Catechesis of the Popes

Catechesis of the Popes - "This site is dedicated to looking at the Wednesday General Audiences of the Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Far from being arbitrary, these weekly gatherings are the pope's systematic catechesis on a variety of different themes."

Picture of Pope Benedict XVI above is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 and was authored by Sergey Kozhukhov

Confirmation: Rite for Life

This video is from Oblate Media and Communication and is an 8 minutes segment of  a two segment video lasting approximately 26 minutes.

This video tells the complete history of the sacrament beginning with Pentecost and how the celebration began and has evolved in the Eastern and Roman Churches over the centuries. All the essential elements of the ceremony including the laying of hands and anointing are shown and explained in detail. Following the New Catechism, footage includes a Confirmation ceremony featuring Bishop Wilton Gregory, President of the U.S.C.C.B., and a bi-lingual ceremony (English and Spanish) with Archbishop Raymond Burke. Fr. Paul Turner, noted author on the subject of Confirmation is featured along with host, Fr. Brendan Moss, OSB.

Theology on Tap

"Theology on Tap is a program of the Office of Young Adult Ministry that reaches out to young adults who want to explore the role of faith in their daily lives. In this casual atmosphere, you’ll hear straight talk and honest answers to your deepest questions about faith, love, work and other real life experiences. Theology on Tap provides an opportunity to not only learn about the Catholic faith but also meet like-minded people and make new friends. Theology on Tap is open to all young adults, regardless of religious affiliation." On the Website of the Archdiocese of Washington.

Divorce, Remarriage, and Annulment - Church Teachings

The Web site of the Archdiocese of Baltimore offers, on its Metropolitan Tribunal page, a selection of documents on  theteachings of the Catholic Church as pertains to divorce, remarriage and annulment. Thesese documents are in PDF format:

• Divorce and Remarriage for Catholics
• Divorce and Remarriage in the Catholic Church for Non-Catholics
• Divorce & Remarriage for Those Entering the Catholic Church
• 12 Myths About Marriage Annulments in the Catholic Church

Catholic Faith Education Newsletter - October 26, 2009

The October 26th edition of the Catholic Faith Education Newsletter is now available online at http://www.silk.net/RelEd/ezine1.htm

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - B

Resources on the Mass readings for the thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - November 15, 2009:

Mass Readings
Fr. Lonsdale's Commentaries and Clip Art
Lectionary Resource for Catholics: word-sunday.com
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Bible Study
Reflexions on This Week's Liturgy - Sadlier
Gospel of Mark 13.24-32 - Articles, Commentaries, Homilies, Clipart, Coloring pages, Puzzles, Children's Stories
Lector Works: Ordinary Time 33 (B)
Lector's Notes: Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - B

Resources on the Mass readings for the thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - November 8, 2009:

Mass Readings
Fr. Lonsdale's Commentaries and Clip Art
Lectionary Resource for Catholics: word-sunday.com
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Bible Study
Reflexions on This Week's Liturgy - Sadlier
Gospel of Mark 12.28-44 - Articles, Commentaries, Homilies, Clipart, Coloring pages, Puzzles, Children's Stories
Lector Works: Ordinary Time 32 (B)
Lector's Notes: Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

Clipart Catholique Galerie

Cipart Catholique - This French Web site contains 26 clipart graphics, some of which may e useful to illustrate worksheets and other documents.

USCCB Video

The USCCB Video page on the Web site of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops offers a selection of faith formation and reflection videos. Four series of videos is now available online.

• The Sacraments: Msgr. John Zenz walks us through the seven blessed sacraments.
• Daily Reflections: Watch a video reflection on the day's Scripture readings.
• One-to-One: Interviews on current topics and people sharing their faith.
• Faith Works: Faith at work, helping others, taking action and spreading faith.

Below is the first in the series of videos on the sacraments:

Bidding Prayers

Bidding Prayers - "Here you will find the Bidding Prayers (Intercessions) Sundays and Holy Days as used at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. These prayers are composed or adapted by Ms Margaret Saunders and Fr Peter Weatherby."

Catechesis in the Third Millennium

Catechesis in the Third Millennium - "This blog is designed to share insights and ideas for carrying out the work of catechesis in a Catholic Parish." This is the blog of William O’Leary of Kansas City. He is a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville and received a BA and MA in Theology with a specialization in Catechetics. William now works at the Church of the Ascension in Overland Park where he directs the School of Religion Program (1,100 students) and oversees the Adult Faith and Family Life Programs in the parish.

Catechesis on Angels

Catechesis on Angels - This page on the Web site of Opus Sanctorium Angelorum provides links to some Church documents on angels.

National Catholic Partnership on Disability

The Web site of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability offers a variety of resources to help ensure meaningful participation of people with disabilities in all aspects of the life of the Church and society.

