Stories from the Field Archives - Page 54 of 61

Exploring the Rite of Confirmation

Tonight is our final Confirmation Intensive for this year. It is also an Open House for parents to attend to see what their kids are up to every Monday evening…hope we get a good turnout. Anyway, for this evening’s intensive, we are reflecting on the Rite of Confirmation itself, taking each of the following five components of the Rite and putting them “under the microscope” for closer study in preparation for the sacrament which is […]

Helping Kids Write General Intercessions

Joe Paprocki

From time to time, we invite kids to compose General Intercessions for a Mass or prayer service. Here’s a little something that can help get the wheels turning so that their intercessions are coming from their deepest desires. We’ll be using this in our upcoming Confirmation Intensive this Monday evening to have the kids compose General Intercessions for the Confirmation Mass. The activity begins by asking the kids to imagine that they have been granted 3 wishes […]

7 Deadly Sins, 7 Virtues, and 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Joe Paprocki

For this evening’s Confirmation Intensive, we are doing the same session we did last year but with a new twist. The session focuses on SEVEN: 7 Deadly Sins, 7 Virtues, and 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The kick to the whole evening is that we explore all of these topics through popular music! We had a lot of fun doing this last year and we’re keeping the same songs at least for this year […]

Poverty Quiz Struck a Nerve

Joe Paprocki

At the end of Monday evening’s session, I asked each of the kids to share one thing they learned that evening: spiritual and corporal works of mercy, social justice, service, and living the Beatitudes. I was struck by how many of the young people referred to the poverty quiz that they took in the social justice session with Chris. Many of them pulled the quiz out and quoted a fact or figure about poverty in […]

Works of Mercy Booklet

Joe Paprocki

For last night’s session, we had the kids assemble Works of Mercy mini-booklets as you see pictured here. Depending on the time available, you can either have the kids assemble the pages of their booklets or you can do this ahead of time. Given the short time that I have for the mini-sessions, I chose to assemble the (blank) pages of the booklets at home. I made 60 of them in about a half-hour while listening to […]

Making a Statement – Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Joe Paprocki

Happy New Year everybody!!! I hope, pray, and trust that this year will be filled with many blessings for you in your role as a catechist! Tonight, when I teach, I plan to wear my Blackhawks jersey, which I’m wearing here in this picture at last night’s Hawks’ victory (my daughter Amy’s first Hawks game). I want to point out that we make a statement by what we wear. I’ll then ask the kids to […]

On the Other Hand…

Joe Paprocki

Yesterday, I provided a rather glowing summary of Monday evening’s Confirmation Intensive. Indeed, the evening overall went very well and was a positive experience. On the other hand, there are always a few moments that provide sobering reminders of the troubles that some of these kids have. The Confirmation Intensives allows me the opportunity to catch a glimpse, so to speak, of each of the five 8th grade classes. For the most part, each of […]

My Crystal Ball

Joe Paprocki

I began class last night by inviting the kids to join me in another room that I had set up with my “crystal ball!” I have a light fixture – a globe – that is tinted white and I placed a battery operated flickering candle inside of it and wrapped a purple cloth around the base of it. All of the lights in the room were turned off and I had a CD playing in […]

Images of the Holy Spirit

Joe Paprocki

Tonight, as we begin our first of five Confirmation Intensives (class will be for two hours instead of 75 minutes, comprised of five different mini-sessions), I will be teaching about images of the Holy Spirit: water, anointing, fire, and a dove. To introduce this concept, I am bringing in a blank red octagon that I cut out of construction paper and afixed to a stick. I plan to show it to the kids and to […]

A Light Shines in the Darkness

Joe Paprocki

Happy Advent! I hope that your Thanksgiving weekend was an opportunity to enjoy family, friends, and some recreation and renewal! Well, it’s back to “work” for me tonight, wrapping up the short unit on Church history. Here’s my plan: As the kids enter, I’ll give them pages from daily newspapers and set them to work finding examples of “bad news.” Each of the kids will share their examples of bad news stories with the group and I’ll talk […]