Post-Pentecost Discussion
Ask your students: What factors help them to feel at home in a parish community? Put the students into small groups in order to help them identify more specifically what helps them feel at home or would help them feel at home in a parish. Write…
Holy Spirit in Scripture
Pentecost Sunday is approaching. Create a worksheet with the following Scripture passages. Pass out one worksheet and one Bible to each student. For each passage, have them write a sentence telling what it says about the Holy Spirit. When completed,…
Two Great Teachers of the Faith: St. Nicholas of Myra (December 6) and St. Ambrose (December 7)
As Christmas approaches, remember to tell your students not only that Santa Claus is “real,” but that the saintly figure behind the legend is even more of an inspiration than the jolly perennial visitor of mythical renown! On…
All Saints’ Day Lesson
Here’s a refresher on the role of saints in the Church, in lieu of the coming of All Saints’ Day on November 1.
Two Letters of St. Thérèse of Lisieux to Abbe Belliere
The feast day of St. Thérèse of Lisieux is October 1. The following is an excerpt from The Catholic Spirit: An Anthology for Discovering Faith Through Literature, Art, Film, and Music of two letters wrote to a missionary…
St. Mary Magdalene
Pope Francis has raised the liturgical memorial of St. Mary Magdalene, the woman from the Gospels who, according to the pope, "so loved Christ and was so greatly loved by Christ, to a feast day.
All Souls’ Day and Why Catholics Pray for the Dead: A November Exercise
November 1 and November 2 are two very special days in the liturgical life of the Church. On the one hand, we prayerfully ask the saints to intercede to God for us in a special way on All Saints’ Day (November 1), while on the other hand, we…
Ten Assignments for All Saints’ Week
Whereas All Saints Day, celebrated on November 1, is a feast established by the Church to honor all the saints in heaven who do not have a special day on one of the other 364 days of the year, this is also a good season to emphasize Church teachings…
The Assumption of Mary to Heaven: Meaning and Prayer
August 15, a Holy Day of Obligation, celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Heaven. This is a dogma of the Church, declared on November 1, 1950 by Pope Pius XII, though it had been believed and celebrated in the Church throughout…
Memory Game: Names, Titles, and Symbols of the Holy Spirit
The Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly outlines how the Holy Spirit is represented in names, titles, and symbols: