Today, less than a quarter of young teens receiving Confirmation in U.S. return to the church once they move on to high school. For those teens, “the church just doesn’t seem relevant.” So, I asked our 7th and 8th grade Confirmation students what would make religious education and/or the Church more relevant to them. I…
The video posted above introduces you to a virtual church. The target audience of the virtual church is people who are open to the Word, but who, for various reasons cannot or do not attend a ‘brick and mortar’ church. The video below is for those inclined to brush-off virtual environments as childish or anti-social!…
Getting children registered for our Confirmation program in one place at one time proved nearly impossible. In response, I began developing an online Confirmation preparation program in early 2016 using the virtual reality platform Second Life. After more than 1,800 hours of development, the program was ready to launch in 2018. Virtual environments have advanced…
According to a 2015 Pew Research report, for every one Catholic convert, more than six Catholics leave the church. Church administration and pastoral work, including catechesis, as usual isn’t going to reverse or even halt the trend. As Pope Francis says, we have to “find new ways to spread the word.” Here is some very specific advice…
I asked 31 parents of the children in our religious education program the following questions: Why do you send your child to a religious education program? Why do you think over 80% of children in America do not return to church after their Confirmation? What could our church or religious education program be doing better…
In 2018, I gave the following talk to parents of children in our religious education program. …
CREATIVE MINISTRY AND MANAGEMENT 