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Intermediate Grades

Yesterday’s Class – Concern About Those Who Are Homeless

Last evening’s session went very nicely as we looked at Jesus’ Law of Love (Love one another as I have loved you) and learned about how we are called to imitate Jesus’ love for others. Here’s a summary: We had a nice review of our last session which was 2 weeks ago. I held up a can of Play-Doh and asked, “Anyone remember what we learned?” and one girl said, “That we can shape our […]

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Comings & Goings

A SHOUT OUT to Cedar Rapids, IA!

A great big SHOUT OUT to the wonderful folks of the Cedar Rapids Diocore (Diocesan Council of Religious Education) of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, who came out in strong numbers last night to spend the evening with me learning about The Bible Blueprint! We had a great time at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Hiawatha, IA, and I was so inspired by the enthusiasm of these catechists and their catechetical leaders as they […]

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Comings & Goings

A Day in Dubuque – The Bible Blueprint

A great big shout out to all of the Catholic school teachers in Dubuque, IA, with whom I spent the day today, exploring The Bible Blueprint. We had a wonderful time together talking about how to integrate Scripture into the life of the Catholic school and make it more prominent in the formation experience of Catholic school children. Thanks to the good folks who made the day so much fun and so engaging and I […]

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Newsworthy

Doing a Parent-Child Bible Presentation

While at NCCL this week, I am doing a poster presentation about how to conduct a parent-child session on introducing Catholics to the Bible. The poster indicates that you can get a pdf of the outline for the session on my blog. That said, here ’tis! Joe P. NCCL Poster Presentation

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Newsworthy

New Edition of Catholic Youth Bible

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 […]

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Comings & Goings

Nice Story About My South Carolina Presentation!

The Archdiocese of Charleston, South Carolina, ran a nice story in their paper about the Scripture presentation I did there last week! http://www.themiscellany.org/index.php/news/3094-reading-scripture-makes-our-prayer-lives-more-fruitful-says-paprocki

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Comings & Goings

Wavin' Their Bibles in South Carolina!

Here’s a pic of about 100 happy catechists and DREs in Columbia, South Carolina, proudly waving their Bibles on Saturday! I enjoyed a wonderful day with them as we focused on the Catholic approach to Scripture…something that is much needed in the Bible Belt! Thanks to all the good folks who extended their always-warm Southern hospitality!

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Joys and Frustrations

On Second Thought…

Last evening’s session went OK, however, as I look back over my attempt to walk the young people through the Bible in preparation for the unit on Jesus, I’m having second thoughts about my approach. Frankly, I think it was a bit beyond them to explore so many Scripture passages (as outlined in my handout)  in one swoop. As brief as most of those passages are and as easy as I thought it would be […]

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Creative Moments

A Walk Through the Bible

For last night’s class, I did my best  to walk the young people through the Bible. Unfortunately, as happens, we had some interruptions (a fire drill and a time out to have the kids sign a banner for the Year of the Priest) so in the end I only had about 40 minutes to teach…I got as far as getting the Jewish people out of Egypt and across the Red Sea and ran out of […]

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Junior High

The Story of the Bible in a Nutshell

I’ve decided that, since we’ll have no class next Monday (Columbus Day) and that when we return, we jump right into a unit on Jesus Christ, tonight will be a good night to do an overview of the Bible with my 8th graders, taking them through the story of salvation history that culminates with Jesus Christ. Click here for an outline of passages that tell the narrative of the story of salvation history in a chronological sequence […]