Saints Mobile craft activity
Mary and the Saints

Saints Mobile

Create a saints mobile with children to explore the lives of holy men and women of God. From Our Lady, Mother of Africa to Saint Joan of Arc and Saint Sebastian, the saints represented in this downloadable activity are all featured in Loyola Kids Book of Seasons, Feasts, and Celebrations by Amy Welborn. Each medallion for the mobile includes a picture of a saint on one side and room for facts about the saint or […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Mary and the Saints

Pop-Up Catechesis: Honoring the Saints

From time to time, we Catholics find ourselves having to explain our relationship with the saints to those who are non-Catholic, especially our Protestant brothers and sisters. While all Christians honor the saints to some degree, we Catholics can be really “over-the-top” in our devotion to the saints. (And I mean that in a good way!) Our devotion to the saints is revealed in our love for icons, statues, relics, medals, litanies, prayers, novenas, and […]

Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood Activities Pack
Mary and the Saints

Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood Activities Pack

Six African Americans are on the path to canonization as Catholic saints. Learn about these inspiring men and women of God through our Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood activities pack. The pack includes video suggestions with the brief biographies of: Venerable Pierre Toussaint Venerable Mother Mary Lange Venerable Henriette Delille Venerable Father Augustus Tolton Servant of God Julia Greeley Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA After learning about these holy people, complete […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Mary and the Saints

Pop-Up Catechesis: Teresa of Avila and the Doctors of the Church

When we think of doctors, we tend first to think of medical doctors working in hospitals and medical centers, caring for sick people. However, there are many other kinds of doctors. Someone who has earned a doctorate in his or her field is seen as one who has achieved the most advanced degree in an academic discipline. Such doctors are regarded as authorities in their fields. In the Catholic Church, there are several dozen—36 to be exact—saints […]

Celebrate the Year of St. Joseph - text next to image of Joseph at work as carpenter
Mary and the Saints

How Our Parish Is Celebrating the Year of Saint Joseph

When Pope Francis declared the Year of Saint Joseph, his aim was to “to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal.” (Patris Corde) Even though restrictions were still being implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we challenged ourselves as a parish staff to honor our Patron of the Catholic Church. We began celebrating the Year of Saint Joseph on his […]

Laura Soldner (photo provided)
Stories from the Field

Saints and S’mores

This past year inspired many catechetical leaders to use their creativity to reach out in new ways to parishioners. One success story is Laura Soldner’s summer event, Saints and S’mores. Laura is the Coordinator of Family Formation (K–6) at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Parish in Monona, WI. She shares about the program in the following interview. Denise Gorss for Catechist’s Journey: What is Saints and S’mores? Laura Soldner: Saints and S’mores is a drop-in […]

Saints ABC Game
Mary and the Saints

Using Ordinary Time to Get to Know the Saints

Most of us know how to observe four major seasons of the Church year—Lent, Easter, Advent, and Christmas. For example, we all know that during the 40 days of Lent, we pray, fast, and give alms. But how do we observe Ordinary Time? We sometimes erroneously think that Ordinary Time is less important (ordinary) than those aforementioned seasons (extraordinary). We need to remember that the word “ordinary” is used in this context in relation to […]

Little Lessons from the Mystics - book cover and image of author Bob Burnham
Books

Mystical Catechesis: Little Lessons from the Mystics

“Religion is belief in someone else’s experience. Spirituality is having your own experience.” —Deepak Chopra This quote pops up frequently on social media, and it speaks an important truth: spirituality is an experience of a relationship with the Divine. Such an experience is one of mystery. Another word we use for such an experience is mystical. Unfortunately, in our culture, the word mystical has come to be synonymous with the word magical: something beyond the […]

Pop-Up Catechesis with Joe Paprocki
Mary and the Saints

Pop-Up Catechesis: St. Martin de Porres

When an orchestra prepares to perform together, they spend a few minutes before the performance ensuring that they are all in tune with one another. Without this effort, the audience would no doubt hear the disharmony and cringe at the discordant sound. In our human relationships, we are called to live in harmony with one another. In the area of race relations, however, we continue to experience far too much disharmony. On November 3, we […]

Printable Saints Figures
Mary and the Saints

Printable Saints Figures

Celebrate the saints with our printable saints figures. Featuring art and saints from Finding God: Our Response to God’s Gift Kindergarten, these figures are a fun and simple project to color, cut, and fold. Here are a few ideas for how to use these saints figures: Display the finished figures on a classroom shelf or prayer table, or in the background for an online catechetical session. Fold the finished picture around a toilet paper tube […]