poverty Archives - Catechist's Journey

The First World Day of the Poor—Loving with Deeds Rather Than Words

In my humble opinion, Pope Francis believes that the most effective way for the Church to have a greater impact on the world is to speak less and to act more. Knowing that the Church has lost a lot of credibility in recent decades because of scandalous actions on the part of some clergy and bishops, he has been calling for the Church to re-assert its moral authority through actions instead of through pronouncements and […]

Poverty Quiz Struck a Nerve

Joe Paprocki

At the end of Monday evening’s session, I asked each of the kids to share one thing they learned that evening: spiritual and corporal works of mercy, social justice, service, and living the Beatitudes. I was struck by how many of the young people referred to the poverty quiz that they took in the social justice session with Chris. Many of them pulled the quiz out and quoted a fact or figure about poverty in […]

Online Catechist's Retreat – Week 3: An Openness to the Church

Joe Paprocki

Welcome to Week 3 of our Online Catechist’s Retreat (The Spirituality of the Catechist) as we take a look at the second characteristic of our spirituality: An Openness to the Church. Thanks so much for insights posted last week on the theme of our openness to God! Your stories were very inspiring as we venture forth in this retreat. If you’re just joining us, you can go back and “catch up” and then come back to […]

Arts Contest

Joe Paprocki

Here’s an idea for engaging young people in grades 7 through 12 around the Church’s social teaching, helping them to recognize the root causes of poverty and injustice. It is the 2010 Catholic Campaign for Human Development Mulit-Media Arts Contest. Schools and parish religious education programs can participate in this as a tool to help young people engage in Catholic social action. The 2010 contest theme is “Empowering Neighborhoods, Uprooting Poverty.” The contest invites all […]