This document helps catechetical leaders effectively develop instructional materials.

Catechetical / Youth Ministry

Disciples of Christ come in all ages and colors, but they also come from different backgrounds and bring with them diverse gifts, needs, opportunities, and challenges. As a result, catechesis must never take the form of one-size-fits-all. While the Gospel message is eternal, our messaging (how we share that timeless message) needs to adapt to an ever-changing reality, or we risk being perceived as irrelevant. This sixth volume of The Effective Catechetical Leader takes a close look at the many groups of people to be catechized—from school-age children to young adults, from parents to the catechists themselves—and offers strategies and tips to effectively engage all of them in life-giving, Gospel-centered faith formation. The Effective Catechetical Leader series, developed in conjunction with the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership and written by some of the top catechetical leaders in the country, is the only series to encompass all the various aspects of catechetical leadership. This series provides the practical skills, strategies, and approaches that ensure successful parish faith formation in an evangelizing manner, which leads directly to a vibrant Church. From best practices to new approaches for proclaiming God’s word in a rapidly changing world, this groundbreaking series will empower catechetical leaders to excel at everything from administrative duties to effectively catechizing people of all ages within our diverse Church.

This book shares global perspectives on Catholic religious education in schools, chiefly focusing on educational and curriculum issues that take into account the theology and the pedagogy which support learning in connection with Catholic religious education. Further, it offers insights into the distinctive contribution that Catholic religious education makes to religious education and education in general across diverse schooling contexts. Bringing together insights from leading scholars and experts on Catholic religious education around the globe, the book offers an essential reference guide for all those involved in researching, planning and designing curricula for Catholic religious education, as well as developing related theories in the field.

For a denomination like Roman Catholicism that is canonically difficult to leave, many American Catholics are migrating beyond the institution's immediate influence. The new religious patterns associated with this experience represent a somewhat cohesive movement influencing not just Catholicism, but the whole of North American religion. Careful examination of the lives of disaffiliating young adults reveals that their religious lives are complicated. For example, the assumption that leaving conventional religious communities necessarily results in a non-religious identity is simplistic and even, perhaps, misleading. Many maintain a religious worldview and practice. This book explores one "place" where the religiously-affiliated and religiously-disaffiliating regularly meet--Catholic secondary schools--and something interesting is happening. Through a series of ethnographic portraits of Catholic religious educators and their disaffiliating former students, the book explores the experience of disaffiliation and makes its complexity more comprehensible in order to advance the discourse of fields interested in this significant movement in religious history and practice.

Pope John XXIII prayed that the Second Vatican Council would prove to be a new Pentecost. The articles gathered here appeared originally in a series solicited by and published in Theological Studies (September 2012 to March 2014). The purpose of the series was and remains threefold: - To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council - To help readers more fully appreciate its significance not only for the Catholic Church itself but also for the entire world whom the Church encounters in proclamation and reception of ongoing revelation - In their present form, to help readers worldwide engage both the conciliar documents themselves and scholarly reflections on them, all with a view to appropriating the reform envisioned by Pope John XXIII. Contributors: Stephen B. Bevans, SVD; Mary C. Boys, SNJM; Maryanne Confoy, RSC; Massimo Faggioli; Anne Hunt; Natalia Imperatori-Lee; Edward Kessler; Gerald O'Collins, SJ; John W. O'Malley, SJ; Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ; Ladislas Orsy, SJ; Peter C. Phan; Gilles Routhier; Ormond Rush; Stephen Schloesser, SJ; Francis A. Sullivan, SJ; O. Ernesto Valiente; Jared Wicks, SJ

Danny Brocks Catholicity Aint What It Used to Be is a rich experience in practical theology, a theology for everyone, because it is a deeply personal reflection on the faith journey, the story of his own soul as a Catholic in the postVatican II church and in a very challenging postmodern culture. As Brock outlines the challenges of the New Evangelization facing teens, the Catholic school, religious educators, parents, and the institutional church, he describes vividly the mess we sometimes find ourselves in, and at the same time he suggests ways of stepping through that mess by bringing to life the beauty and richness of our Catholic faith and the joy of serving Jesus as we journey with young people in our Christian community. Brocks reflections serve as a GPS to help us recalculate where we find ourselves as church and in our culture today as the evangelizing community of Jesus. His unique charism in finding hope in the young persons he serves becomes a great gift of hope for the pilgrim church today. Father James Mulligan, CSC, nationally renowned Catholic educator and author of Catholic Education: The Future Is Now