The Catholic Navigator: Bon Voyage!
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 19, 2016 | In On the Good
If you are actively involved in catechesis in your parish, or in other formation programs, you may be interested in subscribing to the Catholic Navigator. This is a lay apostolate of experienced catechists which provides printable weekly catechetical supplements for adults and children.
The organization’s “flagship” is the “Catholic Navigator” supplement for adults, which consists of a single double-sided hand-out providing “information and reflection associated with the seasons, events and persons memorialized in the liturgical year.” A second catechetical supplement, the “Catholic Tugboat”, is designed for children aged nine to eleven. You’ll find links to sample issues of each at the bottom of the home page.
The Catholic Navigator team explores the riches of the Catholic faith in fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church. Their handouts draw heavily from resources highlighted by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and they consistently reference the Catechism of the Catholic Church. All of their publications bear the imprimatur of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Costs are minimized by providing these supplements as high-quality PDF files which can be printed on a single two-sided sheet of paper—ideal for handing out in formation groups and CCD classes, or as inserts for the weekly church bulletin. The printable supplements are sent out four or five at a time, about two weeks in advance of when the first in each batch will be used.
Pricing starts at $100 for 52 weeks, but an entire parish can be served for a year with handouts of both supplements for $300. Negotiated pricing is available for special purposes and needs.
Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
-
Posted by: Bellarminite1 -
May. 30, 2016 11:17 AM ET USA
Any progress that's been made has been at the seminary level — where the problem originated. Desperate for priests, too many were allowed through that shouldn't have been. The "child protection" program has been and is purely PR.
-
Posted by: Bernadette -
May. 29, 2016 2:31 AM ET USA
Where does the 49 million come from? And, the 2 billion in payments to victims and families and lawyers? We know it comes from the parishioner in the pew. Ultimately. I find it amazing that no one to my knowledge has ever actually objected to this use of his money. On another point that irks me: why do our shepherds, even pope(s), continue to call the problem pedophilia when it is homosexuality (at least 82% of the cases)?
-
Posted by: wtchurch5213 -
May. 28, 2016 10:15 AM ET USA
You make a great point, Phil. What is the alternative though? What do we do instead?
-
Posted by: feedback -
May. 28, 2016 1:34 AM ET USA
The so-called "child-protection programs" mostly serve to solidify the notion that the Catholic Church is a dangerous place for children, and to bleed the Church financially. They didn't help much in the Chicago Archdiocese where one reverend Daniel McCormack (protege of very reverend Gerald Kicanas) continued to rape little boys long after the "protection programs" were enforced.
-
Posted by: JimKcda -
May. 27, 2016 7:58 PM ET USA
NO! It won't until we get rid of the homosexual priests and nuns in our parishes and the Bishops and Religious Superiors who protect them. While many seminaries no longer accept or recruit homosexuals, some still do. Our Church authorities do nothing about it. Finally, our "Catholic" schools and colleges need to clean house and start teaching sound doctrine from the Catechism of the Catholic Church so our next generation learns the truth. Also, re-print your old articles re: the "Velvet Clergy."
-
Posted by: AgnesDay -
May. 26, 2016 4:41 PM ET USA
I have to admit that I learned a few things from the VIRTUS program that should make any possible perpetrator break a sweat. In fact, I acted as a facilitator for the program for several years, and never will forget the reaction of the individual who was physically unable to fill out the background check materials. Was it worth $49 million? Only if it was your child in danger.
-
Posted by: shrink -
May. 26, 2016 2:38 PM ET USA
The bishops' policy is to child protection just as Freud's theory of the "id" is to human motivation: the policy and the theory each in their own way dilute the concentrated quilt of a few by casting suspicion upon everyone.
-
Posted by: Randal Mandock -
May. 26, 2016 10:25 AM ET USA
"...you had 100% confidence that your pastors would do the right thing." That's the point, isn't it, the Catholic way? A familiarity with the statistics on victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse of children reveals the deviancy of the affliction. But we have the secular culture promoting it, the Church acquiescing as she questions whether or not this person or that one is able to commit a sin, excuses for the exceptions to the rule rather than "hateful" "rigidity" in opposing deviancy and sin.
