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 […]
Tag: catechesis
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 […]
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 […]
Sycamore: a new programme of evangelisation and catechesis for use in parishes, chaplaincies, schools and other settings
The Sycamore website has just been launched, and the first of ten videos uploaded. You can visit the site here. This information is from their WELCOME page: What is Sycamore? Sycamore is a new programme […]
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. […]
“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 […]
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, […]
New formation programme for catechists
Catechist Foundations for the New Evangelisation: A formation Programme for catechists of today rooted in prayer in the Benedictine Tradition. Click here for further information. This is a distance-learning course of 18 months duration, with 5 study days, […]
Notes for Holy Week
~ 1 ~ Well, everyone, welcome to Holy Week. Some words before the Palm Sunday Procession struck me: “Let us commemorate the Lord’s entry into the city for our salvation, following in his footsteps, so that, […]
Where do people go when the course/programme has finished and they are hungry for more?
It often happens that you get to the end of a really fruitful programme/course/series in your parish, and people start to ask, “What’s happening next?” “We want to continue, this has been the experience of […]
“Let’s just stop catechising children”
Joanne McPortland over at Patheos has been causing something of a stir… She is proposing that what is wrong with the parish formation set-up is that it has, for too long, been catechising the wrong people […]
Quick takes on catechesis
~1~ I love what Mgr. Charles Pope has written in this article on the plan he’s made for children’s catechesis in his parish. What I love most is his realisation that: It became clear to me in […]
Using the YouCat
I gave a talk about the YouCat recently. It was not so much about the history or content of the book, but more about Pope Benedict’s short letter to young Catholics that’s printed at the […]
“Full Sweep” Youth Catechesis
It was refreshing to read Archbishop Vincent Nichols’ words about catechesis for young people. He said we need to transmit to them the “full sweep” of the Catholic Faith. Thank you Archbishop – I couldn’t agree more. When […]
“Those who desire comforts have dialled the wrong number”
This may be one of my favourite EVER quotations from Pope Benedict XVI. It just makes me smile. He’s bang on! Anyone who tells us that Christianity is easy, that we can go on […]
Ten Top Tips for Managing Your Class
OK, readers. These come from someone who has zero training as a teacher. But they are what I have picked up and learned (often the hard way) from giving catechesis myself. It is hard to […]
Top Ten RCIA Traps
Recently a number of conversations with different people have highlighted for me that in many parish RCIA processes there are still some fairly dismal practices going on. RCIA, in my view, is one of the […]
