Blog

Category Archives: Catechesis

Blog

Middle School Youth and Theology of the Body

By | April 12, 2010

Have any thoughts about how to implement Theology of the Body? Share your ideas in the comment section below. Let’s begin a dialogue on how to reach more middle school youth with the truth of our Catholic faith.

Blog

Giving Teens Both Roots and Wings

By | March 8, 2010

Whether you are a middle or high school minister, our goal should not be to entertain kids for 90-minutes so they can go home and say, “Church is fun, the youth minister is really cool!” While we do want to be fun and engaging, we should do so in order to build “roots and wings.” We have a responsibility to affirm the Truth given to us by the Church, and instill these Truths in the lives of the youth. It is our hope that by doing so, we “integrate knowledge of the Catholic faith with the development of practical skills for living the Catholic faith in today’s world” (Renewing the Vision, USCCB). We must help today’s youth understand the teachings of the Catholic Church and enable them to share the Good News in modern society. In other words, we need to give them roots to be grounded in and wings to fly with.

Blog

From Facebook to Saintbook

By | March 4, 2010

What’s your status? For a generation of teens that are more connected to the world and to each other than ever before, everything hinges on knowing and being known. Through Facebook pages, smart phones, Wikipedia, blogs and YouTube videos, the world is at their fingertips. How do we make prayer, Mary and the Saints accessible to teens who value immediate feedback and instant communication?

Blog

Helping Middle School Youth With Scripture

By | February 24, 2010

Last week, I had a meeting with a group of Boy Scouts who are preparing to receive their religious emblems at Easter. It was my job to teach them a lesson on how to pray. I brought them to our Eucharistic chapel, taught a lesson on prayer and then I gave them some time to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I sat back and observed as the ten middle school aged boys prayed, meditated and sat down and opened the Scriptures on their own. It was amazing to watch a group of 11 year-old boys engage

Blog

Inserting Teens Into the Mystery of the Gospels

By | February 24, 2010

In my last blog, I covered how the Church wants us to use the baptismal catechumenate as a model for all catechetical activity, and within the catechumenate is a period of formation called mystagogy. In mystagogy, we want to focus on three things: the Word of God, the sacraments, and community. Today I wanted to focus on the first goal of mystagogy, inserting teens into the mystery of God’s Word, especially as it is given to us in the Gospels.

Blog

Teens bored by the Bible? 10 questions to ask yourself

By | February 12, 2010

Over the past almost 20 years I’ve had enjoyed countless glorious failures (and some graced successes) when opening God’s Word with young people and the one thing I know for a fact is this: teens do care about the Bible. Teens actually love the Scriptures when they are unpacked and taught well.

Blog

It’s a Mystery: Drawing Teens Into a Time of Mystagogy

By | February 2, 2010

Scripture, Sacraments, and the community. Where in our faith do those three things come together? The Mass. Simply put, the process of mystagogy is to make their lives a liturgy. The community comes together to hear the Word of God (with the Gospels as preeminent) and celebrates the Eucharist.

Life Night

Unshakeable Faith: Haiti Earthquake Response Life Night

Keywords: | | | | | | | |

In the past few days, we have all been affected by the images and stories coming from Haiti. Undoubtedly, your teens have also been affected. Some ask why. Some are filled with compassion. Some are angry with a God who would let this happen. All wonder what they can do to help.

Blog

A Prescription for Good Core Team Health: Vitamin (Cycle) C

By | January 11, 2010

Recently during Mass my eldest daughter noticed something during the gospel proclamation – specifically, that St. Luke was not one of the original twelve apostles. I later tried to explain that St. Luke was a traveling companion of St. Paul and a convert to the faith, but not one of the original twelve men that Christ “sent forth” (apostle). “So, St. Luke didn’t really know Jesus?” my daughter insightfully asked. Little did I know that on this particular evening I would introduce my 7

Blog

Confirmation: Making Service Count

By | August 21, 2009

Confirmation programs often require them. Some school systems also insist upon them. They are service hours and quite often we find ourselves counting service hours rather than accounting for the worth of them. In a previous posting regarding Confirmation, we looked at “Why Confirmation anyway?” So, let is examine a similar question: Are we making Confirmation service requirements count? After all, “mandatory volunteerism” does seem to be a contradiction, does it not? Why do we do service?