I remember as a kid being thrilled with the Feast of St. Blaise, because it meant that I wouldn’t get any more sore throats during the remaining weeks of the cruel Chicago winter. So much of my piety back then was bordering (if not totally over the edge!) on superstition. Why? I was never really taught otherwise. I was taught that the blessing of St. Blaise would keep me not only from getting a sore […]
In this segment of Catechists in Action, seventh-grade catechist Dan Ward teaches the young people about the Sacrament of Reconciliation in preparation for celebrating the sacrament the following week. Watch as Dan: deals with the reality that few of his students go to Reconciliation outside of R.E. class. talks about how important it is to “bring our sins to the table.” explains the nature of sin and personal responsibility. introduces an examination of conscience and […]
During the Hofinger Catechetical Conference in New Orleans last weekend, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a couple of excellent presentations given by my friend and colleague Tom McGrath, whose specialty is family faith. Tom distributed and made reference to a handout that he has developed called Forty Ways to Foster Prayer in Your Home which is drawn from his book Raising Faith-Filled Kids. Although I have seen this handout before, I was […]
As we hear the Gospel of Mark proclaimed during this Year B of the Lectionary cycle, I’d like to point out a few resources that are available for your own enrichment or for use in a group. First, a new resource offered by the Archdiocese of Chicago is a website called The Word Made Clear featuring a course study on the Gospel of Mark led by Fr. James McIlhone, the Director of Biblical Formation for […]
Sports is HUGE with kids, so no doubt, kids are interested in the success of Tim Tebow and all the talk about the “miracles” associated with his success, including yesterday’s stunning overtime victory in the NFL playoffs. In case you’re not up-to-date on the whole Tebow phenomenon, here’s a quick summary. For kids, the question that the whole Tim Tebow experience raises is whether or not God answers our prayers when it comes to things […]
To help celebrate the 5th anniversary of my blog, The Catechist’s Journey, I’ve invited a number of people to be guest bloggers here over the course of a week! Today, I’m featuring Jared Dees, the creator of The Religion Teacher, where he shares practical resources, activities, lesson plans, and teaching strategies for catechists and Catholic school religion teachers. He is the Digital Publishing Specialist at Ave Maria Press, where he manages websites, eBooks, and eTextbooks. He […]
To help celebrate the 5th anniversary of my blog, The Catechist’s Journey, I’ve invited a number of people to be guest bloggers here over the next week! We start with one of the first people I “met” online when I began blogging, Gilles Côté, a Canadian living in Ottawa, who is the webmaster of 4CatholicEducators.com and of its sister site Resources for Catholic Educators. Gilles taught grades 7 through 12 for 23 years in Catholic […]
You’ve probably heard me make reference to the very popular 3-Minute Retreat that Loyola Press offers. These retreats provide you with an opportunity to spend some quiet time each day reflecting on a Scripture passage. You can receive the retreat on your mobile device which is something that I do, especially when I’m on the train each morning. You can also receive an e-mail reminder each day with a link to a new 3-Minute Retreat. Here […]
So this morning, we had our first date with the new Roman Missal and it was very much like a first date – filled with novelty, curiosity, and awkwardness. Thankfully, the parish I attend, St. Julie Billart in Tinly Park, IL, had done a wonderful job of preparing the assembly for the changes and provided a very helpful guide for the assembly to follow along. Even so, you could hear a number of “and also with […]
Many parish religious education programs host something called a “teaching Mass” which is a Mass during which the priest catechizes about the various parts and aspects of the Mass. Here’s an example. And another. I understand the thinking behind doing a teaching Mass and I applaud pastors and catechetical leaders who are doing all they can to teach about the Mass. We want children and families to have a better understanding of the liturgy which […]
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