adolescent children Archives - Catechist's Journey

Next Up: Advice for Catechists of Jr High/High School Youth

Thanks to everyone for sharing such great advice for catechists of intermediate age children. Now, we move on to the next group which is catechists of junior high and high school youth (grades 7 through12). Let’s hear from the army of intrepid catechists out there who labor in the vineyard with these unique creatures we call pre-adolescents and adolescents! What advice, wisdom, and strategies do you have to offer? Just type in your comments below…I’ll […]

A Catechist’s Guide to the New Translation – from the Diocese of Lansing

Joe Paprocki

Thanks to my colleague Denise, here’s a resource for catechists to use to implement the new translation of the Roman Missal. It’s from the Diocese of Lansing, MI, and it is quite thorough. http://www.dioceseoflansing.org/catechesis_k12/Roman_Missal_Children_Adolescents.pdf It basically constitutes a mini-curriculum on the Mass that would require 8 sessions. What I’m hearing from a lot of catechetical leaders, however, is that they are not planning on setting aside such large chunks of time from their regular curriculum (for […]

Thank You, San Diego!

Joe Paprocki

Many, many thanks to all the good folks who came out in San Diego over the past couple of days to talk about catechizing junior high kids! I had a great time and I hope you did too! Thanks to Mary Jo Waggoner and Enedina Saucedo for their hospitality and for arranging for this experience to take place. Thanks especially to mis amigos Miguel Arias and Luis Ramirez for all their hard work and for […]

Helping an Eleven-Year Old Understand Evolution and the Catholic Faith

Joe Paprocki

I received a plea for help from my colleague and friend Sr. Julie Vieira, IHM, (be sure to visit her blog, A Nun’s Life) who is seeking an effective response to an inquiry she received from a mom trying to help her 11 year-old son understand the relationship between the theory of evolution and the Catholic faith. The mom writes: My son is 11 years old attending Catholic School and he has been asking questions […]

Virtual Symposium on Adolescent Catechesis

Joe Paprocki

Last week, a National Symposium on Adolescent Catechesis was held in Baltimore with 100 invited guests (academics, bishops, practicioners, and leaders of various disciplines related to adolescent catechesis). The goals of the symposium were: to identify factors that affect adolescent faith formation and their implications, to develop a common language that will help establish standards for effective adolescent catechesis and its assessment, to establish tools for addressing the creation of comprehensive youth faith formation programs. […]