Skip Introduction >>

Journey to Emmaus

The Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry is happy to offer a catechetical resource to assist our parishes as they evangelize our young church.  The curriculum was written by the Diocese of Arlington and adapted by our diocese to include references to the Video Catechism.

This resource offer a systematic approach to catechizing our high school youth through the use of the of the document, Adaptation of Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age provided by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). This document establishes the framework of catechesis that all high school parish-based religious education programs must cover. Using this document, we set out to create a four-year curriculum that covers all of the required material that must be taught to young people during their high school years.

The goal of our new Journey to Emmaus curriculum is to put some flesh and bone onto these frameworks, making practical and distinct youth ministry sessions out of them.  If you allow these sessions to guide your ministry over the next four years, then you can rest assured that you have provided your teens with the complete understanding of the faith that God has called you to bring to them.

Each session includes direct correlations to the USCCB Curriculum Framework, Scripture references, Catechism and Church document citations, opening and closing prayers, games and icebreakers, a sample talk, and related media links to music, movies, and websites. 

The sessions are divided into two categories. The first category is ‘catechetical nights’ and the second category is ‘issue nights’. The ‘catechetical nights’ teach specific doctrine while ‘issue nights’ address common cultural issues that teens may face. We have placed the ‘catechetical nights’ in the order that we think makes the most sense for the semester. The ‘issues nights’ are created to be inserted at any point into the curriculum. We attempted to make the curriculum as ‘systematic’ as possible, in that certain information should come before you address the next topic. However, we also understand that each year new students enter the program and learn alongside the teens from previous years. For this reason, the curriculum will cover some foundational topics on an annual basis.