Catechist Corner

Posted By Carlos on January 3, 2012

First, let me wish all of my readers a Happy and Blessed New Year!  I hope you have much joy throughout 2012.

As I look forward to the new year, I have been trying to set some goals for myself.  One thing I’ve been considering doing for some time now is to read the Bible completely.  It can easily be a daunting task when you look at the thickness of the book itself, but there is no doubt as to the value one can obtain from reading all of salvation history in Holy Scripture.

As I’ve considered how to best tackle the undertaking, I’ve come across a number of suggestions on how to read through the Bible.  The approach I’ve settled on is to read the Bible in one year.  Many of the one year plans I’ve seen are based on the Protestant Bible, but I did come across a document from an organization called The Coming Home Network International.  They have a plan to not only read the Bible in a year, but the Catechism of the Catholic Church as well.

I’ve taken their plan schedule and also built it into a spreadsheet format that allows me to keep track of my progress right on my iPad as I use my Bible app and a CCC link right off of that device.  I can read my daily reading from anywhere, and if I miss a day along the way, it’s very easy to catch right back up.  For those interested in the plan, below are links to the original PDF as well as my spreadsheet versions. I would suggest that one always looks at the PDF first, even if they want to use the spreadsheets because the PDF contains some additional guidance where the spreadsheets are exclusively the listing of the daily readings.

Read the Bible and the Catechism in a Year
– Original PDF Format
– Excel Spreadsheet Format
– Open Document Spreadsheet Format

I’m looking forward to my own personal growth as I read through the Bible fully, along with the Catechism and I know it will absolutely help in my catechetical ministries.  I hope it can be helpful to all of you as well.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

Category: Catechesis, Ideas, Ministry, Personal Growth | 4 Comments »
Tags: Bible, Catechism, Continuing Education, Doctrine, Holy Scripture, Ideas, Ministry, Religious Education

Posted By Carlos on December 17, 2011

I wanted to offer one brief follow up on my previous post titled “Come!“  The retreat started out with a YouTube video for Matt Maher’s new song, “The Spirit and the Bride”.  I had not heard this one before since I had not yet purchased his album, but it was so powerful to me and it was such a great way to start off the retreat around Advent that I wanted to post it here.  Enjoy!

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

Category: Media, Personal Growth, Reflections | No Comments »
Tags: Music, Reflections, Retreat

Posted By Carlos on December 16, 2011

I was blessed to attend a one day Advent retreat put on by the Office of New Evangelization of Youth and Young Adults (ONE) for the Archdiocese of Boston. This retreat was for anyone involved in youth ministry within the archdiocese. Our retreat director was Fr. Matt Williams, the Director of ONE and what a spiritually powerful retreat it was!

This retreat was completely structured around Advent with a focus on the word “come”. It gave me a new appreciation for the meaning of the season. It began with a reading from the Song of Songs 3:1-4. This passage speaks about searching for God, and when he is found, bringing him into the deepest, most private place in the house. We then had a silent meditation around our readiness to bring Christ into the deepest, most private place in our hearts, in our souls. Am I ready? What’s holding me back?  That was followed by a discussion that Jesus wants all of us, not just the perfect parts and that we need to remember that we need to bring everything, including the good and the bad, to God.  He wants us all!

Do you have any sense of how much the Church uses the word “come” in its prayers during the season of Advent? The Liturgy of the Hours uses the response, “Come, Lord Jesus”. Various antiphons, readings and Alleluia versus of the Masses throughout Advent all ask our the Lord to come. Just look at the O Antiphons for a perfect example of the Church, as the bride, asking her bridegroom, Jesus, to come. What a great image!!

Lastly, we focused on part of the nativity narrative from Luke (Luke 2:1-14). We had another terrific period of silent prayer to meditate on the scripture passage. Silence is underrated, by the way. What a wonderful opportunity to put oneself there with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. From the journey to Bethlehem, to the birth and the message of the angel to the shepherds, it gave me an opportunity to appreciate what people must have felt, not only emotionally, but physically as well.

In between all of that we had Mass, opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, lunch with friends and a sharing circle to round the day off. I’m so glad I went. The Lord spoke to me in a very special way at the retreat, not only through Fr. Matt and the other participants, but directly when in silent prayer. He knew what I needed (no surprise there) and showed me the way, not only for my ministry, but for me as well. I really need to make time to go on retreat more often, or at least find more opportunities for silent prayer during my day. Did I mention that science is definitely underrated?

