The Catechetical Review - Communicating Christ for a New Evangelization

Inspired through Art

For teachers, who understand the power of visual meditation and learning, the Inspired through Art series provides ample opportunities to teach the faith with stunningly beautiful and intriguing images. The series is a type of "cross-curriculum" of art history and catechetics, where pre-teen to adult students learn about the artist, the art form and the lesson of faith presented in the work of art. Every print issue's centerfold has a full-color spread of various art forms from different periods. 

And you'll be surprised at what some of the works of art teach, and at how deeply the artists meditated on the subject they were presenting! What may appear to be irrelevant details, may be very relevant. For example, in the art carousel on the home page, there is an image of the Last Supper (the actual translation from Italian, the Ultimate Supper). Answer to "What does the peacock in the window represent?" is: immortality. Read the article and find out why.

In the past, some teachers have laminated the centerfold in order to present the art in class. Now, more and more people are using computer projection technology to make it easier for students to see and follow along with the lesson. With a subscription to The Catechetical Review, people can also go online to back issues of the magazines they have missed and utilize many different works of art to teach the faith or to use as a backdrop to a time of prayer and meditation, for example at the beginning a class to aid students in putting themselves in the presence of God.

The text articles may be downloaded and reproduced in order to facilitate group studies. Try a sample for free here.

Answer to "Can you guess which saint this is?" on the home page: St. Michael the Archangel, by modern artist Michael O'Brien of Canada.

Articles from the Most Recent Issue

Editor's Reflections: “Freedom For” and “Freedom From”
By Dr. James Pauley
Free What is freedom? Here in America, we sing that ours is “the land of the free.” But, of course, building a free society requires that we put laws in place that actually limit some freedoms. We recognize that these limitations are for the good of our common community. It’s clear in our day-to-day living that human freedom, the ideal for which we... Read more
Evangelization and Personal Freedom
By James Franke
If someone is married, in love, or has ever been in love, they can likely tell you when they knew they were in love and, more importantly, when they knew their significant other was in love with them. It’s also likely that one of the individuals fell in love first. Their heart had been moved and they had “arrived” to love. After having arrived,... Read more
Freedom and Conscience 
By Fr. Jay Mello
Free Jiminy Cricket was no theologian or philosopher, but in the Disney Classic Pinocchio, the talking cricket was assigned to serve as the “conscience” for the puppet who was made a “real boy.” The innocent puppet that is familiar to all of us was instructed to follow his conscience in the pursuit of being a good boy. Unaware of what a conscience is... Read more

Pages

Watch Tutorial Videos

We've put together several quick and easy tutorial videos to show you how to use this website.

Watch Now