religious education Archives - Page 2 of 3

Help For “New” Catechetical Leaders: Through the Year with the DRE

Back in the day, when I was a “baby” DRE (Director of Religious Education), I turned to a nifty book for help. It was written by Gail McKenna and it was titled Through the Year with the DRE: A Seasonal Guide for Christian Educators (Paulist Press). The book is long out of print, however, the idea stayed with me and inspired me to create a chart a few years ago outlining the “typical” responsibilities that […]

Ends With a Whimper, Not a Bang

Joe Paprocki

Alas, the catechetical year with my 6th graders ended with more of a whimper than a bang last evening! Suffice it to say that their eagerness to be done with Monday night religious education sessions outweighed any anguish they were feeling about not seeing Mr. Paprocki any more! 🙂 Part of the problem stemmed from the usual shenanigans that one encounters when supervising a large group of pre-adolescents attending Mass on a Monday evening after […]

Reaching Out to the Lost Sheep – Assessment and Redemption

Joe Paprocki

I have long been an advocate of assessment in catechesis. At the same time, I have always made it clear that assessment in catechesis is to be used as a tool to address needs (both individual and corporate) and to address deficiencies in the catechetical program. I don’t advocate using assessments to assign report card grades to kids in religious education and certainly not to determine if they are to “pass or fail” or to […]

End of the Year Assessment

Joe Paprocki

This coming Monday, I will do a formal assessment to see to what extent my 6th graders have grasped the BIG ideas I attempted to teach them this year in religious education! First, we will do a Jeopardy-like review using a Powerpoint version of the game that I found online a couple of years ago. You can manipulate this according to your own needs, changing categories, questions, and answers and hyperlinking from the “game board” […]

Where Have You Gone, Thomas Groome? The Role of Experience in Catechesis

Joe Paprocki

When I was a mere “babe” in the catechetical ministry (early 1980s), I was introduced to the notion of the catechetical process. At the time, those 2 words could not be spoken without also mentioning the name of Dr. Thomas Groome and his groundbreaking work, Christian Religious Education: Sharing Our Story and Vision . At the heart of Groome’s approach is an unmistakable connection between lived experience and the faith Tradition of the Catholic Church. […]

Opening Mass Tonight; Thinking Ahead to Next Week

Joe Paprocki

Tonight, our religious education program celebrates our Opening Mass in the Church which means that I will primarily be supervising my 6th graders as they gather for Mass and then throughout the Mass. This afternoon, I plan to go over their names so that this evening I will be able to greet them and talk to them by name. As we wait for Mass to begin, I thought I would do some Q & A […]

More From Los Angeles Religious Education Conference 2012

Joe Paprocki

I had a great experience delivering a presentation on Practice Makes Catholic yesterday to about 1000 people here at the L.A. Religious Education Conference! It was very exciting to speak to a crowd that big! Thanks to all who came out to make this such a wonderful experience. Here’s a pic of HALF the room before it filled up with folks. After my presentation, I had an encounter with someone who made the “soup nazi” (from Seinfeld) look […]

The Catechist as COACH

Joe Paprocki

I’m always amazed at how many men I see coaching their kids’ soccer, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, and even lacrosse teams! And yet, so few men feel called to serve as a catechist when, in my mind, it is another form of coaching. Perhaps too many men view being a catechist as a feminine/nurturing role that they are not comfortable with. Fortunately, a growing number of men are discovering how to serve as catechists in […]

Catechists in Action – An Evening with Nick

Joe Paprocki

Last night, I attended 5th grade catechist Nick Yonto’s religious education session at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Cary, IL. This was the first installment of my new feature, Catechists in Action, in which I will be visiting and videotaping catechists in the Chicago area, and posting about the experience here on my blog. I thoroughly enjoyed Nick’s class last evening and am working with my colleagues here at Loyola Press to ready the […]

Catechists in Action – More About Nick (in his own words)

Joe Paprocki

As we prepare to visit Nick’s 5th grade religious education session on Wednesday, October 12, here’s Nick in his own words, telling us what to expect.