Tag: Teaching

Inside Room 24

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Room24I was fortunate enough to spend Christmas 2015 with my family back in England. One of the many things I enjoy about taking trips to England is the plane ride because the time spent at 30,000 feet is usually very productive! I’m not sure if it’s simply because I’m stuck in a seat for nine hours, or because people are waiting on me hand and foot, but for whatever reason I tend to get a lot of writing done. The fruits of previous transatlantic plane rides have included my series on Catholic dating, the top 11 reasons why every man should learn to dance and, one of my personal favourites, the article which explains how the He-Man cartoon teaches transubstantiation.

This last return trip to the States was a little different, however. Rather than spending my time writing, I spent it reading. Over the course of this flight, I read Room 24: Adventures of a New Evangelist by Katie Prejean from cover-to-cover. The book is available through Ave Maria Press and Amazon, and hopefully after you’ve read this review you’ll go order a copy, visit her website and follow her on Twitter.

On the return flight to America, I had the entire row of seats to myself which made for a much more comfortable flight. As I write this review, I am once again on a plane, this time from New York City, and once again I have the entire row of seats to myself. Now, I’m not promising that if you buy this book it will automatically entitle you to extra leg room, but please allow me a few minutes to explain why I enjoyed this book so much…

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Let few of you be teachers

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Crumbling House

[Syncletica] also said, “It is dangerous for a man to try teaching before he is trained in the good life. A man whose house is about to fall down may invite travellers inside to refresh them, but instead they will be hurt in the collapse of the house.

“It is the same with teachers who have not carefully trained themselves in the good life; they destroy their hearers as well as themselves. Their mouth invites to salvation, their way of life leads to ruin.”

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

Getting ahead of ourselves

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getting-ahead-of-yourself

Another brother spoke with the same Theodore, and he began to talk about matters of which he had no experience.

Theodore said to him, “You’ve not yet found a ship to sail in, nor put your luggage aboard, not put out to sea, and you’re already acting as if you were in the city which you mean to reach. If you make some attempt to do the things you are discussing, then you can talk about them with understanding.

– De vitis Patrum, Sive Verba Seniorum, Liber V

How do Catholics view the Bible?

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I just received an email from someone asking for a copy of my recording of “Dei Verbum”, the document on Divine Revelation from the Second Vatican Council.

Pope Gospel

My blog seemed to be the easiest way to share them. Each of the chapters is in a separate MP3 file:

                                                                            
Chapter 1 (MP3)                        Chapter 2 (MP3)                        Chapter 3 (MP3)

                                                                            
Chapter 4 (MP3)                        Chapter 5 (MP3)                        Chapter 6 (MP3)

I hope these help you with your studies Alyson 🙂

Leading Bible Study: Part 1

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This year in the JP2 Group, more and more people have been stepping up to lead Bible study. This has been wonderful, and has brought with it a number of benefits.

Firstly, the variation in leadership has added some real diversity and insight to our Bible study sessions and helped keep the group fresh.

Secondly, in our community we often have people who attend JP2 for some time and then move on to another city. It is my hope that, by having led at JP2, these people will have the confidence at their new parish to support similar ministries or, if such ministries do not exist, then start them!

Finally, as the number of leaders in a group increases, the group becomes more self-sustaining, reducing the pressure on the group’s original leader, thus freeing him or her up to spend more time crocheting and playing the banjo…

Mistakes, I’ve made a few…

I’ve led Bible studies, in some form or another, since about 2004. In doing so, I’ve made all kinds of mistakes. Seriously, name a mistake, I’ve done it. In fact, not only will I have done it, I’m pretty sure I’d have done it in far more spectacular fashion than you! :-p

Therefore, drawing upon my vast wealth of mistakes, in an effort to help those readers who are also involved in leadership, I’ve compiled a list of Do’s and Don’ts for leading Bible Study.

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