Review of "Be an Amazing Catechist: Inspire the Faith of Children".

Review of “Be an Amazing Catechist; Inspire the Faith of Children”

By Lisa Mladninich

Our Sunday Visitor Press, 29 pages

     I have been a catechist and a teacher for over a dozen years. When I began my career as a catechist, I was an enthusiastic high school student who had helped her mother teach CCD for years. My years of experience and Master’s in Education, taught me a lot about how to reach the hearts and minds of children with the timeless truths of our Faith, teaching them how to love Our Lord and Our Lady, and live a life of grace through the sacraments.

     How much trial and error could I have been spared if I had been given this wonderful book at the outset of my journey as a catechist! It’s not necessary to have a Master’s Degree or twenty years in the classroom to reach the hearts and minds of children.  If you love the Faith, and are eager to learn how to impart it effectively, read this book, which should be given to every new catechist along with their textbooks. Its easy to read, engaging from beginning to end with a good mix of visuals, and many specific ideas of how to use what every catechist has at their disposal; a Bible, their Catechism books, and  a computer.

     In a concise yet conversational style, Mrs. Mladninich discusses basic pedagogy; from learning styles to classroom management. She helps the catechist understand her particular student’s age and educational needs, while employing her God-given gifts to impart the love of God. No two catechism classes are alike, says Mrs. Mladninich, but they can all be amazing as they train up young souls to know, love and serve God.

    “Be an Amazing Catechist” helps the catechist know what to do when the inevitable challenges arise, for example when the students ask those pointed questions we all fear and how to lovingly handle challenging students who disrupt the class She shares secrets to getting the students personally engaged in the lesson whether they are kinesthetic learners who must keep moving, students with special needs. She offers ideas to get all one’s students parents engaged in the process, how to teach them to pray, and how to use celebration of the Church’s celebration of the Liturgical Year (Christmas, Easter, etc) in lesson plans. She suggests how to tie in craft, dramatic and musical activities to keep the children’s interest, and most importantly, how the catechist must nourish her own soul with the grace necessary to give so much to others

     This handbook can be helpful to seasoned catechists as well, for there are many new resources, like the website Catholic Mom or the USCCB’s online Bible which are relatively new, and can offer new approaches to teaching the Faith which respect the doctrinal orthodoxy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church while employing the latest technology. My favorite aspect of this book is Mrs. Mladinich’s enthusiastic tone as she encourages her reader in their mission;

     “With daily attention to prayer and the sacramental life, you and I can revolutionize            the teaching of the Faith. We can thrill our students with the Truth, protect them against sin, and set them on fire with the knowledge of the Faith!”

     Being a catechist is a wonderful means of participating in the Great Commission in Matthew’s Gospel, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."With this booklet in your hands, and Christ at your side, you can consider yourself well prepared to make your students into disciples, and know that, through them, you are changing the world!

"Be an Amazing Catechist" is available online from Our Sunday Visitor. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe on bestseller lists

Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Carl Andersen's book, "Our Lady of Guadalupe; Mother of a Civilization of Love" debuted on the New York Times and Publisher's Weekly bestseller lists. It was written with the postulator of the cause of St Juan Diego, Msgr Eduardo Chavez of Mexico City.

It's good for the nation to see evidence that Our Lady is still a powerful evangelizer. After the appariaiton, over six million Aztec Indians converted to Catholicism.

I hope to be attending a book launch event with Msgr Chavez next week. I'll report on it here.

Read the entire story at CNA.

Review of "The Host" on Times Online

I have read only one Stephenie Meyers book. It was on a dare from someone who found my criticism of the book's sexual content hard to handle. Before I read the book, I based my criticism on the overreaction of adolescent girls to a dark romance. I opposed "Twilight" not so much for what it was, but for how innocent young minds were corrupted and obsessed by it.

I had experience with adolescent obsession over a book. When I was 13, I was obsessed with Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" reading the 1037 page book in only 4 days. I loved the pathos and the romance of her impossible love for Ashley Wilkes, the pathetic failure of her marriage to Rhett Bulter, and the fairy tale life of rich plantation owners in the antebellum South. My obsession ignored both the misery of the slaves and the adulterous actions of Scarlett kissing a married man. It was unhealthy escape of a shy, bookish teen, yet it is a romp in the tulips compared with the potent sexual pull of "Twilight" series.

I read "Twilight" and was mortified by the subtle yet powerful undercurrents of sexual tension, dragging readers into a story with masochism, sadism, necrophilia, and many other shades of ugly and unworthy elements for young minds. A well known child author called it "kiddie porn". Yet many Catholic writers defend the series, after I suspect falling under its sensual spell, calling it 'a good book about abstinence'. If my daughters ever practice that type of abstinence (Edward in bed with Bella yet restraining himself) she will find herself grounded till she's 25!

