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10-Year-Olds Leaving the Church?

Recently, my good friend Julianne Stanz, Director of New Evangelization for the Diocese of Green Bay, WI, wrote an excellent article in their diocesan newspaper, The Compass, in which she addressed the findings of a recent CARA study that reveals that young people around the age of 13 but as young as 10 are deciding to leave the Church. The reasons cited include: “Catholic beliefs aren’t based on fact. Everything is hearsay from back before […]

Smells and Bells: Props for the Catechetical Session

Joyce Donahue

This is the third article in a series about liturgical catechesis. One of the treasures of liturgical prayer is that it is physical and sensory in nature, filled with sights of seasonal colors and sacramental symbols: the smells of incense and chrism, the sounds of words and music. When we include these in our catechetical sessions, we let children know they are not entering mere school classrooms; they are entering sacred spaces where faith is […]

Saint Josephine Bakhita, Saints Zelie Guerin and Louis Martin, and Saint Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio pictured in frames - sainst by Luis Fraga/Shutterstock.com

There’s a Saint for That

Heather Felton

Remember when the iPhone started appearing all over TV with its catch phrase, “There’s an app for that?” No matter the question, the iPhone had an app to answer it. In a similar vein, we Catholics are lucky because, no matter what our need or failure, worry or struggle, there’s a saint for that. And we don’t need an expensive device to get in touch with a heavenly mentor and friend; we can visit a […]

How to Include Parents in Faith Formation Through Community-Building Family Nights

Julianne Stanz

How do we involve parents in faith formation? This age-old question seems to be getting harder and harder to answer. We seem to live in a “drag, drive, and drop off” culture when it comes to parental involvement in our faith formation programs. We use phrases like “create a culture of expectation,” “invite, welcome, and include,” and “mandate, require, and coerce” when talking about our efforts to include busy parents. But how do we effectively […]

Getting Families Involved in the Classroom with Show-and-Tell

Kathy MacKenzie

One day last spring, I was hanging out in the lobby of our parish center, as I often do when classes end for the day. It was 5:00 P.M., and some of the parents had spent the entire hour waiting for their children by relaxing in one of our chairs, reading a book to pass the time. Others had just arrived, having run a quick errand since dropping off their children an hour earlier. This […]

Five Ways to Pray with Jesus During Ordinary Time

Joyce Donahue

Most catechists can easily help students visualize and pray with particular images of Jesus during the “big seasons” of the liturgical year. During Advent, Jesus is in Mary’s womb; at Christmas, he’s Baby Jesus. During Lent, Jesus is beside us in the desert; at Passiontide (the last two weeks of Lent), he’s the Suffering Servant; and at Easter, he is the Risen Christ. But what is our image of Jesus during Ordinary Time? Finding a […]

Technology, Prayer, and Catechesis

Joe Paprocki

When it comes to prayer, many of us think that it is a prerequisite to turn off all electronic devices that might distract us. Although we certainly need to cut down on distractions, the truth is, the world of cyberspace offers us numerous opportunities to deepen our prayer lives. With that in mind, I encourage you to read an excellent article by my friend Jonathan Sullivan, Executive Director of the Department of Evangelization, Education, and […]

Called to Serve One Another

Kathy Henry

Many who serve in catechetical ministry believe they are answering God’s call. While introducing myself to parents and students on the first day of religious education classes at my former ministry site, I mentioned that I drove an hour one way to get there. One very confused dad asked, “But why are you here?” Without hesitation I responded, “Because I am called to be here.” I genuinely believe God asked me to serve this community. With […]

Becoming a Portal for Spiritual Enrichment Opportunities

Joe Paprocki

One of the temptations we face when looking to grow our adult faith formation experience in the parish is to try to become all things to all people when we simply do not have the resources—human and financial—to do everything we would like to do. With that in mind, I propose that parishes think of themselves as a “clearinghouse” or “portal” for information about spiritual enrichment opportunities. The fact is, your diocese may have a […]

Last-Minute Catechist Recruitment: Don’t Compromise!

Joe Paprocki

In an ideal world, all of our recruitment for catechists would have wrapped up early in the summer, so that now we could just move forward with training, formation, and the start of the catechetical year. In reality, however, we know that last-minute openings pop up, and catechetical leaders find themselves scrambling to do some last-minute recruitment of catechists. It’s important to remember that, while time is short, we must not compromise on our standards […]