Year of the Priest - USCCB Resources

The Web site of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a number of resources for the year of the priest.

School Liturgies

The Catholic Telemedia Network Web site provides resources to plan liturgies througout the school year. Themes include the following: Opening School Liturgy; Creation Liturgy/Blessing of the Animals; All Saints Liturgy; Immaculate Conception Liturgy; Mass Plans for Children's Christmas Liturgy; New Year Liturgy; Liturgy for Ash Wednesday; Catholic Schools Week, Special Persons Week; Forgiveness Mass Plan; St. Joseph Mass Plans; Triduum Prayer Service; Liturgy for the Month of April; May Crowning Liturgy; Celebration of Mother's Liturgy; Graduation Liturgy; Closing School Liturgy.

The Catholic Enquiry Center, the national faith promotion outreach of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, has put together a course that aims to assist Catholics seeking a return to faith practice, to offer clear information about the Catholic Faith for those who are searching for faith, and for people of other religious backgrounds, and to promote inter-religious understanding. The Web site of the Catholic Enquiry Centre makes available a series of 18 handouts one for each week of this course.

The Year of the Priest

Pope Benedict XVI has declared a “Year for Priests” beginning with the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 19, 2009. To commemorate this event, the Congregation for the Clergy has created a new Web site called Annus Sacerdotalis. The site offers a variety of useful resources on the lives of dozens of holy priest as well as on the teachings of the Church Fathers and of the magisterium concerning the priesthood.

Blest Are We

Blest Are We is one of the Web sites of RCL Benziger. It is meant as a complement to the Blest Are We Series, but many of the resources it offers can be used in other context:

• Your Family: activities and information related to liturgical seasons and Catholic teachings
• Parish Catechesis: resources for catechetical leaders, justice and peace ministers, music ministers, pastors and youth ministers
• Professional Articles: articles on the ministry of the catechist and the mission of catechesis
• Catechist Resources: tips on teaching for catechists and downloadables
• Catholic School: useful resources and articles fo Catholic school teachers, principals, and religion coordinators
• Liturgical Calendar: commentaries on Sunday readings and background notes on the Catholic doctrine related to these readings
• Seasonal Celebrations: downloadable and printable documents in Spanish
• Resources: downloadable and printable documents in English
• Games: interactive online games on objects found in a church and on symbols relatexd to sacraments
• Spirituality Time: reflection articles
• Catechist Prayer

Poster - Being the Body of Christ

The Comittee for Social Justice of the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board in Ontario, Canada has a number of useful resources on Catholic social teachings on the environment, water, peace, poverty, and HIV/AIDS. Also available are posters for downloading and printing. Many of these are specific to the situation in Ontario, but some can be used as is or with minor adaptations to fit a wider context. See, for example, the poster called "Being the Body of Christ" which illustrates in a very concrete and contemporary way the prayer of Saint Theresa of Avila, "Christ has no body now but yours..."

For more resources: Catholic Social Justice Teachings and Resources