Catechetical Issues & Topics Archives - Page 40 of 71

Mother Teresa of Calcutta - Manfredo Ferrari under CC BY-SA 4.0

Hearts to Love and Hands to Serve: Celebrating the Life of Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was officially recognized as a saint on September 4, 2016. Her life’s work with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta and throughout the world inspires those of us who hear Christ’s call to spread the love of God to each person we meet. Mother Teresa’s canonization is a great time to celebrate her life with students in our faith-formation classes, especially in our continued celebration of the Year of Mercy. Mother Teresa embraced […]

Stealth Catechesis: Teaching without Teaching

Bob Burnham

One evening, my 10th-grade Confirmation class revolted. “We do not want to use the book anymore,” said their leader. “Why not?” I asked. “We’ve been in school all day, and we’re tired of sitting around listening and reading. This is supposed to be church, not school.” I could see her point. After all, I had been working all day, had gone straight to the church from the train, and I had yet to eat dinner. […]

Saint Anthony of Padua

Paul Gallagher

I was sitting in a meeting at my parish, and in the corner of the room sat a life-size statue of Saint Anthony of Padua. Several years ago, the statue was moved up from a basement storage room, and there he now sits, with the baby Jesus in his arms. Our image of St. Anthony is a bit chipped and the paint has faded, but it’s always nice to know that he’s around. Maybe some […]

Evaluating Your Catholic School/Religious Education Liturgies

Joe Paprocki

Recently, I was invited by a pastor to observe his parish’s weekly Catholic school liturgy, which leads me to this post suggesting that it would be a good idea for every Catholic school and parish religious education program to evaluate the liturgical experiences they invite their young people to participate in. Before I go any further, let me ask you, what is your overriding concern about your school’s or religious education program’s liturgies? I’d love […]

Introducing Catholics to the Bible: Free Parent-Child Session

Joe Paprocki

Host a hands-on, engaging session to introduce children (fifth grade or higher) and their parents to how the Bible is arranged. The Bible is like a library—God’s Library—made up of 73 books, and the best way to get to know the layout of the Bible is to break it down into smaller pieces, eight sections that make up the whole. This month’s free download gives you instructions for hosting a 90-minute session in your parish […]

Sacraments of Initiation Learning Stations Used with Seventh Graders

Denise Gorss

In the next-to-last session for the year, I used the Sacraments of Initiation learning stations with my group of seventh graders. As the download page for the learning stations explains, the activity gets young people “out of their seats and moving around doing simple tasks to learn about the symbols and signs used in each Sacrament of Initiation.” Overall it was a successful lesson. I was surprised by how quiet the young people were as […]

Mary, Mother of Catechists

Darcy Osby

The Blessed Virgin Mary is so many things to us: she is our mother, our help, our comfort, and our joy. She is our model disciple; she is the “untier of knots.” She is also our model catechist. Here are three ways we can be more like Mary as catechists. 1. Say “Yes.” When I invite parishioners to prayerfully consider becoming a catechist, their first response is often “Who, me?” followed by expressions of doubt, […]

Catholic Social Teaching—Free Lesson Plan

Joe Paprocki

God has a vision for his kingdom and, as disciples of Jesus, it is up to us to make this vision a reality. To help us do this, the Church has given us the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to follow. This body of teaching by the pope, bishops, and other Church leaders addresses the most fundamental questions of human coexistence: Who are we? What do we owe one another? How should we live together? […]

Four Tips for Making Connections Between the Mass and Class Discussions

Denise Gorss

One of the boys in my group asked, “Do you go to church?” We were discussing the Mass, and he seemed genuinely surprised when I told him that, yes, I do go to church for weekly Mass. He admits he only goes to church occasionally, and he, like many kids in our programs, is more the norm than the exception. I don’t have the secret formula for how we change this trend and encourage those […]

What Exactly IS the Good News?

Joe Paprocki

In adult faith formation, all too often, we set out to provide a comprehensive curriculum of the Catholic faith before we have helped folks recognize what the core of our story is! Before we can delve deeply into the Six Tasks of Catechesis, the Four Pillars of the Catechism, the Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching, and so on, we need to be sure that we have presented the core of our story of Salvation. […]