Is it right to fear God? What is the difference between a destructive fear and a “holy trepidation”? An Advent homily by Fr Stephen Wang: Look around you at the chapel walls. Look at the […]
Hannah Vaughan-Spruce
Hannah Vaughan-Spruce is an experienced catechist and youth worker, who now works for the Diocese of Portsmouth. Some of her Jericho Tree articles were first posted at her personal catechetical blog Transformed in Christ. They are used here with permission. See http://www.transformedinchrist.com/
Hannah Vaughan-Spruce's Latest Posts
RCIA: Don’t stop with just a programme
As you all know, I’ve written tons and tons and tons on RCIA. When you are doing a year-round process with enquiry and Catechumenate running simultaneously, I find that fully responding to the Holy Spirit means that […]
Aslan is on the move
“It was a full moon and, shining on all the snow, it made everything almost as bright as day — only the shadows were rather confusing.” CS Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe […]
How to enter the reality of suffering without losing faith in God
Have you ever been in a situation where, to everyone outside, it looked like everything had fallen to pieces? A failed plan, a project or job fallen through, a serious illness, a financial loss, some […]
Transformed in Christ: Autumn Update
Good morning, folks! There’s been some radio silence on the blog-front the last month or so… I don’t know about you, but for me, September and October seem to be the time of year you […]
How to lead people into a deeper understanding of God’s plan for the family: Catholic catechesis and RCIA
I have loved watching and following the footage of Pope Francis in the US recently, and have been overjoyed to hear of conversions and graces coming from his visit. Such a blessed time for a […]
7 Quick Takes on Dorothy Day, poverty, disciple-making, babies and Hillsong
– 1 – So far this summer, I’ve loved being immersed in the ultra-inspiring autobiography of Dorothy Day. It is entitled, somewhat harrowingly, The Long Loneliness. I must admit, I’d always had a notion of Dorothy […]
Proclaim ’15: A personal perspective
I wasn’t sure what to expect at Proclaim ’15 last weekend in Birmingham. Having been recently to the HTB Leadership Conference and having attended evangelical Catholic conferences like the St John Bosco conference in Steubenville, Ohio, I wondered how […]
Why we all need to think deeply about chastity
Last week, we had the great joy of having Dawn Eden speak on “Living to Love: Why Chastity is Key” (see her speaking above in Basingstoke). I hadn’t read her book, The Thrill of the […]
Ten Reasons to Use ‘Transformed in Christ’ for your Confirmation Programme (Part 2)
(The first part of this post can be found here.) 6. The methodology of each session aims towards conversion. As I’ve written countless times on this blog (just do a search for “methodology”), method is […]
Ten Reasons to Use ‘Transformed in Christ’ for your Confirmation Programme (Part 1)
I’ve been asked a lot recently about what I think about other Confirmation programmes on the market, and why a Confirmation group should use Transformed in Christ. Let me first of all say, there are some other […]
Dazzling is the night for me, and full of gladness: the meaning of Easter
Happy Easter, everyone! I hope your celebration of the Triduum was blessed… For me, I was back for a few days at Fisher House – the university chaplaincy in Cambridge, and for three years, my second […]
New Forum for Catechists
One of the requests from the Transformed in Christ day in Kensington was for a discussion forum for catechists using Transformed in Christ. I’m pleased to let you know you can now join the new TIC […]
Can catechesis get in the way of making disciples? (Part 2)
(You can find Part 1 of this post here.) In the last post, I suggested there are two ways that catechesis can get in the way of making disciples. First, I wrote about how catechesis can […]
Catching up…
The past month has been non-stop can’t-catch-your-breath activity, and this weekend, I’ve been relishing getting caught up with “normal life”. All of this has been good and exciting, but how much we also need ordinary life, our home, normality. […]
How do you know that what you’re doing is working?
It was a moment of doubt. I was sitting in the pub, waiting for a couple of our RCIA candidates to turn up, flicking through posts in the Forming Intentional Disciples Forum on my phone. Wondering […]
“Who teaches us to love? Only the Holy Spirit”
I was slightly curious when the Holy Father recently lumped together “catechetical courses” with “courses in yoga, Zen and all these things” and said none of these would lead us to true freedom of the child […]
Transformed in Christ, Confirmation Catechists’ Day, 21 February
I want to let people know about a training day for catechists that I will be leading on Saturday 21 February at Our Lady of Victories church in Kensington. We first ran this day in Portsmouth […]
7 Quick Takes on joy, Christmas, Made for Glory, and disciple-making
-1- I love this image of joy, from new life in Christ! Apparently, St Seraphim of Sarov said, “The Holy Spirit turns into joy whatever he touches”. I know I have experienced this – I […]
7 Quick Takes on American evangelists, joke-practising, and lazy Sundays
-1- Such a busy couple of weeks… Just catching my breath! The non-stop busy-ness found a blissful interlude last weekend in an utterly contented Sunday with my sister, brother-in-law, little nephew, and some really good friends. Mass, […]
Discipleship: How to Reach the Average Catholic Parent
Some news from an evangelisation survey (undertaken by Home Mission at the Bishops’ Conference) is interesting. To summarise, the following are some reasons that non-practising Catholic parents (with children at Catholic primary schools) gave for not going regularly to church: […]
