You may recall from some of my previous posts, that this year, I began each religious education class by inviting the 8th graders to stand and respond “Let us rejoice and be glad!” to my invocation of “This is the day the Lord has made.” This became a very joyful part of our class and the kids routinely responded with great enthusiasm and vigor. Lo and behold, at our end-of-the-year Mass on Monday evening, the […]
I believe I’ve been paid the ultimate compliment from an 8th grade student who wrote those words on his evaluation: “flippin’ sweet class, Dude!” That’s a first for me! 🙂 I’d like to borrow his language to describe how things went last night: it was “flippin sweet!” It was one of those times when everything went according to plan and, in fact, exceeded my expectations. This was the last class that I will be teaching them (I’m […]
From time to time, people ask me about Bibles to use with young people. Here’s a review of the new edition of the Catholic Youth Bible from Brigid Wolff, the Coordinator of the Chicago Catholic Scripture School. A new edition of The Catholic Youth Bible has been released and is now available for purchase for $26.95 in paperback. This edition uses the New American Bible (NAB) rather than the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of […]
Congratulations to my friend Kevin Cody, DRE at St. Alphonsus in Lemont, IL, on his installation as president of the National Association of Parish Catechetical Directors (NPCD) which is part of the NCEA (National Catholic Education Association). Here’s the story as reported in the current issue of The Sower, the newsletter of the Office for Catechesis and Youth Ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago. New President of NPCD Kevin Cody – Catechetical Leader at St. […]
The Easter Vigil last night at St. Julie Billiart Parish in Tinley Park was exquisite! What a beautiful experience of celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord! Here are the catechumens and candidates gathered around the soon-to-be-lit fire. The Easter fire is lit in the darkened narthex of the church. The Deacon did a wonderful job of singing the Exsultet…the Easter Proclamation…in the darkened church lit now by the candles held by all the faithful. The […]
Holy Week is a time in which we figuratively transport ourselves over time and space to the Holy Land to walk with Jesus on the road to Calvary. One Director of Religious Education, Victor Valdez, invites parishioners to walk this journey in a creative and unique way by having the children of the religious education program reconstruct a miniature Holy Land on the Parish Green! The site includes displays of the areas of Nazareth, Bethlehem, […]
So last evening’s class was kind of a mixed bag. The main focus was on the “Ten Commandments Two-Minute Drills” that I wrote about yesterday. Here’s the scoop: All ten students were present and in good spirits. During opening prayer, one of the boys prayed for Brian Campbell, Blackhawks’ defenseman, who suffered a broken collar bone and cracked ribs as a result of a vicious hit by Alex Ovechkin on Sunday. I thought that was […]
We had a very nice class last night with 8 of 10 students present for their first class session after Confirmation (and the DRE received calls explaining the 2 absences). The kids had a very pleasant attitude about Confirmation…they seemed genuinely proud and there was no resentment about being back in class – the message had been conveyed that Confirmation is not the end! The post-confirmation guided reflection went very nicely! Several of the other […]
Now that we are into our second full week of Lent, I thought it would be good to pause and take stock of our efforts to practice the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Take a moment to complete the poll below and, remember, you’re welcome to send me a confidential email once per week to let me know in more detail how you are doing with your Lenten practices and I’ll respond personally. […]
I spent some time looking up some good resources on the Stations of the Cross. Some are online resources, some are downloadable, some are especially for children, others are for general audiences. I hope these are helpful as you plan on praying the Stations of the Cross with your group during Lent. The Stations of the Cross with Mary – Then and Now (Creighton University) – four-page handout The Stations of the Cross (Creighton University) – […]
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