The Catholic Door online bookstore is offering three scholarships for Catholics entering college in the fall.

It’s time for our regular feature on Catholic colleges that qualify for the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. Here are this year’s men’s qualifiers, ranked by overall seeding in the tournament.

Ask students to say aloud words or phrases that come immediately to them when you say the word “patriotism.” List the words on the board.

Distribute a handout with the following quotations and questions.  Read the first quotation and have the students write their reflections on the questions that follow. Repeat the format for sections 2 and 3.

Finally, ask the students to answer in writing the two “Final Items.” To conclude, ask the students to share their reflections either in small groups or with the whole class.

The annual Catholic Schools Week, sponsored by the National Catholic Educational Association, begins on Monday January 29 and runs until Saturday, Feburary 4. This year's theme is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.”

As a welcome back to class exercise after Christmas vacation, ask the students to create a list of ten Catholic New Years’ Resolutions.

With the World Series near, football in full swing, and basketball and hockey seasons just kicking off, sports certainly is in the forefront.

Use the reference of sports to remind your students to “get in the game” of life, to always do their best, and of the lesson that hard work pays off in whatever life course they chose for themselves.

Sunday, September 18 is the annual celebration of Catechetical Sunday. The theme this year is Prayer: The Faith Prayed. Catechetical Sunday celebrates the baptismal call of all Catholics to pass on the faith while especially recognizing parish catechists, youth ministers, Catholic and public school teachers, and school administrators.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta is to be canonized a saint in the Catholic Church on Monday, September 4, 2016, in Rome.

Several current Olympians on the 2016 United States of America team have publicly witnessed to their Catholic faith while in Rio de Janeiro. Three of the most prominent are gymnast Simon Boles, swimmer Katie Ledecky, and fencer Katharine Holmes.

Pope Francis has raised the liturgical memorial of St. Mary Magdalene, the woman from the Gospels who, according to the pope, "so loved Christ and was so greatly loved by Christ, to a feast day.

It’s not often that a Kentucky Derby champion trainer and his wife make it into an Ave Maria Press high school theology textbook. But that’s the case with Doug O’Neill, trainer of 2016 champion Nyquist (and 2012 Kentucky Derby winner, I’ll Have Another) and his wife Linette Galvan O’Neill.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced the dates for the annual Fornight for Freedom, an occasion to pray, promote, and work for religious liberty. The year, the Fornight for Freedom will be held from June 21--the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More--to July 4, Independence Day.

The Jewish Pasch (Passover) is celebrated this year from April 22-30. You may wish to share this information on the Passover as it compares with the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist. The material is taken from The Old Testament: Our Call to Faith and Justice (Ave Maria Press, 2013).

Several Washington DC groups, including the Archdioceses of Washington and Baltimore and neighboring dioceses, are sponsoring a way for young adults (ages 18-39) to experience the 31st World Youth Day from Kraków, Poland, while remaining right here in the United States.

Here we are again with our tenth annual look at Catholic colleges who have qualified for the NCAA Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments, also known as “March Madness.”

The exercise is an interesting one because many of your students are familiar with filling out brackets for an NCAA pool and you can use the current nature and popularity of the event to teach something about the traditions of the Catholic colleges participating, their founding religious community, a namesake saint, and much more.

Room 24: Adventures of a New Evangelist chronicles the story of a freshman theology teacher at a Catholic high school in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Brimming with good humor and constant hope, the book demonstrates the practical side of evangelization, with all its ups and downs, joys and frustrations.

The child of slaves, Fr. Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) was the first African American priest ordained to serve the Church in the United States.

This exercise gives students an opportunity to research and reflect on contemporary celebrities who identify as Catholic.

The start of a new year or a new semester is a great time for your students to take inventory on their lives, looking back to the past, critiquing their present, and anticipating their future. You might use the following exercise to supplement a lesson in the early part of the semester.

As the semester winds down, share these prayers for student life with your own students. All are taken from Day by Day: The Notre Dame Prayerbook for Students (Ave Maria Press).

As the days and weeks of 2015 near the end, you might consider joining with the city of South Bend, Indiana, the nearby home of Ave Maria Press, on the celebration of the city's 150 year anniversary. Similarly, 2015 is the 150 year anniversary of Ave Maria Press as well.

On Sunday, October 18, Pope Francis canonized Louis Martin and Marie-Azelie Guerin Martin, the parents of St. Thèrése of Lisieux. Here is information about St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azelie Guerin Martin, reprinted from Ten Christians by Bonface Hanley, OFM.

Over the last few decades, there has fortunately arisen a greater awareness of the scourge of bullying within school settings throughout the United States. To be clear, the awareness is the fortunate aspect, while the prevalence is the obviously deleterious one.

The World Meeting of Families will occur from Tuesday, September 22 to Friday, September 25, while the Holy Father’s presence in Philadelphia will be Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27. It is important to recall that the World Meeting of Families is not merely an event to capture the attention of parents with families –after all, it is likewise a chance for even the youth to be drawn to reflect on the importance of the family within society.

Below are various ways that teachers in Catholic high schools, particularly (but not exclusively) theology teachers, can encourage their students to become engaged in the pro-life movement, along with methods of leading students to better learn and understand the vital theological basis by which we celebrate human life in all its multi-faceted stages.

In two motu proprios, that is formal documents, signed by Pope Francis on Tuesday, September 08, 2015, the pope has expedited the process for Catholics to get annulments from their marriages in the Church.

This post contains resources about Blessed Junipero Serra, the Spanish Franciscan missionary who evangelized Indians and established twenty-one missions in California. Serra will be canonized by Pope Francis on his trip to the United States later this month. 

