As a catechist, I rarely met a prop I didn’t like! Teaching sixth grade with its focus on the Old Testament gave me a number of opportunities to bring in a variety of props with which to engage the young people. One of my favorites was a lesson on David, Shepherd and King (Chapter 9 of Finding God), in which I brought in a bevy of props to help the young people understand the concept of […]
In adult faith formation, all too often, we set out to provide a comprehensive curriculum of the Catholic faith before we have helped folks recognize what the core of our story is! Before we can delve deeply into the Six Tasks of Catechesis, the Four Pillars of the Catechism, the Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching, and so on, we need to be sure that we have presented the core of our story of Salvation. […]
More and more, I am finding that many parishes have numerous adults involved—under the radar, in many respects—in giving service to others. On a weekly basis, folks are visiting/staffing food pantries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and so on. They are preparing sandwiches, folding clothing donations, and delivering meals to people. All of this is wonderful. However, we are not doing enough to help people see their efforts through the lens of faith. There are numerous […]
Jesus calls each of us to spread the Good News. One way we can do this as Catholic Christians is to show God’s love to those we encounter no matter if they are friend, family, or stranger. This concept can be tough for many adults to live out. How do we teach the children in our faith formation classes to show God’s love to all those we encounter? I recently wrestled with this concept in […]
It would seem that I touched a nerve (in a good way) when I suggested recently that our adult faith formation efforts need to focus on brokenness. This idea really seems to resonate with people, based on the volume of comments and the number of people who shared the post on social networks. Thanks for making this such a robust conversation. I thought it might be helpful to revisit it and delve a little deeper. […]
Now that “Millennials” are coming of age, a lot of attention is turning to the next generation. Here is an interesting slide presentation about the generation of kids we are teaching today – in this presentation, referred to as “Generation Z” – those born from 1995 to the present. Meet Generation Z: Forget Everything You Learned About Millennials Personally, I think the subtitle is a bit of hyperbole – I don’t think the next generation […]
So, this past Tuesday, I asked my sixth graders to dream of what it is that they would do if they could be king or queen for a day. The purpose of this was to introduce to them the concept of the Kingdom of Israel leading up to Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God. I was blown away by their responses! They were not only imaginative but also very caring and Gospel-centered! In fact, […]
As it turns out, our session was canceled last evening due to the extreme conditions here in Chicago. Thankfully, temps are on the way back up to more normal frigid Chicago standards! In the meantime, I took the opportunity to look ahead and rearrange the schedule a bit, and I see that after we review next week, we’ll be ready to begin exploring the establishment of the Kingdom of Israel, beginning with a couple of […]
As we celebrate this Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, we turn our thoughts to the importance of dreaming. Not the kind of dreaming we do in our sleep, but the kind of dreaming that involves imagining. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, Dr. King imagined the possibility of a world that would more closely reflect God’s will. The words of his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” echo the dreams of the Prophets, most […]
In this segment of Catechists in Action, Marge Garbacz continues facilitating a discussion with her RCIA about Catholic Social Teaching. Watch for the following: Marge summarizes the discussion so far and poses a question for discussion. Participants begin talking about examples and strategies for practicing the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. Marge takes a back seat to the discussion and allows it to progress, enabling the participants to take ownership of the discussion and converse […]
Copyright © 2006-2024 Loyola Press. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of the contents of this service without the express written consent of Loyola Press is expressly prohibited.