With this catechetical year winding down, it’s a good opportunity to stop and assess or evaluate yourself as a catechist. One way to do this is to use the Catechist’s Self-Evaluation that I put together. I encourage you to complete this and to share it in discussion with either a fellow catechist or your catechetical leader. Of course, anyone who knows me and my work, knows that I am a tireless advocate of ongoing formation […]
One of the best things about a blog such as Catechist’s Journey is that it is not a one-way street where I do all the talking! I love to read and respond to your comments and e-mails and especially enjoy taking unscientific surveys to learn more about the visitors to Catechist’s Journey. We had fun and learned a great deal from our last poll question, which asked you to share how long you have been serving as […]
Thanks to so many of you for taking the time to answer our little poll about how long you have served as a catechist. An extra thank-you to those who shared such wonderful stories! More about those in a second. Of the 150+ respondents, nearly half (43%) indicated that they have served as a catechist for more than 25 years, while nearly a fifth (18%) have served for 16–25 years! This resonates with what I […]
Often, when I do presentations for catechists around the country, I ask my crowd, by show of hands, how long they have been a catechist: newbies? 1–5 years? 5–10 years? and so on. I’ll never forget how one woman, at a presentation in Texas, had her arm up through 40, 45, 50, and 55! I finally just asked her how long she had been a catechist, and she proudly announced, “60 years!” as the crowd […]
Editor’s note: Today we kick-off a celebration of our 10th anniversary here at Catechist’s Journey. Ten years ago, Joe Paprocki started writing about the joys and frustrations of his classroom catechetical experiences. Since that time, we’ve welcomed a group of regular contributors to this blog to share their wisdom and experiences in the field of religious education. In honor of our anniversary, we’ll have special posts all this week and next Monday (the actual anniversary […]
Serving as a catechist means dealing with kids whose minds are often elsewehere! All too often we find ourselves having to discipline kids because of disruptive behavior. Like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, we shake our heads and say, “tough crowd, tough crowd” and “I get no respect.” Fact is, we’re in good company. Scripture tells us about the many “tough crowds” that St. Paul faced as he proclaimed God’s Word. It comes with the […]
The Holy Spirit accomplishes some wonderful things through our efforts as catechists! So, as we share success stories, keep in mind that we are not bragging about ourselves but are giving praise to the Holy Spirit! With that in mind, let’s spend the rest of this week sharing stories based on the theme of “Not Bad, If I May Say So Myself!” Share a brief story (in the Comments box below) – just one or two paragraphs […]
Welcome back to Stories on the Journey, our summer experience of sharing stories about the ups and downs and ins and outs of being a catechist. So far, we’ve shared stories on the following topics: Week One: How Did I Get Into This? Week Two: Kids Say/Do the Darndest Things Week Three: Touching the Sacred Week Four: Oopsies! I Goofed Our topic for this week is, “I owe it all to…” which means that we […]
Welcome to Week Four of Stories on the Journey! Thanks for all of the great stories you’ve shared so far! Betty from Arizona sums it up pretty well: Thanks for sharing these inspiring stories that keep me motivated to continue facilitating adult religious education at my parish! In case you missed the stories, here they are: Week One: How Did I Get Into This? Week Two: Kids Say/Do the Darndest Things Week Three: Touching the […]
I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful stories you’ve been sending in for Stories on the Journey, our summer renewal experience here on Catechist’s Journey! If you’ve just joined us, take a look: Week One: How Did I Get Into This? Week Two: Kids Say/Do the Darndest Things Now, it’s on to Week Three and our topic is: Touching the Sacred – describe a time when you really and truly felt the presence of God […]
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