Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! A big day for us catechists who are all about teaching LOVE! Tonight, the 4th graders will have an opportunity to spend the evening with Fr. Matt, the Associate Pastor, as he will help them to better understand the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I should have the recordings of the Roman Missal Webinars real soon…stay tuned! In the meantime, I’ll answer some more of the many questions that came in during the Webinars. […]
You may have come across some stories this past weekend about the U.S. Bishops hosting a conference on exorcism. In particular, the conference was organized by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, IL…yes, my brother. How he ended up coordinating that event, I don’t know, other than maybe the bishops figured that growing up in a family of 9 children, he and his siblings had a little “devil” in us! 🙂 Seriously, though, I just […]
One activity that many catechists include in their repertoire is taking the students on a tour of the Church. This is an excellent way to provide a hands-on experience for kids, introducing them to the sacred spaces and objects that are a part of our Catholic worship and inviting them to develop their Catholic vocabulary. I’m a firm believer in always putting the responsibility on the students to show comprehension. I rarely show a video […]
Last night, we had a very nice visit from our Associate Pastor, Fr. Matthew Nemchausky. Fr. Matt dropped in last week and asked if he could arrange for a time to meet the kids so I invited him to visit this week. We planned on perhaps 10-15 mins, however, the kids were so interested in him that the visit lasted a half-hour! I thought it was an excellent experience for the kids and I was […]
One person who participated in my Leading Prayer Webinar (I’m still gonna get that recording up here for y’all…hang in there!) was Jonathan Sullivan who is the Director of the Catechetical Ministries Office for the Diocese of Springfield, IL. Jonathan posted about how much he enjoyed the Webinar (thanks for the shout-out, Jonathan!) and has developed an excellent handout describing how to lead spontaneous prayer relying on the “you, who, do, through” method. Pay attention […]
As I mentioned in my last post, I taught my first 4th grade RE class on Monday and really loved it. Here are some more details about the ups and downs of that first class: I arrived 45 mins early only to find out that the doors don’t open until 30 mins before class begins. I’m such a dork! 🙂 For the early session, the kids kind of straggle in over a 10 min. period […]
A number of people sent in some excellent questions during our Webinar last night. Here’s a sampling along with my responses. You’re most welcome to chime in on the discussion. _______________________________________________________________ ‑Steven Q: What are the biggest differences between teaching religion in a five day school and as a catechist once a week. For the first time in almost 30 years I am doing both at the same time. A: Steven, the most obvious of […]
During our Webinar on Wednesday evening, many catechists sent in some excellent questions. Here’s a sampling along with my responses. There’s more to come in the days ahead! Dawn Q: where can we get the opening prayer that you used? A: I adapted the prayer from Catechetical Sunday prayers which you can find at the U.S. Bishops’ Web site: http://usccb.org/catecheticalsunday/2010/catechists-prayer.pdf and http://usccb.org/catecheticalsunday/2010/prayer-for-catechists.pdf ________________________________________________________________ Julie Q: I teach kids under the age of 10 and I […]
Dallas was HOT! But oh what a wonderful time we had there Saturday! A crew of us from Loyola Press swept in to spend the day with nearly 600 catechists looking at The Role of the Catechist. I did the English segment (seeings how I’m learning to speak that language pretty good) and my talented and charming friend and colleague Miguel Arias did the Spanish segment. A great big THANKS to all of the wonderful […]
As catechists, one of the most effective tools we have is asking questions. Jesus was, of course, a master at this skill. Often in the Gospels, we find Jesus utilizing questions to challenge his followers and stimulate their thinking: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29) “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” (Matthew 22:20) “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) “Which is easier, […]
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