No Picture
Junior High

The Rite of Confirmation – The General Intercessions

For our final Confirmation Intensive last evening, we focused on the Rite of Confirmation, which includes the following: the Presentation of the Candidates the Bishop’s Homily the Renewal of Baptismal Promises the Laying on of Hands and the Anointing with Chrism the General Intercessions I’m currently sharing with you what I developed for each of these 5 elements of the Rite (the young people experienced five, 15-minute mini-sessions, one on each of the 5 elements). We conclude […]

No Picture
Junior High

Rite of Confirmation: Laying on of Hands/Anointing with Chrism

For our next (and final) Confirmation Intensive, we are focusing on the Rite of Confirmation which includes the following: the Presentation of the Candidates the Bishop’s Homily the Renewal of Baptismal Promises the Laying on of Hands and the Anointing with Chrism the General Intercessions I’m currently sharing with you what I’m developing for each of these 5 elements of the Rite (the kids will experience five, 15-minute mini-sessions, one on each of the 5 elements). We […]

Confirmation Preparation Class
Junior High

Rite of Confirmation: The Renewal of Baptismal Promises

For our next (and final) Confirmation Intensive, we are focusing on the Rite of Confirmation which includes the following: the Presentation of the Candidates the Bishop’s Homily the Renewal of Baptismal Promises the Laying on of Hands and the Anointing with Chrism the General Intercessions I’m currently sharing with you what I’m developing for each of these 5 elements of the Rite (the kids will exerience five, 15-minute mini-sessions, one on each of the 5 elements). We […]

Confirmation Preparation Class
Junior High

Rite of Confirmation: The Bishop’s Homily

For our next (and final) Confirmation Intensive, we are focusing on the Rite of Confirmation, which includes the following: the Presentation of the Candidates the Bishop’s Homily the Renewal of Baptismal Promises the Laying on of Hands and the Anointing with Chrism the General Intercessions I’m currently sharing with you what I’m developing for each of these 5 elements of the Rite (the kids will exerience five, 15-minute mini-sessions, one on each of the 5 elements). We […]

No Picture
Junior High

Rite of Confirmation: Presentation of the Candidates

For our next (and final) Confirmation Intensive, we are going to spend the evening doing some liturgical catechesis: focusing on the Rite of Confirmation which includes the following: the Presentation of the Candidates the Bishop’s Homily the Renewal of Baptismal Promises the Laying on of Hands and the Anointing with Chrism the General Intercessions Over the next week or so, I’ll share with you what I’m developing for each of these 5 elements of the […]

No Picture
Mary and the Saints

A Saint Paul Play – In Three Parts

Looking for a creative Saint Paul activity to mark this Year of Saint Paul? My good friend and colleague, Jeanette Graham has put together a wonderfully informative and engaging play about the life of Saint Paul in three acts. This will be a great way to bring Saint Paul “to life” for your class, your RE program, your school, or your parish. Enjoy! Paul, the Apostle: A Play in Three Acts to Celebrate the Year of […]

teaching eighth grade
Junior High

Jesus, God’s Greatest Gift

Week 2 went very nicely last evening. Here are some of the highlights: We met in church for an opening prayer service with the pastor. The kids were well-behaved and participated nicely. The pastor did a very nice job of encouraging the kids to put Jesus first in their lives. That took about a half-hour of the 75-minute class time. Two of the boys in my group asked if they could call me “Dr. Pepper” […]

No Picture
Prayer/Guided Reflections

Reflecting on the Year

Some of you may recall one of my posts from last year at this time when I shared a meditation for catechists to reflect on their year. Here it is again: Many of us catechists are either finished or close to wrapping up the “year” in religious education. This is a good time to reflect on this past year, asking the Lord to help us learn and grow from the experience. Here is a reflection […]

No Picture
Junior High

Tonight’s Class: The Ten Commandments

For this evening’s class, I plan to focus on the Ten Commandments. One of the things that the Confirmation assessment revealed is that many of the young people in my group do not know the Commandments well at all. Here’s my plan: Two Sides to Every Coin – I’ll begin by flipping a coin several times, asking different young people to call out “heads” or “tails.” I’ll use this to illustrate that, just as every coin […]

No Picture
Prayer/Guided Reflections

The Our Father – Our Declaration of DEpendence

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of presenting to about 150 high school teens and their group leaders at St. Francis Xavier in LaGrange. Our topic was Living the Mass and we had a very engaging experience together. One of the parts I most enjoyed was speaking about the Lord’s Prayer. Here’s what I did: I recently purchased a replica of the Declaration of Independence (it’s poster size and only cost $9.95 from American Family Traditions […]