You searched for summer - Page 2 of 19

Ice-Cream Evangelization: Reaching Out During the Summer

Summer is a great time for busy families to relax and reconnect, enjoying warm weather and outdoor activities. Unfortunately, it can also be a time when many families take a vacation from faith formation. Our faith-formation programs themselves might be partly to blame: many programs run from September through May with no activity taking place during the summer. As a result, we reinforce the mistaken conception that faith formation is solely a catechetical endeavor that […]

Living the Liturgical Seasons at Home: Ordinary Time - family around dinner table

Living the Liturgical Seasons at Home: Summer/Fall Ordinary Time

Joyce Donahue

The liturgical year is 365 days a year, and the season of Ordinary Time is a course of instruction in the Christian life. Ordinary Time after Pentecost and before Advent is a period when we celebrate no particular aspect of Christ, but honor him in the fullness of his mystery. (Universal Norms of the Liturgical Year, 43) We spend time with Jesus and let him be with us and in us as we grow closer […]

Summer Planning for the DRE: Developing Goals and Objectives

Kathy Henry

“Do you work during the summer?” No matter how often I hear this question, I am surprised by its suggestion. Do others really believe there is nothing to do once the religious education programs wrap up for the school year? Although the pace may slow somewhat (aside from summer programs and Vacation Bible School), most DREs have plenty to keep them busy during June, July, and August. Summer is often a time for me to […]

Adult Faith Formation Does Not Take Off for the Summer

Joe Paprocki

Summer provides us with the perfect time to forge ahead with plans for more robust adult faith formation in the year ahead. At Christ the King Parish, my home parish, we are taking advantage of the summer to lay the foundations for our best year ever in adult faith formation. Building on the success of our small faith groups during Lent, we are now inviting a number of parishioners to consider/discern serving on an adult […]

Summer Reading from Loyola Press

Joe Paprocki

Summer is a wonderful time to renew your soul! With that in mind, Loyola Press is making available some excellent books for summer reading at a very special price of only $9 each. Take advantage of these savings and enjoy reading some wonderfully inspirational books while you relax on your porch or deck, in your backyard, at the park, or on the beach. Don’t forget to take a peek at some of the books I […]

Summer Is a Good Time for Your Parish to “Go Green”

Joe Paprocki

Summer is a great time for your parish to “go green,” and going green can be a very effective way of inviting young adults to explore their faith. Caring for the planet is an issue of great importance to young people, who increasingly view institutional religion as irrelevant and out of touch with important issues. In an article for America magazine (June 18, 2015), author and speaker Kerry Weber laid out an argument for why Laudato […]

A Summer Reading List

Joe Paprocki

When it comes to adult faith formation at my parish, Christ the King in Chicago, I am often reminded that many folks go away for the summer. That doesn’t mean that we can’t plan adult faith formation opportunities during the summer months; it just means that we might need to adjust our expectations when it comes to attendance. Another option, however, is to find a way to “travel with” people as they scatter to the […]

Using the Extra Daylight of Summer

Heather Felton

At her blog Days of Deepening Friendship, Vinita Hampton Wright rejoices in the arrival of summer and all it bring with it. In one particular post, “The Correct Use of More Daylight,” Vinita writes that the “long days [of summer] are a gift,” and, “we would do well to consider how to approach the lengthened hours.” I don’t know how others in catechetical ministry view the summer, but for me, it is the most welcome […]

A Do-it-Yourself Summer Retreat

Eric Gurash

The summer months provide a perfect time for us catechists and DREs to grow in our own faith lives. Even if you still have fall planning or summer events like a parish VBS on your agenda, it’s important to intentionally set aside time to take advantage of sunny weekends and longer days for deepening your own relationship with Christ. And you don’t need to travel to a retreat center to do this. Weather permitting, take […]

Summer Planning for the DRE

Darcy Osby

As the weather gets warmer, the students are not the only ones who are restless! I love my ministry with passion, but the summer provides a wonderful opportunity to renew my programs as well as myself. During the year, in the midst of the hustle and bustle, I often cannot find time to discern what God is calling me to create in my ministry. I look forward to the summer for time and space to […]