Today I was at a presentation by Richard Achée of Google, and one of his slides showed the top skills currently needed in today’s workplace according to The Economist: The top five are: Problem solving Team-working Communication Critical Thinking Creativity Are these are the top five skills we are teaching in Catholic schools today?
Today is the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the woman who founded the first Catholic school in the United States, and also the first American-born saint. In today’s Office of Readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, St. Elizabeth explains how she is able to deal with the trials of life. My prayer today, dear reader, is that this beautiful meditation can be of help as you face the various trials of your own life: I will tell you what is my own great help. I once...
As my time at the NCEA Convention is coming to an end, I see that I didn’t really get to post as much as I wanted to. I still want to share some of the sights and sounds of the convention however, so I’ve put together a few things in this final post. First, I’ve attached a recording from the second Eucharistic liturgy of the conference. This is a performance of “Be Still, My Soul” by the Houston Catholic Schools Choir. It’s a tragedy that my recording is...
On my first day in Houston for the 2013 NCEA convention, I expected to tell you all about the city, the conference center, and meeting Barb Gilman and Nancy Caramanico for the first time. But life seldom goes as we expect. Barb and Nancy were involved in an automobile accident on their way from the Houston airport to the hotel. The shuttle van they were riding in struck a barrier in the road and flipped, crushing the roof and shattering the windshield. Their injuries weren’t life threatening, but...
My bags are packed and I’m getting ready to leave today for the 2013 NCEA convention in Houston, Texas. Thousands of Catholic educators will be converging on the George R. Brown Convention Center on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week for keynote speeches, professional development sessions, liturgies, and camaraderie. Barb Gilman and I will be presenting Catholic Classrooms Without Walls: Interactive Projects Connecting Classrooms Around the World, and I can’t wait to finally meet so many of my online teacher friends, especially those who participate in #CatholicEdChat each...
I didn’t get a chance to post about this earlier, but before Pope Francis was elected we held our own conclave in the eighth grade. Two local media outlets covered the story, and unlike the conclave in Rome, we let them in for a peek. Here’s an excerpt from the story in our local paper, along with video coverage: Before Jorge Bergoglio was selected as the new pope Wednesday, students at All Saints Catholic School held their own conclave. They came dressed in red capes. Some were made...
Our bishop, Bishop Blase Cupich, is visiting Rome this week for an ad limina visit. In a first for the Diocese of Spokane, he’s using Facebook to share his journey with the rest of us. It’s been a great learning experience for me and for my students. Each morning I wake up and check Facebook to see what I can share with the 8th graders during Religion class. After morning prayer and attendance, I bring up the diocesan Facebook page on the screen and we see what’s new...
It’s Catholic Schools Week, and the Diocese of Sacramento has just released this great video celebrating Catholic students:
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Barbara Nicolosi-Harrington has written an extraordinary piece for Patheos analyzing how the entertainment industry is changing as the Baby Boomers give way to the GenXers, and how the Church can minister to both generations. Nicolosi-Harrington sees a possible rediscovery of optimism and faith in Generation X films, and recommends that the Church encourage and affirm these efforts. At the same time, Baby Boomers need help taking responsibility for their mistakes: “The rigid eradication of tradition, the gross materialism, the unbridled license, the embarrassing promiscuity — all always accompanied...
How can we use cell phones, mp3 players and social networks as tools to get kids into prayer? That was the question I addressed yesterday in my presentation at our annual diocesan inservice for Catholic teachers. I began with a quote from Jean-Pierre de Caussade: Today God still speaks to us as he used to speak to our ancestors at a time when there were neither spiritual directors nor any systems of spirituality…Religious devotion had not become a science crammed with precepts and detailed instructions. Nowadays, no doubt,...
Aubrey/Maturin Read-along 2021-2024
Classics Club #32: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevesky
January 20, 2020
Classics Club #21: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
December 28, 2018
Classics Club #20: She by H. Rider Haggard
May 17, 2018
Notes from the Upside Down by Guy Adams
April 4, 2018
Cries from the Earth by Terry C. Johnston
March 20, 2018
