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scared boy - Eakachai Leesin/Shutterstock.com

Helping Children to Cope with Violence and Tragedy—Again

This year, we are marking the 15th anniversary of this blog, Catechist’s Journey. Sadly, within the first year of the blog’s creation, I found myself writing a post about helping children to cope with news about a mass shooting at Virginia Tech. A year later, I posted in the wake of a mass shooting at Northern Illinois University. Several years later, I posted again, as a result of the Newton mass shooting. Once again, within […]

Pop-Up Catechesis: Feasting More Than Fasting

Joe Paprocki

In the Church year, Easter, our season of feasting, is longer than Lent, our season of fasting! While the 40 days of Lent lay out a program of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we often don’t seem to have a game plan for how to celebrate the 50 days of Easter. I suggest that we focus on the concept of “feasting” during the 50 days of Easter. In this episode of Pop-Up Catechesis, we explore six […]

Catechesis and the Paschal Mystery: Moving from Death to Life

Joe Paprocki

The new Directory for Catechesis has many thought-provoking and powerful lines, including the following: “Everything [in faith formation] is oriented toward the mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection.” (64a) “Catechesis communicates the heart of the faith in an essential and existentially understandable way, bringing each person into contact with the Risen One and helping him to reinterpret and to live the most intense moments of his life as Paschal events.” (64a) I find it […]

Visitation - Detail from "The Fifteen Mysteries and the Virgin of the Rosary" by Netherlandish Painter (possibly Goswijn van der Weyden, active by 1491, died after 1538), ca. 1515–20, public domain via The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Joyful Mysteries: The Visitation and Stirring Up Life

Joe Paprocki

The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary lead us up to and through the birth of Jesus Christ and his childhood. Today, we look at the Second Joyful Mystery: The Visitation. Mary had just received the biggest news of her life: she was with child (mysteriously, since she had no relations with a man), and this child was destined to be the long-awaited Messiah. No one would blame her if she went into seclusion, wrapped up […]

Saint Martin de Porres by Kathryn Seckman Kirsch © Loyola Press. All rights reserved.

The Saints as Missionary Disciples: St. Martin de Porres

Julianne Stanz

This is part two of a series exploring saints who lived as missionary disciples. Amid all the upheaval that we have recently undergone and are still going through, we sometimes forget that the saints also lived during times of intense disunity, strife, and racial tension. St. Martin de Porres reminds us of the necessity of compassion, particularly during times of difficulty and division. What can his witness teach us about missionary discipleship? Let’s explore his […]

Sunday : The Week :: The Triduum : The _________

Joe Paprocki

Many standardized tests use the formula seen in the title for word analogies. If you are not familiar with the formula, it is “translated” accordingly: “Sunday is to the week as the Triduum is to the ______.” And the answer is: year. I learned this analogy years ago from the great liturgist, Gabe Huck, who made it a point to assert that, “Sunday is to the week as the Triduum is to the year.” In […]

Preparing Hearts and Minds: 9 Simple Ways for Catechists to Cultivate a Living Faith - blog series based on book of same title

Preparing Hearts and Minds Strategy 6: Invite, Invite, Invite!

Joe Paprocki

As we continue our summer series, Preparing Hearts and Minds: 9 Simple Ways for Catechists to Cultivate a Living Faith, we come to strategy #6. Strategy #6: Invite, invite, invite! Ultimately, an advertisement is an invitation; after presenting all the information about their amazing product or service, the sponsors invite potential customers to join “other satisfied customers.” They then provide a phone number, a website address, and convenient locations so that potential customers can avoid being left out. […]

Preparing Hearts and Minds Strategy 5: Proclaim the Resurrection as the Cause of Our Joy

Joe Paprocki

As we continue our summer series, Preparing Hearts and Minds: 9 Simple Ways for Catechists to Cultivate a Living Faith, we come to strategy #5. Strategy #5: Proclaim the Resurrection as the cause of our joy. One of the most often-used phrases in TV commercials is, “But wait, there’s more!” Just when you think you’ve heard it all and that it can’t get any better, the seller doubles down and tells you that it’s about to get […]

Preparing Hearts and Minds Strategy 4: Invite a Leap of Faith

Joe Paprocki

As we continue our summer series, Preparing Hearts and Minds: 9 Simple Ways for Catechists to Cultivate a Living Faith, we explore apprenticing those we teach in laying down their lives for others. Strategy #4: Invite a leap of faith. It is a fairly common practice in advertising to garner attention by making a claim about a product or service that is counterintuitive and requires a “leap of faith.” For example: a diet plan promises that you […]

Reconciliation illustration - copyright Loyola Press - All rights reserved

Lent Is a Time to “Name the Sin” Without Dwelling On It

Joe Paprocki

Catholics have a reputation for dwelling on sin. “Catholic guilt” is a phrase that many of us are all-too-familiar with. In recent decades, however, there has been a shift away from focusing on sin and avoiding heaping guilt on people. While well-intended (Guilt can indeed be paralyzing for some people.), this shift has resulted in a lack of understanding about the importance of “naming the sin.” In 12-step groups, it is taught that confronting and […]