Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Easter

Pop-Up Catechesis: Feasting More Than Fasting

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 […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Easter

Pop-Up Catechesis: Blessing of Easter Foods

One of my favorite traditions at Easter is the blessing of Easter foods and baskets on Holy Saturday. When I was a kid growing up in a predominantly Polish parish in Chicago, my siblings and I annually lugged several baskets full of the best-smelling Easter foods to the parish hall on Holy Saturday for the blessing of Easter foods known as the Święconka (shveeyen-TSON-kah). Many parishes continue this tradition on Holy Saturday; however, there is […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Ten Commandments, Sin, & Morality

Pop-Up Catechesis: Exploring the Value of Cleanliness

The phrase, “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” is not found in the Bible but is regularly used, nonetheless, by Christians as if it were. Perhaps that is because there is great truth in this statement. Scripture does tell us that God “makes all things new.” Cleanliness—referring to both personal hygiene and keeping our environments neat and clean—is a reminder to us of how God restores things and does indeed make all things new. In this […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Ten Commandments, Sin, & Morality

Pop-Up Catechesis: Exploring the Value of Optimism

Optimism is at the very heart of the Kingdom of God, and before we invite someone to consider following Jesus, we had better show some optimism. To be Christian is to have a disposition of optimism and not despair. We are not doomsayers. By the same token, we do not see the world through rose-colored glasses. We are realists. We see, feel, and experience pain, violence, sadness, hurt, and evil. However, our faith teaches us […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Ten Commandments, Sin, & Morality

Pop-Up Catechesis: Exploring the Value of Honesty

On several occasions, Jesus accused the Pharisees of being “hypocrites.” The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word hypokrites, which means “an actor,” and we know that actors in ancient Greek theater wore masks to hide their true identities behind the identities of the characters they were playing. We sometimes struggle to be honest about our true thoughts and feelings. And yet, our spiritual and emotional well-being rely on the value of honesty—being honest with ourselves, […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Ten Commandments, Sin, & Morality

Pop-Up Catechesis: Exploring the Value of Generosity

Lent is a good time for us to explore our values, and the Lenten discipline of almsgiving reminds us to cultivate the value of generosity. We tend to think of generosity as an occasional act of kindness expressed monetarily. We send a check to a charity, drop an envelope in the church basket, purchase Girl Scout cookies, or put some money in the red kettle or CRS Rice Bowl. These are indeed generous acts that […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Ten Commandments, Sin, & Morality

Pop-Up Catechesis: Exploring the Value of Altruism

Being approximately 99% Polish (according to Ancestry.com), I have always taken a special interest in prominent Polish figures throughout history. One of my favorites is the famous 16th-century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who was the first to propose a model that showed that the planets orbit the sun rather than the earth, as was previously believed. Inspired by his work, the phrase “Copernican revolution” has become commonplace for describing someone who needs to be less self-centered. […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Ten Commandments, Sin, & Morality

Pop-Up Catechesis: Exploring the Value of Compassion

As kids, most of us dream of finding a buried treasure, something of great value. We use the word values to refer to those beliefs and principles that we believe are most important for guiding the way we live and work and treat ourselves and others. Lent is a great time to reflect on our values and to reshape them so that we truly treasure, or value, that which God treasures and values most. In this […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Lent

Pop-Up Catechesis: Lent and Following Our Inner Compass

Just as the magnetized needle of a compass is naturally drawn to face north (the Earth’s magnetic pole), each of us is naturally drawn toward God. However, throughout the year, our attention is drawn by other things. Lent is a time for us to “turn around” and to once again allow ourselves to be drawn to God. Through praying, fasting, and giving alms, we focus our attention on God, to whom we are naturally drawn. […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Catechetical Issues & Topics

Pop-Up Catechesis: The Marks of the Church

When advertising, businesses will often boast about specific qualities that they possess as a way of distinguishing themselves from their competition. Thus, it is common to see words such as the following splashed all over their ads: bold, innovative, trustworthy, original, authentic, cutting-edge, high-quality, and user-friendly. In a similar way, the Catholic Church uses four words to describe its distinguishing features: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. In this episode of Pop-Up Catechesis, we explore these […]