Here we are in September of 2026, and many catechumenate teams still haven’t recovered from the shutdown caused by COVID in 2020. Nobody is getting sick, but everybody is still exhausted. I joined a new parish four years ago and discovered the catechumenate team had disbanded. I volunteered to help rebuild it. It took a
I frequently ask seekers to name an experience of the Holy Spirit they had within the last week. I am no longer surprised — but I’m always disappointed — when they tell me they’ve had none. Part of the reason for this is that our culture has lost the capability to recognize the deeper reality
Beauty as a source of catechesis
Are you looking for the “perfect” textbook for your catechumenate process? You might be asking the wrong question. In this video, I discuss the seven sources of catechesis identified by the Directory for Catechesis. Discover how to enrich your catechesis by exploring the Word of God (Scripture and Tradition), the Magisterium, the liturgy, and even
Seven sources of catechesis for your formation process
Everything I thought I knew about catechesis was wrong. When I was in my 30s, I began a career in Catholic publishing. I didn’t know anything about publishing, but I knew a lot about liturgy. My foot in the door was to edit a monthly magazine that was all about how to celebrate parish liturgy.
What I got wrong about catechesis
Almost every has one of the most effective resources for catechesis and formation right at their fingertips, but not everyone is using it! Are you one of them? Especially during the summer months when our faith formation gatherings might meet less often, we need some simple ways to keep forming our seekers. Teaching them a
Visio catechesis: A new way of seeing
Sometimes ministry can feel more like a chore than a charism. We can easily find ourselves trapped in the “chokehold” of the school-model paradigm, where faith formation is treated as a series of classes with a fixed syllabus and a predetermined graduation date. We feel boxed-in, exhausted, and stressed. We wonder when we started managing
Six core principles that will lead your catechumens to Christ
I have exciting news to share. Pope Leo XIV has just issued a powerful, timely new resource to help us in our ministry. It is a letter (technically an “apostolic exhortation”) titled: Dilexi te (“I have loved you”). In the same spirit of Dilexi te, I wrote two letters, one to seekers and the other to
How to use Pope Leo’s first apostolic exhortation in your catechumenate
Catechumenate ministers often ask us what the best resource is for teaching catechumens and candidates. And the answer we give might be surprising! The best and perhaps least utilized resource for teaching our faith is the liturgical year. And this year, we have two great, unique opportunities to encounter Christ in the cross and the
How the liturgical year teaches us about the cross and the font
After Mass on Holy Trinity Sunday, an inquirer asked me to explain the Trinity. Standing on my left was a cradle Catholic parishioner, a pillar of our community, and on my right, a neophyte, recently baptized in the name of the Trinity. I first turned to the neophyte, asking if she’d like to share her
In a previous article, we explored the blueprint Pope Leo XIV laid out just days after his election. One of the six priorities he identified was that, as a church, we have to focus on loving care for the least and the rejected among us. This priority echoes Pope Francis and reaches back to Pope
Embracing the margins: What Pope Leo expects of our teams
