It’s been a fun trip down memory lane this summer as I’ve recounted and shared ten of my favorite lessons from my experiences of teaching fourth, sixth, and eighth grade religious education over the last decade. Last but not least is a lesson I did several years in a row when teaching eighth grade; it is actually a string of lessons on Church history. This lesson was pretty labor-intensive, involving a PowerPoint presentation that I put […]
I hope you’re enjoying this little excursion down memory lane as I recall some of my favorite lessons that I’ve taught and posted about here on Catechist’s Journey. Today, we go back to my days of teaching eighth grade/Confirmation prep and a lesson—actually a series of lessons—on getting to know who Jesus is. We presume, too often, that kids know the story of Jesus. We forget that we have absorbed the story of Jesus over […]
I once had a student ask why we spent so much time talking about the saints; did he not attend faith formation classes to learn about Jesus? I told him that this is precisely why we learned about the saints: “our communion with the saints joins us to Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 957). The saints reveal much to us about God, and they give us an example of how to live as followers […]
Today, we enter into the most solemn three days of our liturgical year: the Triduum. For many, these three days may seem a bit confusing. We celebrate with profound and reverent rituals that are only seen, felt, and experienced at this time of the year. To help with our understanding of the Triduum, the USCCB has put together 18 Questions on the Paschal Triduum, a resource that may help to answer some questions about these […]
Teaching Holy Week to second graders is a bit like herding cats: daunting, if not impossible, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I’ve made many mistakes when teaching Holy Week. In the past, I’ve attempted to cram the principles of the Triduum and Easter on the last Sunday of class before Easter break (which happens to be Palm Sunday). I did this because I wanted to make sure I had enough time to prepare […]
The celebration of First Eucharist is always a special event in the life of a parish. Make it more meaningful for everyone involved by hosting a parent gathering with the help of my latest free PowerPoint presentation. Jesus Christ is present with us all the time, but in the Eucharist, we have a real presence—something substantial that we can touch, hold in our hands, taste, and consume. The Eucharist is truly the presence of Jesus—God—in […]
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is like receiving an embrace from God, but too many Catholics fear the sacrament because they don’t understand it. When we invite parents to a meeting before their children receive First Reconciliation, we have an opportunity to help adults learn more about the sacrament. Use this opportunity to encourage parents and invite them to come to confession when their children do and be embraced by God. To help you do this, […]
I’m old enough to remember how Jackie Gleason would say, “And awaaaay we go!” at the beginning of his TV show every week. Those words popped into my mind as we kicked off the catechetical year at St. Cajetan Parish last week. We began with a prayer service in church, which included blessings of the parents, children, catechists, and Finding God textbooks. After some inspiring words from the pastor, Fr. Frank Kurucz, the young people were […]
Back in the day, when I was a “baby” DRE (Director of Religious Education), I turned to a nifty book for help: Through the Year with the DRE: A Seasonal Guide for Christian Educators (Gail McKenna, Paulist Press). The book is long out of print, but the idea stayed with me and inspired me to create a chart outlining the “typical” responsibilities that a catechetical leader/DRE is faced with over the course of a year. I […]
With all of the traveling that I do, sometimes my calendar can get a little crazy. I’ve gotten better at it, but I can remember some times when I asked myself, “What was I thinking when I said yes to this?” In parish life, we do this all the time. Even when we have calendaring meetings that should remove such conflicts, we still sometimes find ourselves overbooked and unable to devote time and energy to […]
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