Free Webinar: Using the Parish Web Site to Power Adult Faith Formation
On April 10 I will be offering a free webinar in conjunction with the Adult Faith Formation committee of the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership: Everyone knows that they “need” a web site for their parish — but what do you do with it once you have one? How can you best use your parish web site to reach out to adults? And what does this have to do with the “New Evangelization?” This webinar, presented by Jonathan F. Sullivan, will assist parish catechetical leaders in strengthening their web site and other online platforms as an “engine” for...
Read MoreVLCFF Course – Overview of the GDC & NDC
I am happy to announce that registration for my next Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF) course is now open: Two Church documents which are responsible for guiding and reflecting the practice of catechesis in the twenty-first century are the GDC (General Directory for Catechesis; 1997) and the NDC (National Directory for Catechesis; 2005). The vision of each of these two documents is closely aligned with the other. This seminar will address how these documents echo each other and where they are unique. The accountability for the message of the documents will be...
Read MoreVLCFF Course – Survey of Catholic Doctrine
I recently received my 2013 course schedule from the Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF); I’ll be facilitating a section of Survey of Catholic Doctrine in January and February: This course will look at some of the major doctrines of the Catholic Church. Participants will come to a better understanding of the Trinity, original sin, church, salvation history, and the communion of saints. Participants will be asked to identify the meaning of magisterium, ecumenism, eschatology, and other Catholic terms. I’ll also be facilitating a seminar on the General Directory...
Read MoreAnnouncing: Catholic Blog Day
I’m very excited to announce a new initiative I’m launching today: Catholic Blog Day. From the announcement: All Catholic bloggers are invited to write on a common theme on the same day. By speaking with many voices on a common aspect of the faith, we can help evangelize the digital continent and demonstrate the powerful presence of Catholics online. The theme for February 22 is: penance. Possible points of departure for writing your blog post include the three traditional methods of penance (prayer, fasting, and almsgiving); a memorable experience in the Sacrament of Penance and...
Read MoreA Note on Amazon Links
A quick note: you may have noticed that the Amazon-powered book recommendations in the right sidebar have returned. I removed the Amazon links a few months back when my affiliate account was shut down in response to my state legislature’s decision to start taxing Amazon purchases. (It wasn’t a huge loss for me as I never made much off the links; at the time the account was closed I had a little over $7 in the account.) I’ve linked the new recommendations to the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership‘s Amazon account. This means that every time you click...
Read MoreVLCFF Course – Old Testament
Registration for my final Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF) course of the year is open: Old Testament (September 25 through October 29, 2011) – “This course paves the way for students to develop deeper personal understanding and appreciation for the biblical context, structure (Canon), authoring, meaning and historical impact of the Old Testament. Students are introduced to methods of reading biblical texts, understanding the story lines and process of interpretation with cultural contexts, and current trends in biblical research. Students are encouraged to...
Read MoreVLCFF Course – Survey of Catholic Doctrine
I’m current preparing for my next Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF) course; registration is open: Survey of Catholic Doctrine (August 7 through September 10, 2011) – “This course will look at some of the major doctrines of the Catholic Church. Participants will come to a better understanding of the Trinity, original sin, church, salvation history, and the communion of saints. Participants will be asked to identify the meaning of magisterium, ecumenism, eschatology, and other Catholic terms.” Registration information is available at the VLCFF web...
Read MoreConnect with Me on Facebook!
After mulling it over, I’ve finally set up a public Facebook page for myself. The main reasons for doing this are: I’ve been getting some friend requests from people I’ve never met. While I appreciate that people want to connect, I only “friend” people on Facebook that I’ve met face-to-face or that I’ve had significant online contact with (e.g., that I’ve interviewed on the Catechetical Leader podcast). My personal profile was starting to get overrun with my blog posts and other “professional” endeavors. I’m not convinced that...
Read MoreVLCFF Course – Old Testament
Registration for my next Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation (VLCFF) course is now open: Old Testament (June 19 through July 23, 2011) – “This course paves the way for students to develop deeper personal understanding and appreciation for the biblical context, structure (Canon), authoring, meaning and historical impact of the Old Testament. Students are introduced to methods of reading biblical texts, understanding the story lines and process of interpretation with cultural contexts, and current trends in biblical research. Students are encouraged to respect the...
Read MoreCatechetical Leader Podcast Episode 009
The latest episode of the Catechetical Leader Podcast is on the air! I had a wonderful conversation with Joe Paprocki last week about his new book: Practice Makes Catholic: Moving from a Learned Faith to a Lived Faith. We talked about a number of topics, including why Catholics need to commitment themselves to community; how to maintain hope and joy in the faith; why maintaining a sense of humor is part of a healthy spirituality; and the repopularization of sacramentals. You can hear the complete recording over at the Catechetical Leader web...
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