The Catechist

Presumably you are here because either you have become a Catechist or are considering becoming one. Maybe someone asked you to volunteer, or you read a bulletin asking for volunteer teachers. Perhaps you thought to yourself "Hey, that is something that I could do!" But what do we do, and why is it necessary? Furthermore, if we AGREE to do it, what is in it for us?  People today are busy. There are a zillion things competing for our attention at any one time. There are a million distractions. Our friends, our family, our jobs, our social life, our education, the list is unending of places we feel we need to be or things we need to be doing. Why would one add another thing onto that list when it seems that we already are mishandling other things?  There are very few things in life that we can do and KNOW that they are the "right" thing to do. We all have "guilty pleasures" that we know we should NOT be doing, whether it is that extra bowl of ice cream or har...

 II. Humanity Lost without the Gospel God's Power for Salvation.  For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith, as it is written, "The one who is righteous by faith will live.""  (NABRE, Romans 1: 16-17) GOSPEL : The "good news" of God's mercy and love revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. It is this Gospel, or good news that the Apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the entire world. The Gospel is handed on in the apostolic tradition of the Church as the source of all-saving truth and moral discipline. The four Gospels are the books written by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which have for their central object Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son: his life, teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church's beginnings under the Spirit...

     That title sounds pretty complicated, but in reality it is not, it is simple. All of our teaching centers around Christ! That's it in a nutshell. Christ is at the center of our teaching because He is at the center of our lives, of our beings, of our very existence. Christ was and is our shining perfect example in all things. But there is a second part to our teaching that is vital, because though we are indeed created in the image of God, we are by no means perfect copies. We must teach the active application of what we have learned about Christ, because we are called not only to know Christ, but to ACT! To teach about Christ is to teach about action!       I teach 7th Grade in my Parish School of Religion, or PSR for short. I like to perform this fun exercise to make it clear that knowing and doing are not always the same. (To do this you will need a chalkboard or a whiteboard and chalk or markers, nothing else.) I will ask the class to please ra...

 First and foremost, welcome! I am so glad you are here, and I hope you gain inspiration from what you find here. Let's start off with a brief introduction followed by a couple of definitions that will make the object of this blog clear, and will hopefully help you in your own personal journey of faith. Whether you are a teacher or student, active parish member or occasional church-goer, this blog will indeed have messages that speak to YOU! As you will see though, they are not really my messages, I am just passing along what I have learned. It is my mission to share it, make it accessible, and make it inspirational as well. There is GOOD NEWS here!! God loves you, and wants you to be happy and fulfilled.  What is "Catechesis?"  I always like to turn to official or approved Catholic sources to define terminology. I will quote and cite many "official" or canonical works throughout this blog, and they are all references from books and publications you can find you...