Loving Students as St. John Bosco Did

There is one in every class: the challenging student who saps up your last ounce of patience. Several years ago as a student teacher, I pledged to myself to find one thing that I could love about this child in my class and found several: his fascinating knowledge of war history, his intricate creations of forts with building blocks, and how he would get so excited when someone showed interest in his make-believe wars that […]

A Little Help Brainstorming: Saints and Blesseds

I could use your help! I am trying to think of saints and blesseds who fit the following 3 characteristics: Saints and blesseds known for their undying enthusiasm and determination Saints and blesseds known for innovation in proclaiming God’s Word Saints and blesseds (especially lay people) who founded movements in the Church Please send me names and brief descriptions of which category they fit and why (see Leave a Reply below). Thanks!

The Engaged Catechist: Forming Catechist Enrichment Groups

In his book, Growing An Engaged Church (Gallup Press), Albert L. Winseman explains that, without true engagement, volunteers burn out quickly. He identifies 3 ways to make an immediate impact on the level of engagement of church members: clarify the expectations of membership help your members discover what they do best create small groups I think these can (and should) be easily applied to catechists, who, without engagement, do indeed burnout quickly. Those catechists who […]

Celebrating Two New U.S. Saints!

As you prepare your lessons for this week, you may want to include a little information about this coming Sunday’s canonization of 2 American saints: Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint, and Blessed Mother Marianne Cope, who spent the last 30 years of her life ministering to the sick on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. The canonization Mass will take place at the Vatican October 21, 2012. Included among the seven total saints […]

Talking About Humility

I noticed that author Jane Knuth (Thrift Store Saints) asked a question about humility yesterday on the People for Others blog. In particular, she mentions the following quote from St. Vincent de Paul and then asks readers to share their understanding of the quote. The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from […]

5th Anniversary Celebration – Guest Blogger #6: Lisa Hendey

Today’s guest blogger hosts one of the most popular blogs in the Catholic blogosphere! Lisa M. Hendey is the founder and editor of www.CatholicMom.com and the author of A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms and The Handbook for Catholic Moms. She hosts the Catholic Moments podcast and actively speaks around the country on faith, family life and social media topics.  In an email to me, Lisa said, “I am not a catechist (and never have […]

Catechist’s Journey 5th Anniversary – Question #4

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of my blog, Catechist’s Journey, we’re hosting a little contest. Each day this week, I’m posting a video in which I ask a trivia question and, in order to correctly answer, you’ll need to go back and look at one of my posts. The first person to post a comment with the correct answer will win a prize! Here are the prizes: Monday: Three Children’s books by Amy Welborn: Book of […]

Catechist’s Journey 5th Anniversary – Question #3

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of my blog, Catechist’s Journey, we’re hosting a little contest. Each day this week, I’m posting a video in which I ask a trivia question and, in order to correctly answer, you’ll need to go back and look at one of my posts. The first person to post a comment with the correct answer will win a prize! Here are the prizes: Monday: Three Children’s books by Amy Welborn: Book of […]

Catechists in Action – Nick Teaches the Lesson

We’ve been watching 5th grade catechist Nick Yonto as he did preparations for his lesson and then gathered the children for prayer. Now, watch as Nick jumps into his lesson which is on the Eucharist as: memorial, meal, and sacrifice. Watch for how Nick… begins with an engaging question, asking the kids to think of ways in their own lives that they try to remember things (setting the stage for talking about Eucharist as memorial). […]

Telling the Greatest Story Ever Told

Yesterday was my last teaching class for this year! Next week, we’ll have a closing Mass and then a little time left in class for a small celebration and farewells. I was pleased as punch, then, to have had a wonderful class last night! Here’s the scoop. Seven of my students still needed to complete their final assessment so I had them go over to an empty classroom with my aide Daneen where they completed […]

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