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Five Strategies for Empowering Families to Be the Domestic Church

The following is excerpted from All God’s People: Effective Catechesis in a Diverse Church by Donna Toliver Grimes. As a catechetical leader, you are called to form not just children but entire families. Moving forward, your task is to equip and empower families to once again embrace their role as the domestic church: a place where faith takes root and is nurtured. What approaches does the twenty-first-century catechetical leader need to take to make this […]

Good Shepherd illustration - © Loyola Press. All rights reserved.

The Good Shepherd and Hallway Shepherds

Kathleen Butler

When I pray with my first-grade students, I often tell them they have to listen for Jesus’ voice not with their ears but with their hearts. Granted, it’s an abstract concept for young ones to understand. This year, when I taught a lesson on the Good Shepherd, I decided to try something new. Before class, I slyly arranged for two of the fathers to wait in the hall and asked them not to tell their […]

A Mother’s Day Reflection: Worry and Prayer Aren’t the Same Thing

Joe Paprocki

It is common for mothers to worry about their children. Yes, of course, dads do as well, but a mother has a very special relationship with her children, and worry is part and parcel of that reality. In her blog post, “Mother’s Anxiety: How Motherhood Breeds Anxiety,” psychology professor Amy Przeworski, PhD, captures this notion: I thought I knew what high anxiety was before I became a mother, but upon learning that I was pregnant, I realized that […]

A May Crowning Acrostic

Denise Gorss

We end our program year with a May Crowning celebration, presided over by our pastor. Generally we can expect opening and closing songs, a reading about Mary from Scripture, a few words from the priest, some prayers, and an eighth-grader crowning the statue of Mary. The statue then keeps the crown for the rest of the month, serving as a reminder to the entire parish of the special evening the religious education students shared. Today […]

Prayer Intentions and Catholic Social Teaching

Barb Gilman

A routine during the school year that helps us come together as a family is praying for each students’ intentions. I have noticed that our intentions many times align with the seven themes of Catholic social teaching. Life and Dignity of the Human Person Call to Family, Community, and Participation Rights and Responsibilities Preferential Option for the Poor The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers Solidarity Care for God’s Creation While we do […]

Not Done with Prayer Yet

Denise Gorss

We had just finished a silence challenge, and I called the young people to our regular opening prayer when I was disheartened to hear one boy mumble, “What, we’re not done with prayer yet?” Prayer time is usually not met with such resistance in my classroom. In fact, I think many of the young people enjoy the quiet and reflective experiences built in to our time together, whether they are able to vocalize it or […]

Leadership: A Jewel of Asian and Pacific Island Cultures

Jayne Ragasa-Mondoy

This is the third of four articles that explore Encountering Christ in Harmony: A Pastoral Response to Our Asian and Pacific Island Brothers and Sisters (ECH:API), which was approved by the USCCB on June 14, 2018. Encountering Christ in Harmony describes some of the unique aspects of Asian and Pacific Island (API) Catholics and recommends pastoral responses based upon four central concerns: Identity, Generations, Leadership, and Culture of Encounter and Dialogue. API Catholics in the […]

Celebrating the Annunciation: Finding Reassurance in Mary

Joe Paprocki

March 25 is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, when we recall and celebrate the day that the angel announced to Mary that she had been chosen to be the Mother of our Lord (Luke 1:26–38). As I’ve mentioned here before, Marian feasts are ultimately about Jesus, since Mary seeks to draw attention, not to herself, but to her Son, Jesus, who brings us the Good News of rescue, restoration, and reassurance. Mary participates in […]

Stations of the Cross image by Steve Snodgrass under CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

How the Stations of the Cross Teach Us a “Way of Proceeding”

Joe Paprocki

In his book, Station to Station: An Ignatian Journey through the Stations of the Cross, author Gary Jansen tells the story of a noted psychologist who asked an audience, “If I squeeze an orange, what comes out?” After a hesitation, one person shouted out, “Orange juice!” The psychologist responded, “Orange juice. Yes. Why?” Again, after a hesitation, one person answered, “Because that’s what’s inside the orange.” The psychologist affirmed that and said, “We could say […]

Prayer Cubes for Lent

Kathleen Butler

There are many opportunities to engage children during the season of Lent. I like to use this season to encourage the children in my class to develop a new prayer habit, especially a habit that they can bring home to their families. Last year my class used Lenten prayer sticks, which were very popular. I wondered why, and it dawned on me that having something tangible made prayer time hard to ignore. Parents could more […]