The Archdiocese of Brisbane has a number of learning objects on the Religious Education section of its Web site (no longer available?) - scroll down the page to see them.

The intro reads as follows:

"These learning objects are designed to provide rich, interactive multimedia learning resources and tools that enable students to develop the knowledge, skills and values they need to participate within church and community contexts...

Students are encouraged to analyze and synthesize information, think critically, solve problems and make decisions. Emphasis is on the application and integration of new media while recognizing that students have different needs and learn in many different ways."

The learning objects help young students distinguish between wants and needs; learn the story of Zacchaeus (this one is particularly well made!); learn the names of objects in a church, learn ways to care for creation; explore the consequences of loving and unloving choices; etc.

EWTN has a online daily program featuring contemporary Catholic singers and songwriters. Each program usually gives a sampling of songs from 5-7 artists. This program's Web site provides an archive of 10 shows transmitted in May 2005 as well as a Artist Information section that gives either the url of the artists' web site or the email at which one can contact them. The URL of the Catholic Jukebox is http://www.ewtn.com/radio/jukebox.htm and the Artist Information section can be found at: http://www.ewtn.com/radio/profiles.asp

Art Index for Sunday School Lessons - This Web page give access to a wealth of resources that can be used with younger children: Bulletin board ideas, art ideas, craft ideas, and even recipes - all presented with specific scripture themes in mind. Well done and well worth exploring even though the content is not specifically Catholic and some resources may have to be adapted somewhat.

Interview With Jesus - Flash movie - A series of short (a few minutes each) Flash slide shows with beautiful photography and gentle instrumental music. Included are the following: Interviews with God; The Lord's Prayer; Love Verses (1 Cor 13); The Beatitudes; Psalm 23 and more - 16 meditations/prayers in all.

Bible study online - interactive commentary for serious Bible study including over 1000 sound & picture files. The Amos commentary is the trial prototype for a series of commentaries covering the whole Bible text. Written by established scholars - a new resource for online biblical studies. Includes an extensive Hypertext Bible Dictionary.

Doing As Jesus Commands (no longer available) - Resources on the Sunday Readings
Commentaries on the readings for the Sundays & holy days of the year of Matthew.

This is an excellent resource. In his introduction to the commentaries Bill Fletcher, the owner of this Web site, writes:

Liturgy nurtures awareness of God's power-for-life. In our modern world we are surrounded and dominated by a culture of death. The individualism and materialism of the culture of death, need not dominate our awareness or our actions. Participation in liturgy offers an alternative awareness. Changed awareness can make changes in practice possible. The issue for modern disciples of Jesus is: "How does our awareness change?"

The heading of his home page also gives an idea of the focus of the rich set of resources Bill has put together: "comments, ideas, prayers, analysis, imagery, liturgy resources, reconciliation, theology, justice issues, society & culture, economics, the world, Aotearoa-New Zealand."

‘The wagon wheel shows that the hub is the centre of all energy and movement, even if it often seems not to be moving at all. In God all action and all rest are one.’ --Henri Nouwen, Here and Now (1994).

Book Review: Recovering a Catholic Philosophy of Elementary Education. Curtis L. Hancock, with a foreword by Peter A. Redpath. Pennsylvania: Newman House Press, 2005. 142 pp. Reviewed by Tim Weldon, , Ph.D.

Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems In Musical Adaptations - 22 of Hopkins' poems in contemporary musical adaptations by singer-songwriter Sean O'Leary available on the 2CD album The Alchemist. Songs include God's Grandeur, Pied Beauty, Spring, Felix Randal and the first complete musical setting of The Wreck Of The Deutschland. The first public performance of the songs was in July 2005 at The Gerard Manley Hopkins Society 18th Annual Festival in Monasterevin, Ireland. A demo page offers generous clips of 5 of the songs on the album. Beautifully done! For more resources see our Gerard Manley Hopkins page.

Kevin R. Yurkus has recently written an interesting article called The Other Catholics: A Short Guide to the Eastern Catholic Churches in which he provides a survey of the the 24 churches throughout the world that are in communion with Rome but are not part of the Roman Catholic Church.

Purportedly real answers given by children...

Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.

Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?
A: Keep it in the cow.

Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q: What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A: He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized?
(e.g., abdomen).
A: The body is consisted into three parts - the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five
bowels, A, E, I, O, and U.

Q: What is the fibula?
A: A small lie.

Q: What does 'varicose' mean?
A: Nearby.

Q: Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarean Section'
A: The Caesarean Section is a district in Rome.

Q: What does the word 'benign' mean?
A: Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

Kids' Proverbs

A first grade teacher collected old, well known proverbs. She gave each kid in her class the first half of a proverb, and had them come up with the rest.

As you shall make your bed so shall you... mess it up.
Strike while the... bug is close.
It's always darkest before... daylight savings time.
Never underestimate the power of... termites.
Don't bite the hand that... looks dirty.
No news is... impossible
You can't teach an old dog new... math.
If you lie down with the dogs, you'll... stink in the morning.
Love all, trust... me.
An idle mind is... the best way to relax.
Where there's smoke, there's... pollution.
Happy the bride who... gets all the presents!
A penny saved is... not much.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and... you have to blow your nose.
Children should be seen and not... spanked or grounded.
If at first you don't succeed... get new batteries.
You get out of something what you... see pictured on the box.
There is no fool like... Aunt Eddie.

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A Franciscan and Jesuit were debating which order was the greatest. So, they decided to ask for a sign from God. This is what they received falling down from heaven:

My sons,
Please stop bickering about such trivial matters,
GOD, O.P.

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The Devil and the Pigs
One Sunday, the gospel was all about how the Lord cast out Satan and sent him into a herd of pigs. During the sermon, the priest asked some children, "And what lesson do we learn from this story?"
Little Johnny raised his hand and jumped up. "We learn that Jesus was the first person to make deviled ham."