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: The Holy Spirit and Our Free Response
By Dr. James Pauley
Free “If we can nurture in a [person] the emergence and the victory of spiritual liberty, we have accomplished our task. If not, all is lost and the Christian life will weaken into childishness; it will harden into formalism; and finally it will disappear.” —Jean Mouroux, From Baptism to the Act of Faith In 1986, everything changed in my Catholic life... Read more
The Holy Spirit in God’s Plan of Salvation
By Dr. Alan Schreck
Free Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit, ushered in the final stage of God’s plan of salvation. The great gift that Jesus foretold, the “promise of the Father,” had now been sent, and the Church emerged with a power that would transform individual lives and change human history. [1] Even though the Holy Spirit remains the “hidden protagonist”... Read more
The Holy Spirit and the Deification of the Faithful
By Kevin Clarke
I n Jesus’ Good Shepherd discourse, he describes his and his Father’s shared omnipotence as shepherd over his flock, saying that no one can claim the sheep either in his hand or in the Father’s hand, adding that he and the Father “are one” (Jn 10:30). Many of those around him prepare to stone him to death on the spot because they perceive this... Read more

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