Catholic language Archives - Catechist's Journey

Pop-Up Catechesis: Speaking God’s Language Through Signs and Symbols

Throughout Scripture, God’s presence is manifested symbolically, in a burning bush, a pillar of fire, a column of smoke, clouds on a mountaintop, a mighty wind, a whispering sound, a dove, or tongues of fire. God did not reveal himself as a hologram in the same fashion as Princess Leia appeared to Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kanobi in Star Wars. Instead, God chose to reveal his mysterious, transcendent, invisible, and intangible presence through tangible, […]

Pop-Up Catechesis: Speaking God’s Language Through Bible Stories

Joe Paprocki

According to linguist Noam Chomsky, “Language embodies the world view of a culture and is unique to the culture that created it. It reflects values and concepts that are deemed to be the most important by a culture. A language describes the culture it comes from.” For this reason, it is imperative that Catholic parents speak God’s language at home, especially when children are preparing for a sacrament. What do we mean by the phrase, […]

Like Learning a New Language, Faith Formation Requires Immersion

Joe Paprocki

My New Year’s resolution this year was to learn Spanish. I was all set: I signed up for a 10-week course, purchased some resources, downloaded some apps, and began the journey. I made some good progress at first, especially as a result of the classes, and even spent extra time while on the train each day going over lessons and learning vocabulary. Then I hit the wall. My class didn’t meet for a couple of […]

Watch Your Language!

Joe Paprocki

I recently came across the article, “Be Aware of Your Language” by Justin Knowles, in which he warns about not assuming that our young people have any “real background of the Bible, its stories or any of this church talk that many of us keep using.” While not written from a Catholic point of view, this article gets at the heart of the New Evangelization, which tells us that we must not assume that those we […]

Year of Faith Retreat – Week 2, Day 2: Learning the Language Spoken in the Kingdom of God (Mystery and Sacramentality)

Joe Paprocki

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 […]