So, I enter this review by the Times Online of Stephenie Meyer's latest book series, "The Host" for adults as evidence that "Twilight" is kiddie porn, and not suitable for young women or old women.
"Erotic abstinence is the potent subtext that sold more than 40 million copies of Stephenie Meyer’s young adult Twilight series, working like catnip on teenage girls, for whom the theme of forbidden sexuality holds particular resonance. . .
The sizzling Edward/Bella dynamic is Meyer’s winning formula and abandoning it to write The Host, her first adult novel, would risk losing her marketplace monopoly on burning loins, along with the teenage characters to whom they belong. "
If the Times Online could name the attraction which drove the "Twilight" craze, why were intelligent Catholic women so blind? It's time to undertake a painful examination of conscience about the corrosive effects of literature and film on our sense of morality. I had a neighbor whose obsession with romance novels and her subsequent comparison of her husband to the romantic heroes, led to the breakup of a perfectly good marriage. Don't let a clever author make millions as you lose your soul.
Frs Eteneuer and Amorth warned us about implicit dangers in Stephenie Meyers books. There is something to be said about obeying good advice from priests, even when our loins are telling us to ignore them.
Let's not allow "The Host" to become an obsession.

Thanks to a sensationalized report on Nightline (I mean, what did you expect, in depth treatment, they only reported on TOB in order to shock the public?) Christopher West is answering charges that he is over the top, misinterpreting Pope John Paul, and idolizing Hugh Hefner. He gives an explanation here to misinterpretations of his comments regarding Hugh Hefner;
"I never said Hugh Hefner is a hero, never," he remarked, explaining that Hefner said he started Playboy as a personal response to the hurt and hypocrisy of Americans’ Puritan heritage."The point I was making with ABC was that we as Catholics agree with Hefner’s diagnosis of the disease of Puritanism, a fearful rejection of the body rooted in heritage of Manicheanism. Sadly, that very important point did not come out in the interview.""Let the record stand very clearly: the pornographic revolution that Hugh Hefner inaugurated, the medicine that he suggested, proves to be in many ways more dangerous than the disease itself.'"

West went on to that while ABC took time to do a good interview, it was boiled down to a 7 minute clip with sound bites which were misleading. This is a danger of being part of tabloid TV; only the juicy bits make the cut, and who knows what the agenda of the editor is. I was asked to review The Dangerous Book for Girls (see my review here) on the Today Show, but after finding suggestions to practice both Yoga and the occult in the otherwise good book, I refused, on the basis that my comments on TV would be edited, and my appearance on the show with the book might be misconstrued as approval. As a Catholic film and book critic, I value my reputation of being orthodox and forthright too highly to risk it for 3 minutes of fame.
Maybe Christopher West should be more careful in the future about to what type of program he gives interviews. I have reviewed his latest book "Heaven's Song" very positively, in fact Ascension Press used my blurb(as well as Jeff Miller's who also writes for CMR) for their advertising, so obviously I feel his interpretation of Pope John Paul's Theology of the Body is important. Too important to trust to the National Enquirer of TV: Nightline. Maybe Huckabee or Bonnie Hunt would give him adequate time to express the true meaning of Theology of the Body.

Read the entire story on Catholic News Service.

Twilight hit the theatres this weekend; is it good for our daughters?

I have just read the book and I say definintely not. Catholic Mom who writes here, agrees.
Here is another post on the "Twilight" phenomenon from a man who graduated from St Thomas More College and works as a DRE in Illinois.
Here is a review from Julie at a Connecticut Catholic Corner. She works in publishing and seems to be an ardent Catholic. She also has a movie review on the blog.
I'll be posting reviews of both shortly.
Just let me add my own warning; I have been a teacher for 20 years, and I never saw such mass intoxication with a book, yes, even compared with the Harry Potter series. This near hysteria came to a head in my seventh grade study hall Friday afternoon, when I could not keep the girls quiet enough to study; they were all a flutter about their plans to see "Twilight" that evening. This is a phenomenon which Catholics must examine before embracing; anything that the Culture of Death embraces with such ferocity can't be healthy.

'Basic Instinct' author writes book about faith

cross-posted from A Catholic View

Having seen both Basic Instinct and Jagged Edge, I was a bit surprised to read of Joe's Catholicism.

Joe Eszterhas' latest book is a shocker, but not the kind that made him rich and famous.

The upcoming release from the man who penned dark thrillers such as Basic Instinct and Jagged Edge tells the story of his spiritual conversion and his newfound devotion to God and family.

In Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith, to be published Sept. 2 by St. Martin's Press, Mr. Eszterhas describes how his life got turned around during the summer of 2001.

He and his second wife, Naomi, had just moved from Malibu to a suburb of Cleveland - where he had grown up; she was from nearby Mansfield. They felt Ohio would be a better, more wholesome place to raise their four boys (he had two grown children from his first marriage).

story here

Mr. Eszterhas told The Blade that despite his mixed feelings over the church and the abuse scandal, the power of the Mass trumps his doubts and misgivings.

"The Eucharist and the presence of the body and blood of Christ is, in my mind, an overwhelming experience for me. I find that Communion for me is empowering. It's almost a feeling of a kind of high."

PLEASE SEE COMBOX FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH JOE.

