Looking for Great Resources on Eucharist, Reconciliation?

Just got Bishop Sartain's seal of approval for the Diocese of Joliet official list of recommended parish catechetical resources for our Year of the Eucharist. Thanks to the Catechetical Formation Committee for their assistance.  This list includes a variety of great websites, group reflection resources for adults, general adult resources, supplementary resources for children and youth, and lots more - on the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  We deliberately chose these from across a wide spectrum of methodologies, so there is something for every parish "style." Even if you are not from our diocese, take a look.  The list is posted at http://www.dioceseofjoliet.org/ye/catechesis.asp.

Multimedia Meets Communal Penance Service

The Holy Spirit is hard at work in my parish, as always. When our liturgy planning committee began to plan for Lent, several of us, independently, encountered resources and ideas that convinced us our Lenten focus should be on reconnecting with our Baptismal call as we accompany our catechumens to the font. This is what we have been doing - each week focusing on a symbol or action from the Rite of Baptism.

Then, I encountered this amazing video that says so much about what the relation between Lent and Baptism:



Powerful images, no? This is formational - each time we watched it, we saw more meaning.

When people enter the church for our Communal Penance Service in a few weeks, we will be running this video repeatedly. When we begin, we will run it one last time, and Spanish speakers will proclaim the translations of the English words that appear on the screen. Then our bilingual liturgy will begin. The Examination of Conscience will ask us to recover our baptismal purity - and at the end, the presider will lead us to the font, near the door, and ask all to dip their hand into the water and bless themselves as they leave.

Now, understand, this is not a parish with big screens on the walls - this is new for us to try something like this.  A step forward into the age of media. One small step for St. John's Parish. One large step for the People of God!

Thanks to Sister Caroline Cerveny for posting this video for me to find... to enrich our Lenten experience.

If We Don't Even Give it Much Attention, Why Would People Bother?

I am hard at work finalizing a resource list for our bishop's approval for our diocesan Year of the Eucharist - gathering information on books, media, web resources, text supplements, etc. for enrichment for people of all ages on the sacraments of Eucharist and Penance (Reconciliation)  but I am finding it difficult to locate much for the latter that is not related to preparation of children for the sacrament. While Catholic authors, teachers and publishers have expended great effort to resource our ability to enrich adults to understand Eucharist, and rightly so, there is quite a bit less to support an updated understanding of Reconciliation for adults.

With relatively few Catholic adults participating in the sacrament on a regular basis, apparently either it is difficult to explain in a fruitful way, or there is not much market for such resources. High-quality pastoral resources, like the little book Reconciliation by Bishop Robert Morneau (Orbis RCL?Benziger adult spirituality series) and the small-group resource from Archdiocese of Milwaukee/LPI, Reconciliation: The Unfolding Mercy of God's Mercy and Love are relatively few.

So, I have to ask - if we don't bother - if we put little energy into updating people's understanding of this sacrament - why would your average Catholic adult change their mind? If people think of Confession as unpleasant, irrelevant and unnecessary - and they associate images of the old-fashioned confessional box, such as pictured above or shown on TV or the movies with the sacrament, it's no wonder few avail themselves of it.