Christmas Traditions
Did you talk about Christmas traditions with your group this year? Here, Julianne Stanz talks about two Irish holiday traditions. If Julianne’s Braving the Thin Places wasn’t in your stocking, get your copy here.
Christmas
The Joyful Mysteries: The Nativity and Rejoicing in the Nearness of God
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 Third Joyful Mystery: the Nativity. For my 50th birthday, my wife told me to splurge and buy a ticket to see Sir Paul McCartney live at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Even after John Lennon’s tragic death in 1980, I still held out hope that I might one day see one […]
Pop-Up Catechesis: Putting On Christ This Christmas
We often lament the fact that stores begin putting up Christmas decorations around the time of Halloween! Oddly enough, I find a link between Halloween and Christmas. On Halloween, children put on costumes and proceed to act like the characters they are portraying. My granddaughter, Livvy, two years of age, wore a kitty-cat costume and crawled about meowing and purring for a week. Well, on Christmas, we celebrate the person whose “costume” we have donned […]
12 Books of Christmas: A Respite from Screen Time
Parents and children are no doubt eager to catch a break from all of the screen time that comes with working and schooling from home during the pandemic. The Christmas holidays provide just the kind of respite that is so needed—an opportunity for families to gather around something other than a computer screen! I’d like to suggest reading books as a family as the perfect option for the Christmas holidays. Loyola Press is making that […]
Poll: When Do You Celebrate Christmas with Your Faith Formation Group?
My wife taught for years at several different Catholic high schools, and she recalls how, in one school, the principal insisted that there be no Christmas decorations during Advent, while at another school, the principal wanted the school festooned with Christmas decorations so that visitors to open house could see them! As catechists, we want to celebrate Christmas with those in our faith formation groups; however, most often, we end up not seeing them for […]
Books Make for Wonderful Christmas Gifts!
According to Pew Research, roughly a quarter of U.S. adults (27%) indicate that they haven’t read a book in the past year. A great way to remedy that is to gift those you love with books this Christmas! There are many benefits to reading books, including mental stimulation, stress reduction, exposure to knowledge, inspiration, escape, vocabulary expansion, memory improvement, and more! Loyola Press is happy to provide you with a Christmas Gift Guide to help you […]
Christmas and Catholic Identity (Video)
Catholic identity is characterized by five traits that are integral to the Christmas story, and Christmas can help us to strengthen our Catholic identity. Learn more in the video below. Read the post that inspired this video: Christmas and Catholic Identity.
How the Gifts You Give Can Help “Keep Christ in Christmas”
You can always expect to receive certain kinds of Christmas presents from certain people. For example, I could always expect to receive gifts of some kind of clothing from my mom, because she felt it was her duty to keep me properly dressed. And she made no apologies for that! As catechists, we should make no apologies for offering gifts to others at Christmas that focus on the centrality of Christ. In other words, the gifts […]
Christmas Bible Story Booklet
To help you share the Christmas story with children, we’re happy to share a Christmas Bible story booklet with you. The text of the booklet is from the Loyola Kids Book of Bible Stories by popular Catholic children’s author Amy Welborn. Print out the booklet and share with your class in a session on the birth of Jesus, or send copies home for families to enjoy together. Use copies as Christmas cards to your students, […]
Christmas Gift Ideas for Catechists: Books!
People often ask me about making arrangements to purchase books at a special rate for teachers and catechists at Christmastime, which is right around the corner! I’m happy to say that Loyola Press has heard your request and is responding by making the following books available at a special rate ($5 each when you order 15 or more of the featured books in any combination) so that you can say “Merry Christmas” and show appreciation […]