as Courtship

Joe Paprocki

Does anyone remember courtship? Back in the day, the process of a young man and a young woman entering into an ever-deepening relationship followed a pattern. For some, this pattern still exists, however, with society’s casual attitudes about sex, for many the process is “out the window.” Anyway, courtship follows a definite pattern: the couple meet and introduce themselves the couple spends time getting to know one another as a relationship develops, the couple learns […]

An Excerpt From My New Book!

Joe Paprocki

Here is an excerpt from my new book, A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe: Shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, there was a great deal of tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in many parts of the United States. In an effort to respond to the situation with Gospel values, I invited the Imam of a local Muslim community in the Chicago suburbs to meet with a […]