In my new book, Practice Makes Catholic: Moving from a Learned Faith to a Lived Faith (Loyola Press), I talk about keeping time the Catholic way. In other words, by paying attention to the liturgical calendar, we remind ourselves that time itself is sacramental, revealing the presence of God in each moment. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase that a person “is living on borrowed time.” We use this peculiar phrase when referring to someone […]
One of the activities in my 40 Ideas for 40 Days of Lent, 2011, is an exercise on the Seven Last Words of Christ. Since I am once again only going to have about half of my students present this Monday (because of Living Stations rehearsals), I thought it would be nice to have them work on a Lenten activity related to the suffering and death of Jesus that is portrayed in the Living Stations. […]
Each year, during Lent, the parish school of religion puts on 2 Living Stations of the Cross – one by the 4th graders and one by the 8th graders. Since I’m teaching 4th grade this year, it once again means that many of my students will be involved (in fact, my aide’s son will play the role of Jesus!). Our DRE, Arlene, handles all of the preparations and rehearsals and the rehearsals begin this Monday. What […]
Tonight, we begin in church with a Lenten prayer service that should be about 30 minutes. With all the coming and going between the church and school buildings, I should have about 35 minutes left with my kids. Since I haven’t been able to do a guided reflection with them for a few weeks, I thought I would go right into that when we get back to the classroom. Here’s the script that I put […]
In my 40 Ideas for 40 Days of Lent calendar, Monday, March 14 is an activity titled “What’s with the Pretzels?” which goes into the meaning of the pretzel as a traditional lenten food. I received an email from a 6th grade catechist named Marie who had quite a bit to say about the topic. Thanks, Marie! Enjoy! Joe, I’ve been on your mail list for about three months and have enjoyed the information and […]
Back in 1970, the Beatles issued one of their last hits: “Get Back.” The song represented the Beatles’ efforts to get back to their rock and roll roots (“Get back. Get back. Get back to where you once belonged”). They had spent the last few years in the studio crafting some incredible music (Sgt. Pepper, in particular) that saw them venturing into complex arrangements and layers of sounds. With the group now experiencing tension and […]
Here’s a popular Ash Wednesday post of mine called, “What’s that on Your Forehead?” Q: Hey, your forehead’s dirty. What’s that on your forehead? A: Ashes…they’re from church. Q: Why did your church put dirt on your forehead? A: It’s not dirt; they’re ashes. Today’s Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Catholics wear ashes to show that we want to change to get ready for Easter. Q: Are they supposed to be in […]
This great idea came to me from a catechist by the name of Connie…thanks Connie! Hi Joe, Thanks for the Lenten calendar–I’m always looking for something new! Here’s something I did last night with my sixth graders, who are studying the Old Testament. We made our own Wailing Wall–which we will use throughout Lent. Before class, I drew outlines of the bricks/stones in black marker on a piece of butcher paper. When the kids came in, […]
I received SO MANY excellent questions from folks during the Roman Missal Webinars I hosted last week. Here is the 3rd installment! Roman Missal Webinar Q & A 3rd Installment
I invited a good friend of mine, D. Todd Williamson, to take a look at the Q & A from the Roman Missal Webinars, and to add any clarifications he thinks might be helpful. Todd, who is the Director of the Office for Divine Worship in Chicago is one of the most gifted liturgists I know because he is so catechetical as well! You may already know that Todd and I have been writing a […]
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