Totally Catholic! A Catechism for Kids

by Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND

Our Catholic Faith: Know it! Live it! Love it!

Are you looking for a way to accessibly communicate the faith to your kids, but are at a loss for words? Is your older child preparing for receiving the sacraments, but needs to catch-up on their religious education? Do you want to brush up on your knowledge and grow in your faith, especially in celebration of the Year of Faith?

In this comprehensive resource for faith formation, children ages 9-12 and the grown-ups in their lives are provided with child-appropriate, helpful, and theologically-correct language to explain the faith from A to Z! Whether you are a parent, grandparent, teacher, or catechist, this guidebook of all things Totally Catholic offers you an exciting way to share and pass on the faith!

Drawing from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and using 'hip' terminology and acronyms such as "BTW" and "VIP," content is presented in a way that reaches out to young people-and even to adults looking for an accessible window into the faith. Analogies illuminate difficult concepts, bolded key terms are defined, and a pronunciation aid accompanies more advanced language. Clip art style illustrations and call-out boxes present the faith in a fun way.

From Bible stories, to the sacraments, to Church hierarchy, to the fruits of the Holy Spirit, this resource covers all bases. It also responds to contemporary societal issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and homosexuality, along with issues that kids might directly deal with in their day-to-day lives such as cheating, plagiarism, and gossip.

Containing extensive information on what Catholics believe and how they live as members within the community of believers, this manual not only equips you with knowledge of the faith, but also encourages you to engage in it. Each chapter is framed in the form of a question and contains the following sections:

•  Brainstorm: prompts to connect the faith to everyday life
• Scripture Link: a story from Scripture that reinforces the faith
• BTW: supplemental tidbits of information
• Did You Know?: interesting, quick facts
• A Catholic VIP: portraits of saints or blesseds containing brief biographies and feast days
• From My Heart: an assortment of prayers
• Now Act!: ideas for how to live the faith
• Recap: a summary of important points to remember

Features & Benefits:  

• Authored by an award-winning writer highly experienced in the catechetical field 
• Contains a Note to Parents, Guardians, and Teachers and a Note to the Child Reader
• Adheres to the structure of the Catechism of the Catholic Church with numerical references
• Includes an appendix of principles that guide how Catholics live and pray
• Provides an index of key terms