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

Category: Personal Growth, Youth Ministry | 3 Comments »
Tags: Prayer, Reflections, Retreat, Support

Posted By Carlos on December 12, 2011

Is anyone out there?  It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on this blog, so everyone that has stopped looking has rightfully done so and those that are still here have shown great hope.  I would especially like to thank reader Christian LeBlanc for giving me a much needed kick in the pants to get me to post again.  To be perfectly honest, I haven’t felt inspiration to post lately.  I don’t know if that is because my life has gone into overdrive, if it’s because I have a particularly challenging class this year, if it’s because the content of what we’ve chose to cover in our program seems to completely go over the students’ heads or if it’s something else altogether.

Last time, I mentioned that I was trying to begin a Youth Ministry group in our parish.  That has really taken up quite a bit of time.  The original core group of adults had a very different view of youth ministry than I did.  That being said, I tried to be accommodating because if it’s one thing I learned over the years, it’s that I do not have all the answers.  Well, the two other adults decided to leave the program and that left me having to do everything.  The good news is that I get to structure the group in a way I think best balances faith and social activities; the bad news is that it is all me at this point, which I think limits how much we can do.  I’m praying and asking for more help, but we’ll see what happens there.

As I mentioned, Religious Education is pretty challenging this year.  I have a group of 9th graders, and about a third of the class is made up of members of a local high school’s freshmen football team.  Additionally, two thirds of the class are boys that know and feed off of each other.  Discipline is a challenge and they seem so disconnected from their faith that they just don’t get the curriculum from this year.  I’m going to talk to my CRE about the possibility of changing the content for next year.  While I love the idea of going through the Mass in detail, there are some basic things these students seem to be missing, which significantly limits how much they can get out of the material.  Can you say “blank stares”?

Anyway, I’ve recieved some great feedback over the last few years on my blog and encouragement to keep it up.  I’ve also gotten a lot out of posting and reading the comments some of my readers leave, so I’m not ready to give this up.  I truly hope to have more content to offer going forward, but I also recognize that I’ve said that before and have then fallen off the face of the blogosphere.  I ask for your patience and forgiveness as I try to get back in a routine that will allow me to share with all of you again.

Until next time (which I hope will be much sooner than last time), keep sharing the faith.

Category: Blog, Catechesis, Challenges, Youth Ministry | 4 Comments »
Tags: Blogs, Catechist, Frustrations, Ministry, Religious Education

Posted By Carlos on June 14, 2011

Last week, I was taking out the trash and when I opened up the door, out of the corner of my eye I saw a big-black-something on my back deck that I knew didn’t belong.  After my heart attack subsided, I noticed it was a dog.  She seemed a little bit old and having had a dog when I was younger, I was concerned at the fact that she wasn’t wagging her tail when she saw me.  I blew her a kiss and that seemed to warm her up a bit, which was a good sign.  I still gave her some room as I walked around her to deal with the trash.

Moving to a sitting position from her original laying position, she eyed me the entire time as I took out the trash barrel.  As I returned to where she was, she seemed to be significantly more friendly.  She was a bit dirty, which told me she had been outside for a while.  I also noticed that she had a collar and that it had a somewhat dated Dog License from a town about 10 miles away.  As I was looking at her collar, she offered me a paw and then the other to follow.  I began to wonder how she ended up at my back deck.  I went ahead and got her some water, which was really all I had to offer her at the time.  I had to take my daughter to school and my wife to work, so I left her on the deck with the water.

As I drove my wife to work, we talked about what we should do with our new visitor.  We agreed that I would call the town that issued her license to see if they could give me owner information.  I know that dogs are very much a part of one’s family and someone might be quite sad that this dog was missing.  We agreed that we would care for her until we could find her owners.  On the way back home, I took a detour to the supermarket and bought some dog food, a bowl and a leash.  When I got back home though, she was gone; off on her travels to who-knows-where, I guess.

As I thought about this experience, it reminded me of one of the initial lessons in our 6th Grade Religious Education Curriculum — Stewardship.  In Gen 1:28 we see that God has given us responsibility over His creation.  He has an expectation that we will responsibly use what he has given us to meet our needs and to care for what He has created.  Sometimes, you don’t know in what way you might be called to take action as a steward.  It can be fighting to save a rain forest, it can be defending the right to life, or it can even be helping a dog that unexpectedly shows up at your back door.  To be honest, I was a little sad that she was gone when I returned home, with the water still where I left it.  I hope I did my part in caring for one of God’s creatures, but I think this was God’s way of reminding me that I have a responsibility to care for what he puts on my path to knowing, loving and serving Him.

On a side note, this reminded me of one of my favorite videos.  I include it below in the hopes that it makes you smile.

Until next time, keep sharing the faith.

Category: Reflections | 1 Comment »
Tags: Reflections, Stewardship