Every November our school has a food drive for a local pantry, in which we practice the Catholic social justice teaching of caring for the poor. We have worked with The Heart Ministry Center for several years, and we have a very close relationship with them. As our students collect food with Thanksgiving in mind, our goal is to help provide a special dinner for each family. To make it fun we assign specific food […]
Last week I announced that we’d be welcoming some new contributors to Catechist’s Journey. Today I’m happy to share with you who these new voices are and a little bit about each of them. Joyce Donahue, MA, MPS, serves as Catechetical Associate in the Diocese of Joliet Religious Education Office. A former parish DRE and liturgy director, she currently volunteers as parish catechist and musician at St. John the Baptist Parish, Joliet, IL. She blogs […]
In his book, Growing An Engaged Church (Gallup Press), Albert L. Winseman explains that, without true engagement, volunteers burn out quickly. He identifies 3 ways to make an immediate impact on the level of engagement of church members: clarify the expectations of membership help your members discover what they do best create small groups I think these can (and should) be easily applied to catechists, who, without engagement, do indeed burnout quickly. Those catechists who […]
In ministerial circles, it is not uncommon to hear the phrase “Faith is caught, not taught.”The point of the phrase is that faith is something that involves more than just transmitting information. With that in mind, it might be helpful to know just what makes a message go “viral” – what makes a message “contagious.” Seeking answers, I recently read a very good book: Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger (Simon & Schuster) […]
Join in an online retreat during the Year of Faith, exploring the pillars of the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a means to encountering Christ more deeply. Materials are drawn from Joe Paprocki’s book A Well-Built Faith. Preparing for the Year of Faith: Introductory Video Week One: The Creed Day 1: God’s Revealing Moments Day 2: Trusting God’s Word Day 3: A Family Resemblance to God (The Trinity) Day 4: What Are You […]
WEEK TWO: Sacraments (Celebrating the Christian Mystery) DAY 2: Learning the Language Spoken in the Kingdom of God (Mystery and Sacramentality) Recently, I did some research into my ancestry, uncovering stories of forefathers and foremothers who came to the shores of the United States from Poland in the late 19th century. In particular, I was impressed with the story of my great, great grandmother (on my mother’s side), Julia, who, as it turns out, spoke 7 languages […]
WEEK ONE: The Creed DAY 4: What Are You Afraid Of? (Sin, Salvation, and the Cross of Jesus) Fear is a natural human condition. The following are considered some of the most common fears. Which do you share? Spiders, snakes, heights, closed spaces, lightning, injections, social situations, flying, germs/dirt, public speaking, darkness It often seems as though we have many things to fear. Perhaps this is why one of the most commonly used phrases in the […]
Today, we feature the last in a series of guest bloggers as we celebrate the 5th anniversary of my blog The Catechist’s Journey. You may have heard me make mention of Jonathan Sullivan before and I’m delighted to see that he is indeed making an impact on the national scene as he will be one of the keynote speakers at the NCCL Conference in 2012! Jonathan currently serves as the director of catechetical ministries for […]
As many of us are beginning our catechetical year, I thought it would be helpful to share some inspiration sent to me by my friend and colleague, Tom Quinlan, the Director of the Religious Education Office of the Joliet Diocese. Tom has written the following piece titled “Be An Evangelizing Catechist!” Thanks, Tom! Pray for your children, your families … and for yourself! Pray privately and within the liturgical/sacramental life of your parish community. Provide a […]
By now, I’m sure you are aware of the fact that Pope Benedict XVI has issued a new encyclical – Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth) – which deals with the economic crisis and related social issues. Encyclicals are important to Catholics because we believe that God’s Revelation comes to us in Scripture and Tradition (the two being so closely related that we refer to them as a single deposit of faith). An encyclical is […]
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