Being a Catechist Archives - Page 66 of 142

Parents Come First at St. Jude in New Lenox, IL

I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the faith formation staff at St. Jude Parish in New Lenox, IL, to get some insights into their Families Living Faith program: an approach to faith formation that takes seriously the Church’s call to make adult catechesis primary. The St. Jude faith formation program has about 1200 children. In their Families Living Faith program, children in grades 1–6 and their families come together for an […]

Adaptive Finding God Is Here

Joe Paprocki

Parents of children with special needs desire with all their hearts to help their children enter fully into the faith experience, prepare for the sacraments, and live their lives as participating members of the Catholic Church. Loyola Press is proud to help make this a reality by providing the Adaptive Finding God Program! Adaptive Finding God (grades 1-8) is the foremost program of its kind, offering faith formation for children with special needs, and is […]

Themes for the Classroom

Barb Gilman

With each new class of students I teach, I always have the same classroom theme. Having a theme has been a worthwhile and unifying activity. I have adapted this theme from a speech given by Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, in 1973. Fr. Arrupe’s speech was called Men for Others. Our theme is Third Graders for Others. My class works to help others in our world, community, classroom, and home. We have many opportunities to practice this theme. […]

What Can We Do? Action Steps for Moments of Return

Becky Eldredge

Moments of return for Catholic young adults are moments that hold the potential for evangelization and outreach. Below are practical strategies for strengthening important moments in young adults’ lives. Welcome and Celebrate Young Adults From the minute a young adult stands in front of us at our parishes we should be celebrating the fact that she is there. After watching numerous friends get married, baptize their children, and begin religious education of those children, I […]

We’re Doing This Apprenticeship Thing All Wrong!

Joe Paprocki

One of the most exciting and challenging ideas that the General Directory for Catechesis brought us is the concept of apprenticeship. This comprehensive formation includes more than instruction: it is an apprenticeship of the entire Christian life. (67) The whole idea, of course, is that those seeking to enter more fully into discipleship are to be mentored into the Christian way of life. This is the basis of our Catholic practice of providing sponsors for […]

St. Faustina and other saints in the classroom

Holy Patrons for the New Year

Barb Gilman

A few years back, I read about a tradition that St. Faustina had with the sisters of her convent. On New Year’s Day, they would gather to pick a holy patron for the new year. Here is an excerpt from her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul. There is a custom among us of drawing by lot, on New Year’s Day, special Patrons for ourselves for the whole year. In the morning, during meditation, there […]

When a Class Spins Out of Control

Lisa Jones

It has happened to all of us who teach. We have a class session that spins out of control. I just had an hour with my third grade faith formation class that left me exhausted. I can blame our crazy, out-of-control class on several things—the weather, time of year, tired of sitting still, a boring lesson, and everything else under the sun. But why was it so unmanageable? What was it that made me want […]

A Different Kind of “Me Time”

Joe Paprocki

The next initiative that I’m undertaking in the area of adult faith formation at St. Cajetan Parish in Chicago is an experience titled, A Different Kind of “Me Time.” This is another opportunity designed to reach primarily the parents of the children in the religious education program, and it will take place in tandem with the children’s weekly Tuesday evening session. Once per month, catechists are invited to take their classes to the church for adoration […]

Moments of Return for Young Adults in the Catholic Church

Becky Eldredge

Talking with other faith formation ministers about young adults (defined by the bishops as ages 18–39), I often hear these comments: They are just not at our parish. I never see young adults. They never show up. As both a young adult myself and as a person who ministers to and with young adults, I could not disagree more with these comments. I know young adults are showing up in our parishes. The question is: […]

What Parishes Are Doing to Equip People with Knowledge of the Faith

Joe Paprocki

Thanks to so many of you for responding to my request to send in descriptions of what your parish is doing to help people grow in the first of the Six Tasks of Catechesis: Knowledge of the Faith. Here is a brief summary of what some folks are doing: Ladies’ faith-sharing group (meets three times monthly to discuss Scripture) Weekly Scripture study (some on the Sunday Scripture readings; some on books of the Bible; some Lectio […]