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Did I Hear You Ask About ACTIVITIES?

Back on 4/27/10, I received this comment from Michael N. It seems that Catholic religion textbooks (we use one designed for schools) are painfully bad…to the point of being almost unusable. I think I’d do much better if they just gave me a religious-themed coloring book! Any websites you recommend for ideas/content (games, songs, prayers, activities, printable sheets, etc.)?? God bless you! Michael Although I don’t agree with Michael’s assessment of Catholic religion textbooks (what […]

Webinar Follow-up

Joe Paprocki

Q & A During last week’s Webinar (which you can catch a recording of right here), a number of folks sent in some questions that I would like to respond to, now that I’m back at my desk! I did the web seminar on Advent and I loved it, is there any way in which I can listen to the Lent web seminar? (Natalie) Yes, you can catch a recording of the Lenten Webinar right […]

This is the Day the Lord Has Made…

Joe Paprocki

You may recall from some of my previous posts, that this year, I began each religious education class by inviting the 8th graders to stand and respond “Let us rejoice and be glad!” to my invocation of “This is the day the Lord has made.” This became a very joyful part of our class and the kids routinely responded with great enthusiasm and vigor. Lo and behold, at our end-of-the-year Mass on Monday evening, the […]

Closing the Year

Joe Paprocki

I believe I’ve been paid the ultimate compliment from an 8th grade student who wrote those words on his evaluation: “flippin’ sweet class, Dude!” That’s a first for me! 🙂 I’d like to borrow his language to describe how things went last night: it was “flippin sweet!” It was one of those times when everything went according to plan and, in fact, exceeded my expectations. This was the last class that I will be teaching them (I’m […]

New Edition of Catholic Youth Bible

Joe Paprocki

From time to time, people ask me about Bibles to use with young people. Here’s a review of the new edition of the Catholic Youth Bible from Brigid Wolff, the Coordinator of the Chicago Catholic Scripture School. A new edition of The Catholic Youth Bible has been released and is now available for purchase for $26.95 in paperback. This edition uses the New American Bible (NAB) rather than the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of […]

Congratulations Kevin Cody!

Joe Paprocki

Congratulations to my friend Kevin Cody, DRE at St. Alphonsus in Lemont, IL, on his installation as president of the National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors (NPCD) which is part of the NCEA (National Catholic Education Association). Here’s the story as reported in the current issue of The Sower, the newsletter of the Office for Catechesis and Youth Ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago. New President of NPCD Kevin Cody – Catechetical Leader at St. […]

Alleluia! The Easter Vigil

Joe Paprocki

The Easter Vigil last night at St. Julie Billiart Parish in Tinley Park was exquisite! What a beautiful experience of celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord! Here are the catechumens and candidates gathered around the soon-to-be-lit fire. The Easter fire is lit in the darkened narthex of the church. The Deacon did a wonderful job of singing the Exsultet…the Easter Proclamation…in the darkened church lit now by the candles held by all the faithful. The […]

Passport to the Holy Land

Joe Paprocki

Holy Week is a time in which we figuratively transport ourselves over time and space to the Holy Land to walk with Jesus on the road to Calvary. One Director of Religious Education, Victor Valdez, invites parishioners to walk this journey in a creative and unique way by having the children of the religious education program reconstruct a miniature Holy Land on the Parish Green! The site includes displays of the areas of Nazareth, Bethlehem, […]

A Mixed Bag

Joe Paprocki

So last evening’s class was kind of a mixed bag. The main focus was on the “Ten Commandments Two-Minute Drills” that I wrote about yesterday. Here’s the scoop: All ten students were present and in good spirits. During opening prayer, one of the boys prayed for Brian Campbell, Blackhawks’ defenseman, who suffered a broken collar bone and cracked ribs as a result of a vicious hit by Alex Ovechkin on Sunday. I thought that was […]

Before and After

Joe Paprocki

We had a very nice class last night with 8 of 10 students present for their first class session after Confirmation (and the DRE received calls explaining the 2 absences). The kids had a very pleasant attitude about Confirmation…they seemed genuinely proud and there was no resentment about being back in class – the message had been conveyed that Confirmation is not the end! The post-confirmation guided reflection went very nicely! Several of the other […]