'Render Unto Caesar' answers crucial questions about intersection of faith and politics

Fr. Imbelli reviews Archbishop Chaput's new book for Catholic voters.

cross-posted from A Catholic View

On August 12, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver will release his latest book, which focuses on a question of undeniable importance for Catholics in the U.S. but also around the world: What is the role of faith in the public square? Fr. Robert Imbelli S.J., a Boston College assistant professor of Theology, gives readers an insightful and well-written review of the archbishop’s book, which will be published in L’Osservatore Romano.

By Fr. Robert Imbelli S.J.

This new book by the Archbishop of Denver, Colorado, though addressed primarily to his fellow Catholics, will also serve to foster a much-needed conversation both within and outside the Church. Moreover, it appears at a particularly significant time: the eve of one of the most important presidential elections in recent American history.

story here

A Few Good Books

Just in case your children are subjected to a Scholastic book fair, there are some good choices out there. Rick Yancey's Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, C. S. Lewis's Prince Caspian, and Rick Riordan's The Titan's Curse were some that I recently spotted on the list.
Here's my take on few newly published winners...

Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson, is the story of a sixteen year old orphan girl. Just when she is about to be forced to drop out of high school to work as a maid in an Iowa boarding house, Hattie receives a cryptic letter asking her if she will accept her now deceased uncle's homestead claim in Montana. Upon arrival in Vida, Montana, she discovers that she must now lay several miles of fence line, and cultivate 40 acres of crops before the land is hers. Hattie's struggles with forces of nature are interwoven with the anti-German sentiment her neighbors are facing as a result of the on-going first World War. Hattie is a wonderful, resourceful, and intrepid heroine. This novel is a Caudill Award nominee and a Newbery Honor Book. Highly Recommended.

Penny from Heaven, by Jennifer L. Holm, takes place in New Jersey, shortly after the second World War. Penny lives with her widowed, Protestant mother and grandparents, and spends most of her free time with the Italian, Catholic side of her family. The story follows Penny throughout the summer of 1953, during which her mother starts dating the milkman, her arm is nearly severed in a wringer washer accident, and she learns of the Italian American internment camp where her father died. This humorous, summertime story is also a Caudill Award nominee and a Newbery Honor Book. Highly Recommended.

Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters, by Lesley M. M. Blume, takes place in modern day Manhattan. Cornelia is the daughter of two brilliant pianists, Lucy Englehart, and her father, whom she has never met. Her mother is frequently absent for long periods of time, touring the world with her music. Lonely Cornelia locks herself away in a world of books, baffling grown ups with her immense vocabulary. When the famous author, Virginia Somerset, moves into the apartment next door, Cornelia finds a friend who speaks her language. Virginia shares the adventures she had in the 1950s when she traveled the world with her three equally vivacious sisters. These tales carry Cornelia from Morocco, to Paris, where the sisters encountered Pablo Picasso, to England, where Her Majesty has them thrown out of the Crufts Dog Show, to India, where they encounter true poverty and charity. Cornelia learns from Virginia how to turn vocabulary words into magical tales to be shared with friends and family.
Please note that Cornelia's father is described as a playboy, and she overhears her mother referring to his most recent in a string of marriages. However, these attributes are appropriately portrayed as unfortunate events in Cornelia's and her mother's lives. Highly Recommended.

Catholic Media Review mentioned on book cover

I was at Kent Gilges' book signing for "A Grace Given" last night, when I received one of the biggest thrills of my life. On the back cover of the book, there are blurbs from the reviews of his book. The reviewers are quite impressive: George Weigel, Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and papal biographer, Don Wildmon, President of the American Family Association, and then. . .
Leticia Velasquez of Catholic Media Review!
Read the blurbs here.
I am deeply honored that Mr. Gilges, seen here, included this upstart reviewer in such august company, and wish him well in the sales of this remarkable book.
I noticed that it's highly rated and sold out on Amazon.
Read my now famous review here.

Harry Potter is no hero: Vatican newspaper

Cross-post from The World...IMHO.

A prominent article in the official Vatican newspaper has warned against a fundamental flaw in the Harry Potter novels. Since they just published the 7th and final book in the series in 2007, I think the Vatican speaking out at this point is "too little, too late". I wish the Vatican and the Bishops would be quicker to speak out against morally offensive media. Another good example is "The Golden Compass"... Bill Donohue of The Catholic League, a lay person, did more to speak out against that than anyone else.

In a signed essay in L'Osservatore Romano, Edoardo Rialti argues that despite "obvious superficial resemblances," the novels by J.K. Rowling do not deserve to be compared with the great Christian fables of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The fundamental difference, he says, is that the Harry Potter books portray sorcery and magic as positive forces.

While Harry Potter has many admirable qualities, the L'Osservatore Romano critic writes, the books fall into "the old Gnostic temptation of confusing salvation and truth with secret knowledge." Rowling, the author, offers a character who manipulates secret forces, and turns dark powers to good use. By contrast, Rialti writes, the fictional works of Tolkien and Lewis remind readers that "the seductive power of magic always has grave and destructive consequences."

The hero in Christian allegory, like Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings, achieves great things by perseverance and reliance on his own abilities, the L'Osservatore article notes. Harry Potter, on the other hand, invokes special powers that make him something more than a mortal human. Thus Harry Potter cannot be considered a proper hero, the article concludes.

story here