All Saints

All Saints is a seasonal feature on the American Catholic Web sites.

The Church has venerated Catholic saints since the beginning. Who are the saints? Who decides who is and is not a saint? How many are there? Do saints hear our prayers? Find the answers to these questions and articles on saints.

Scriptural Rosary

Both of the following documents written by Francis Brinker contain an introduction on how to pray the rosary and provides scripture verses as a means of meditating on each mystery while praying the rosary by recalling a gospel passage before each Hail Mary:
The Good News in the Rosary (PDF)

Holy scriptures in the Rosary (PDF)

Catholic Faith Education Newsletter - October 12, 2009

The October 12, 2009 edition of the Catholic Faith Education Newsletter is now online at http://www.silk.net/RelEd/ezine1.htm

Solemnity of All Saints - B

Resources on the Mass readings for the Solemnity of All Saints - November 1, 2009:

Mass Readings
Fr. Lonsdale's Commentaries and Clip Art
Lectionary Resource for Catholics: word-sunday.com
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Bible Study
Reflexions on This Week's Liturgy - Sadlier
Gospel of Mt 5:1-12a - Resources on the Beatitudes
Lector Works: Ordinary Time 31 (B)
Lector's Notes: Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

The Seven Catholic Sacraments

The AmericanCatholic.org has an extensive section on the Sacraments. This Web page gives access to excellent articles on each of the sacraments.

Delta adult education program

My thanks to Craig Glantz, Director of Educational Ministries at
St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Philadelphia, PA for the following information on Delta, an adult education program:

"Delta is a DVD-based adult education program. Delta is a perfect component to the RCIA or any adult education program you may already be running or it can be used on its own. A typical Delta night begins with a dinner and is broken up into 3- fifteen minute teachings and 3-fifteen minute group discussions. E-1 is entitled a Basic Introduction to Spirituality." E-2 is called "A Basic Introduction to Christianity." E-3 is called "A Basic Introduction to Catholicism" and E-4 is called "A Basic Introduction to Catholic Spiritual Growth." For more on the topics please visit our website at www.thedeltaprogram.com."

Glossaries of Liturgy and Church Terms

There are a number of useful glossaries of liturgy and church terms available online. Here are a few of them:

Alphabetical Listing of Glossary of Church Terms - On the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Glossary of Catholic Terms & Terminology used in the Catholic Church - Catholic Archdiocese of Johannesburg

Common Liturgical Terms from the Diocese of Greensburg, based on Dennis C. Smolarski's Liturgical Literacy (Paulist Press, 1990)

Glossary of Liturgical Terms from Fr. Tom Richstatter, O.F.M. professor of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology in St. Meinrad's Archabbey's School of Theology

Glossary of Terms - On the Web site of Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. definitions have been taken from The Collins Dove Dictionary for Young Catholics, Laurie Woods (Ed.), Melbourne, 1990.

Also see my earlier posting on Catholic Dictionaries.

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B

Resources on the Mass readings for the thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 25, 2009:

Mass Readings

Fr. Lonsdale's Commentaries and Clip Art

Lectionary Resource for Catholics: word-sunday.com

St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Bible Study

Reflexions on This Week's Liturgy - Sadlier

Gospel of Mark 10:46-52: Articles, Commentaries, Homilies, Clipart, Coloring pages, Puzzles, Children's Stories

Lector Works: Ordinary Time 30 (B)

Lector's Notes: Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

Meditation with children

The World Community for Christian Meditation has published this Web site on teaching children how to do Christian Meditation (meditation as presented by John Main and, after him, Fr. Laurence Freeman, both Benedictine monks).

"Children are saying that they do not want merely to learn about Jesus and God in their religion lessons: they wanted to experience God in their heart. Christian meditation provides your child with an opportunity to start a journey of silence and stillness where he will experience the presence of Jesus within." -- From the introduction to the Web site

Theology Library

Theology Library is one of the oldest and most extensive directory of online resources related to the Catholic faith available online (close to 20,000 links). It was created and is maintained by Gerald Darring, a high school religion teacher. The content of the Web site is organised under the following headings: The Church; Revelation; Liturgy; Justice; Theology; Morality; Spirituality; Evangelization; and Religion.

Faith Works

Faith Works - A collection of videos showing people, places and programs affecting faith in our everyday lives.This is on the Website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

As Paul tells it ...

As Paul tells it ... is " a letters based study of what the apostle Paul tells us about his work, his teaching, and himself. A remarkable amount of material about the apostle is available from his letters. Without having to depend upon the Book of Acts, we can learn directly from Paul himself not only what he taught his congregations, but also a great deal about his comings and goings and about problems he faced. From within the framework of these events, his teachings emerge naturally in their appropriate context."