Year of Faith Retreat – Week 3, Day 2: What’s Your Secret? (The Commandments, Beatitudes, and Virtues)

WEEK THREE: The Moral Life (Life in Christ) DAY 2:  What’s Your Secret?  (The Commandments, Beatitudes, and Virtues) Did you ever try to find out if someone was planning a surprise party for you or try to find out what kind of gift they may have gotten you for your birthday or Christmas? It’s not easy to pry a secret out of someone!  Thankfully, we have a God who does not keep secrets. In fact, God is quite the opposite. God […]

Year of Faith Retreat – Week 2, Day 5: Because It’s the Right Thing To Do (The Sacraments at the Service of Communion)

WEEK TWO: Sacraments (Celebrating the Christian Mystery) DAY 5: Because It’s the Right Thing to Do  (The Sacraments at the Service of Communion) I once took a group of high school youth to visit Fr. Larry Craig, who was the chaplain at Cook County Jail in Chicago. Fr. Larry was a pretty tough cookie with a chiseled face like Clint Eastwood and a husky voice like Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). One of the kids asked him […]

Savoring the Liturgy

Savoring seems to be a lost art in our fast-food culture. We usually associate the word savor with food or drink. We savor a delicious bite of food or a sip of good wine. To savor literally means to “give oneself to the enjoyment of.” It means to be mindful of that which you are eating and drinking – to unite body and mind in the present moment of tasting. I believe that we are […]

Hey Catholics! Public Relations is NOT a Dirty “Word!”

When discussing catechesis and evangelization, I am very comfortable using the phrases such as  “public relations” (PR) or marketing, and find that I often encounter push back. “The Church is not trying to win a public relations battle!” “Proclaiming the Gospel is not a popularity contest!” “The Church is not about public relations!” The conclusion that many people draw is that public relations and marketing necessitate altering the content of your core beliefs. That is a […]

Resources for Teaching Meditation to Children

While in Tucson, AZ, at their catechetical conference last week, I spent some time at a booth in the exhibit hall sponsored by The World Community for Christian Meditation. There, I found some very nice resources for teaching Christian meditation to children. The WCCM traces its contemporary roots to London, 1975, when John Main established the Christian Meditation Centre. It considers itself a “monastery without walls.” Recently, Bishop Michael Putney of the Diocese of Townsville […]

Catechists in Action – Steve Lascola Talks About Forgiveness

In this segment of Catechists in Action, 3rd grade catechist Steve Lascola talks to the children about forgiveness. Watch for the following: Steve invites the kids to color in the word forgiveness; Steve asks how many of the kids know the Lord’s Prayer; Steve recites the Lord’s Prayer and asks the kids to write down any lines that deal with forgiveness; Steve reviews the kids answers and concludes that the Lord “likes it” when we […]

A More Robust Liturgy – More Discussion

Last week, I posted a link to my recently published article, 7 Steps to a More Robust Liturgy, in Ministry and Liturgy Magazine. I received an excellent response from Jeffrey Pinyan, author of Praying the Mass. The reason I consider it excellent is not because he agrees with everything I said (in fact, he disagrees with me on a variety of points) but because he furthers the discussion, contributes to it with well-thought-out ideas, and […]

A More Robust Liturgy – My Article In Ministry & Liturgy Magazine

Here’s an excerpt from an article (“7 Steps to a More Robust Liturgy”) I just had published in Ministry & Liturgy Magazine: On a recent trip to Hawaii, I visited the Polynesian Cultural Center and got a firsthand glimpse of the ritual expression of the Polynesian people: bold, dramatic, rich, deeply expressive, highly energizing. I found my imagination stirred, my heart moved, and my senses stimulated as young people explained and performed ancient rituals to the […]

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