Looking for curriculum for Catechesis

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sunandstars

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I’ve been appointed to teach Catechesis to a handful of 8-12 year old children at my parish. The resources they have been using are very thin, and about 35 years old. They are simple xeroxed copies of activities.

I am looking for a ready to go curriculum to go along with these and fill out the whole process. I was thinking there would be loads on the net, but I’ve only found New City Catechesis. They do look quite good and useful.

Does anyone have suggestions that would be helpful? I’m hoping for a set of books, and lesson plans that will give a strong structure to the whole year. Something that will give me what to teach and when…plus anything else.
Must be faithfully Catholic.

I’m not beyond paying for it, and it would be adapted to our needs as we go along.

Thank you for helping!
 
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sunandstars said:
Does anyone have suggestions that would be helpful?
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Contact your diocesan office of catechesis for the approved textbook list.

You can order textbooks from www.comcenter.com and they will set up an invoicing account for your parish.

Faith and Life by Ignatius Press is very good, and they have supplemental materials like lesson plans on their site.

First check with your diocesan office, ours has a scope and sequence, curriculum guides, recommended/approved texts, and a lending library of DVDs, etc., for parishes.
 
The OP is seeking curriculum for parish based catechizes, not home schooling.
 
Horton said:
The OP is seeking curriculum for parish based catechizes, not home schooling.
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Does it hurt to contact Seton to see if the line of religious instruction books can be utilized in a large school setting? Plaum is nice and all but I am hooked on buying Seton for my grandkids home study.
 
Horton said:
You dioceses office of Religious Education should also have a list of programs to use.
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Should, but not all do. 😝 My current and previous dioceses do not have such a list. It’s definitely good to check with them first, though.

If your diocese does not have a list, the USCCB has a list of texts in conformity with the Catechism:

http://www.usccb.org/about/evangeli...-catechism/upload/Current-Conformity-List.pdf

We use Faith & Life at my parish. Our school just switched to Spirit of Truth (Sophia Institute Press). Alive in Christ (OSV) is decent, too.

I’d definitely recommend using a textbook series rather than 35 year old xeroxed pages. 😄 There is an upfront cost, but the textbooks can be reused from year to year. (And I have seen more than my share of mysterious, old copies of a copy of a copy that sit in file folders in the religious ed office for decades 😝)
 
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Joe_5859 said:
(And I have seen more than my share of mysterious, old copies of a copy of a copy that sit in file folders in the religious ed office for decades 😝)
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Oh yes. I’ve made it my mission to seek out such copies of copies of copies…and destroy them forever 😄
 
Thanks for all the info.
Our parish only has those pitiful xeroxed papers I told you about. The diocese catechism program is rather hit and miss, and is proving to be run by an egomaniac.
He says he is rewriting the program.
In the meantime we need something good, right now!
 
Augustine Institute and their publishing arm, Lighthouse Catholic Media might be another place to look.
 
EricF said:
Augustine Institute and their publishing arm, Lighthouse Catholic Media might be another place to look.
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They have some materials for sacramental preparation (e.g. First Communion, First Reconciliation), but they don’t yet have any general catechetical curriculum for children.
 
I wasn’t sure. I use it for RCIA materials so I haven’t looked much into their other offerings.
 
I wouldn’t be surprised to see them create such materials in the future. They keep cranking stuff out, and it’s all good so far. 🙂
 
I like it also, however it may not be an option for the OP. It is fairly expensive to get a program up & running and the children the OP will be working with will not have had any of the beginning work done. There may not be space for an Atrium.

I love the CGS and our DRE is using it for preschoolers this year. I would love to see something like this for teens, but as far as I know it only goes to age 12.
 
DRE = Director of Religious Education

CGS = Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a Montessori approach to catechesis. It is great, but as Horton said, it requires a dedicated space and a bit of time and money to get it up and running. I would love to do it at my parish, but we don’t have the space for it at present.
 
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