Catechetical Issues & Topics Archives - Page 38 of 70

St. Cecilia, Patron Saint of Musicians, Pray for Us

Tomorrow, November 22, we celebrate the feast day of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. I’ve made no secret on this blog about my insistence that music and singing must be a part of our catechetical ministry. I also believe that we have a largely untapped embarrassment of riches right under our noses in the form of young people who are adept at playing various instruments such as cello, flute, classical guitar, or piano. These […]

J.O.Y. in the Classroom: How to Teach Children to Cultivate a Joyful Life

Julianne Stanz

Cultivating and sustaining joy in the spiritual life has received quite a bit of attention in recent years. Pope Francis has made joy a central part of his message, as we see in the encyclical Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel. The Holy Father reminds us over and over again that the Christian life is characterized first and foremost by joy: Joy is a pilgrim virtue. It is a gift that walks, walks on […]

The End Times: Urgency, Not Fear (And a Thought About the Election)

Joe Paprocki

My best friend Joe is a real handyman, and he has a keen eye for spotting problems that might need some repair. He often says something like, “It may look OK now, but if you don’t deal with this soon, and if you don’t do it right, you could have some real problems on your hand.” His advice creates a sense of urgency, but not alarm. Joe is a realist, not an alarmist. In the […]

Game of the Good Shepherd

Shannon Chisholm

I attended the celebrations of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion at several different churches last year. While I was able to experience the joy of the sacraments in many different ways, I often heard the same Gospel reading: the parable of the Good Shepherd. This parable is a natural choice for these sacraments. It is a beautiful passage that depicts the intimate love and relationship between God and God’s people, and helps us to […]

Patron Saints Election Results

Denise Gorss

At the time I write this, my group of seventh graders has narrowed down the pool of saintly candidates to three as we move toward electing a patron saint for our classroom. The finalists are St. Mary, St. Francis Xavier, and Blessed Miguel Pro. Mary is polling as the current leader, but who knows what the final tally will say. You may recall that when I originally shared this activity of electing a patron saint, […]

Giovanni Ambrogio Figino - "Portrait of Charles Borromeo" - public domain via Wikimedia Commons

St. Charles Borromeo, Patron Saint of Catechists

Joe Paprocki

In her book, My Best Teachers Were Saints, author Susan H. Swetnam writes about St. Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of catechists, whose feast day we celebrate today. She explains that he supervised the writing of an accurate catechism, rewrote liturgical texts and music, and began enforcing clerical reform in Rome after the Council of Trent. She writes that he was, “an energetic reformer who took ‘always the most austere and stringent interpretation’ of the […]

Halloween, All Souls, Purgatory, and the Communion of Saints

Joe Paprocki

“I see dead people!” Remember that famous line from the 1999 movie The Sixth Sense, in which a boy, played by Haley Joel Osment, reveals to the character played by Bruce Willis that he sees dead people? For many years now, I’ve been facetiously telling people that, if you see or talk to dead people, you’re not crazy, you’re Catholic! An important part of our belief system—our Catholic vision of reality or our cosmology—is our belief in […]

National Bible Week

Joe Paprocki

Catholics have come a long way in our understanding and appreciation of the Bible. For too long, Catholics were not encouraged to read and pray Scripture. Since the Second Vatican Council, (and especially the publication of Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), our Church has encouraged us to delve more deeply into God’s Word. With that in mind, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is once again inviting Catholics to participate in National […]

Saint Josephine Bakhita, Saints Zelie Guerin and Louis Martin, and Saint Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio pictured in frames - sainst by Luis Fraga/Shutterstock.com

There’s a Saint for That

Heather Felton

Remember when the iPhone started appearing all over TV with its catch phrase, “There’s an app for that?” No matter the question, the iPhone had an app to answer it. In a similar vein, we Catholics are lucky because, no matter what our need or failure, worry or struggle, there’s a saint for that. And we don’t need an expensive device to get in touch with a heavenly mentor and friend; we can visit a […]

Ten Commandments Bowling and Other Games

Ten Commandments Games

Shannon Chisholm

My second-grade students have very busy bodies. I have struggled to accomplish anything in class, and I have been growing frustrated—I waste too much time trying to get their attention. After a few weeks together, I am realizing that I should find ways to focus their excitement and energy rather than stifle it. I am going to try a new approach: we will play more learning games and do fewer crafts, and I will incorporate lots […]