Tag: "Best Practices in Faith Formation"

Bl. John Henry Newman, 1880
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Newman: Patron of Adult Faith Formation

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Today is the Cardinal’s feast day.

measuring tape
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Spiritual Growth Within a Catholic Family, Part One

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Long ago, our first house had a growth chart on the inside of a bedroom door. Now and again, we’d line up our three little children and place a ruler atop their heads. Then we’d pencil a line alongside their respective heights, along with the date, and their initials – marking growth over time. Something […]

10 Things to Consider When Sharing your Catholic Faith
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10 Things to Consider When Sharing your Catholic Faith

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“Conversion requires convincing of sin, it includes the interior judgment of conscience, and this, being proof of the action of the Spirit of Truth in man’s inmost being, becomes at the same time the start of a new grant of grace and love” — Blessed John Paul II, DeV 31; CCC 1848 “I can’t believe […]

I Teach to Save Souls
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I Teach to Save Souls

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Imagine someone coming up to you and without hesitation telling you: “I desire to save your soul.” This is exactly what St. John Bosco would do in his attempt to rescue the kids of Turin, Italy from the depths of despair.  He would make his point very clear to the youths he would encounter in the […]

Fossils and Amethysts 100
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Inside Loaves of Stone

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I have some imaginative ideas for teaching our children the spiritual lessons of Lent and Easter, but they involve rocks instead of cute bunnies or painted eggs, so please put on your creativity cap before reading further. During Lent, church sanctuaries everywhere are xeriscaped with dusty, dull-colored sand and rocks among other dehydrated things.  These […]

Teaching Through the Senses
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Teaching Through the Senses

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[U]ntil we account for the knowledge which an infant has of his mother . . ., what reason have we to take exception at the doctrine, as strange and difficult, that in the dictate of conscience, without previous experiences or analogical reasoning, he is able gradually to perceive the voice, or the echoes of the […]

He Said What?! The How <em>and How Not</em> of Teaching by Personal Experience
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He Said What?! The How and How Not of Teaching by Personal Experience

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“He said what?!”  These were the first words that came out of my mouth when I heard my Confirmation teacher explicitly go into detail about how it was perfectly all right to have sex with your girlfriend if you truly “loved” her. Naturally, he told us he had sex with his girlfriend because he loved […]

Doctrine: Nourishing Milk for the Soul
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Doctrine: Nourishing Milk for the Soul

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Many years ago, I had an encounter with a coworker that would forever ignite a stronger desire to articulate Church doctrine in a clear practical manner. The story goes this way. I had recently finished developing a pilot Adult Education program for the Diocese I worked in at the time. The Bishop of the Diocese […]

CL89 - bratton notxt web
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I’m Catholic; Now What?

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But as for you man of God, shun all this; aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Tim 6:11-12). At times, there are certain […]

They Don’t Know Anything!
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They Don’t Know Anything!

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One quiet evening, I decided to call my brother to ask how his new teaching position as a religion teacher was going. His first position took him to an all-boy’s Catholic high school in Southern California. After an initial pause he emphatically stated; “They don’t know anything!” I asked him to clarify his statement. He […]

Catholic “Fluff” – The Enemy Within
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Catholic “Fluff” – The Enemy Within

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We don’t like to speak the truth about evil because we’re going to hurt somebody.  Let me tell you, you are going to hurt somebody, but that somebody is God.  If you would rather hurt God than your neighbor, there is something wrong with your spirituality.  It’s your obligation to speak the truth and everyone […]

CL3 - hbratton notxt
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Best Practices of Faith Formation: Confirmation Requirements

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Some years ago, I was working on a video documentary for Ford Motor Company about the famous American industrial statistician, W. Edwards Deming, who is credited with transforming Japan’s industrial quality after WWII, and making the Japanese the competitive powerhouse they are today. Quality Control In 1950, Deming had been upset with the quality of […]

CL3 - hbratton notxt
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Best Practices for Adult Faith Formation: Evaluating Your RCIA Instruction

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Of the many volunteer jobs I’ve taken to promote the Church, one that I found most interesting was chauffeuring a well-known Catholic convert and evangelist from appointment to appointment. One day, I drove him to a television station where he was interviewed by his bishop about his conversion to Catholicism. On air, the bishop said he assumed the evangelist came […]

CL3 - hbratton notxt
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Best Practices in Faith Formation

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“Dear Stan. I am a Catechist for 17 ninth graders. What would you suggest for me, the Catechist, that will grab their attention. I need to get them involved. Right now, they’re staring back at me as if the lights are on but nobody is home. I need something that will give them a piece […]