Being a Catechist Archives - Page 18 of 142

teacher helping student - Creativa Images/Shutterstock.com

The Influential Catechist

Charlie is a catechist and influential civic leader. He helped re-establish a medical center in a town near under-served rural communities. He explains, “It often took over an hour for an ambulance to transport patients to a full-service emergency medical facility. A disproportionate number of patients were dying in transport for the simple reason that they were too economically disadvantaged to live closer to town.” Charlie has led numerous successful scholarship campaigns for local Catholic […]

40 Small Changes for a Big Year

Denise Gorss

Editor’s note: This week we’re thinking about small changes we can make for a big year in ministry. As we start a new calendar year, it’s a good time to look at changes we can make in our faith formation settings that will make the most of the time we have left with our groups. Here’s a list of small suggestions, most easy to implement. And these are ideas only, not a checklist. Please don’t […]

Four Small Changes to Revitalize Parish Life

Julianne Stanz

Editor’s note: This week we’re thinking about small changes we can make for a big year in ministry. When I first came to the United States, I was eager to sample the rich food that was new and unfamiliar to me. And so I indulged and over-indulged. To my surprise I found that, one day, I could no longer button my jeans comfortably! “How had this happened?” I thought. Certainly it didn’t happen overnight; it […]

Small Changes for a Big Year: Keeping Our New Year’s Resolutions Real

Joe Paprocki

With the new year upon us, many of us are undertaking New Year’s resolutions, which is all well and good. Unfortunately, many of our resolutions fall by the wayside within a few weeks for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that many of them are simply unrealistic! When it comes to making changes in our habits, the changes need to be realistic and incremental, lest we become overwhelmed and give up […]

Simple Classroom Review Games

Cindy Coleman

Using games in my faith formation class brings an element of fun that results in both engagement and positive responses from the children. At the beginning of almost every session, one of the children will ask, “Are we going to play a game today?” My answer is often “Yes.” Any catechist can take a simple list of questions or vocabulary words and use these for classroom review games with little or no preparation. I like […]

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

A Prayer for Catechists: Challenging Situations

Joe Paprocki

This prayer originally appeared in my book, The Catechist’s Toolbox: How to Thrive as a Religious Education Teacher. Download a PDF version of the prayer here. When have you faced a challenging situation in teaching? How did you handle it?

A Prayer for Catechists: The Power of Prayer

Joe Paprocki

This prayer originally appeared in my book, The Catechist’s Toolbox: How to Thrive as a Religious Education Teacher. Download a PDF version of the prayer here. See more about prayer: Loyola Press Prayer Resources.

Building Community with the Communion of Saints

Denise Gorss

A few weeks ago, I was excited after a session on the saints because the young people in my group were excited too. We enjoyed playing a game, listening to an upbeat saints song, and participating in learning stations to get to know some of the saints. The first activity of the evening was Saints Musical Chairs. I found this game online a few years ago, and the writer shared brief descriptions of some of […]

smartphone - photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

Connecting Catechists

Kathleen Butler

Every fall, our parish hosts a catechists’ kickoff workshop. More than 100 catechists, substitutes, classroom helpers, and other catechetical volunteers get together for what is always a spirited day of swapping ideas, sharing knowledge, mentorship, and community prayer. Veteran catechists help new catechists, and we get to hear best-practices for each grade level and see how we can adapt them. On-the-spot conversations lead to new approaches for classroom management, teaching techniques, or creative lesson plans. […]

A Vision Statement for Catechists

Jayne Ragasa-Mondoy

When my niece was three years old, I bought her a pair of bunny slippers, complete with floppy ears and whiskers. Delighted, she slipped them on and proceeded to march across the living room, calling out, “Bunny!” with each step. She stared at her feet while she marched, which was cute until she came close to bumping into a wall. I called out to her, “Stop!” Startled, yet undeterred, she turned around and marched in […]