Pope Francis has invited all of us to join in the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on Tuesday, Septmber 1.

Independence Day, July 4, marks the end of the 2015 commemoration and remembrance of religious freedom in the United States along with current threats to religious freedom.

In anticipation of the June 18 release of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si ("Be Praised" or "Praised Be") which focuses on environmental issues, please note information on several ways Catholic Relief Services is reaching out to address climate change issues around the world.

During the upcoming break in the academic year, plan to use part of the time to refresh yourself in the life-giving words and teachings of Christ!

Ave Maria Press offers an excellent resource to help your students learn more about the life of Óscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, who was beatified on May 23.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the watershed Vatican II declaration on religious freedom Dignitatis Humanae: On the Right of the Person and of Communities to Social and Civil Freedom in Matters Religious, promulgated by Blessed Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965. Within these last fifty years, there has been some notable progress, yet likewise significant setbacks, in terms of religious liberty both in the United States and throughout the world.

As Holy Week approaches for 2015, the Passion of Christ is more present in our midst than ever. Around the world, Christians have been martyred in recent months, weeks, and days. Share several articles that detail news coverage of the events, prayers offered on the martyrs' behalf, and prayers for all persecuted Christians.

There are quite a few question marks about Catholicism and Christianity in China today. Have your students research the answers to these questions

Pope Francis announced today that he will canonize Bl. Junipero Serra (1713-1784), the Franciscan priest who carried on extensive missionary work in California in the eighteenth century. This post contains some methods to help your student learn about the life and work of thie soon-to-be saint.

Pope Francis announced his intention to create twenty new cardinals at the upcoming consistory (an assembly of cardinals called together by the pope) on February 14, 2015.

Christians in the Middle East and North Africa are facing a crisis. Forced to leave their ancestral homes and abandon their churches or face death, the situation is truly harrowing.

With issues around the First Amendment to the United States Constitution swirling in the news, including around the recent Supreme Court Decision in the Hobby Lobby case, and worldwide in the brutal persecution and decimation of Christians in the Middle East, please note the following articles and resources.

With summer here, teens run the risk of many dangerous situations including the possibility they will drive or be in a car with someone who is impaired by alcohol. Use the occasion of summer to share with them the very meaningul poem below.

The following is an exerpt from Ready for College: Everything You Need to Know by Michael Pennock. Share the information with your graduating seniors (and juniors too as a preview). You may wish to adapt the presentation to fit with particular colleges in your area and others your students have applied to and been accepted at.

Pope Francis historic visit to the Holy Land is over. The Catholic bishops of the region have prepared and maintained a webpage with images, articles, and video of the trip. Included in this detailed reference is an article of other papal visists to the Holy Land.

Interested in teaching your students about Pope John Paul II? As part of the celebration of the canonizations of the pope, Ave Maria Press is offering St. John Paul II: A Five-Day Mini Unit, a supplementary resource designed to celebrate the life of Karol Wotyla, the beloved pope whose nearly twenty-seven year papacy that transitioned the world from the twentieth to twenty-first century.

Here are the rankings of Catholic colleges in this year's tournament based on their tournament seedings.

Teaching about Marriage can be a challenge sometimes because you want to give the students an understanding of the Sacrament while not offending those whose loved ones are divorced, live together, or are remarried outside of the Church. How can you teach the students why it is important to prepare for strong marriages without seeming to condemn students’ families?

As you settle back into a new semester, don't let Christmas go without sharing and reflecting on the Christmas message of Pope Francis.

Some time within the next week, Pope Francis is expected to announce the canonization of one of his favorite Jesuits, Blessed Peter Faber. In anticipation of the event, share some information on the life of Peter Faber. Have your students monitor the news stories from the Vatican on what might take place around this issue.

November 22 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the first and only Roman Catholic President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. This might be a good time to remind your students of the prejudice faced by Kennedy when he ran for President in 1960. Kennedy had to directly confront anti-Catholic sentiment during the campaign.

The Vatican has announced the canonization dates for Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II: Sunday April, 27, 2014, the Sunday after Easter. This date is also the worldwide celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast instituted by Pope John Paul II. This post contains brief biographies of these two extraordinary men.

The unfortunate civil war in Syria provides an opportunity for students, as Catholics, to research and evaluate the arguments they hear about the United States making air strikes against the country. Their thoughtful reflection may lead them to contact their senators or representatives in the US Congress.

World Youth Day 2013 has finished but it's not too soon to prepare teens to begin planning a pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland.

In coming together last week to dedicate a beautiful new statue to honor St. Michael the Archangel. Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI remind the Church of the importance of angels as those who aid our journey to God's Kingdom. Have your students reflect on St. Michael, the defender of the Church, with these prayers and readings.

O God our Creator,

from your provident hand we have received

our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois recently gave a presentation on the Catholic Church's teaching on the hot-button topic of marriage and same-sex relationships.

Even in the wake of a terrible tragedy and in the face of panic, we did not crumble. Rather, people stood up and helped their neighbors selflessly, offering their time, prayers, and treasures to help rebuild. This prayer reflects on what it means to truly act as Jesus would, even in the grip of fear.

The Pew Forum of Religion& Public Life has released a new report about Asian-Americans and their religious affiliations and practices. In addition to helping you understand the religious composition of your own local or school community, you may find the information useful for student research or class activities, especially in a World Religions course.

Grant unto them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let the perpetual light shine upon them;
May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God,
rest in peace.

Amen.

Odds are good that your high school students have already seen the Kony 2012 video. It went viral in the first week of March being viewed roughly 80 million times in only five days. In fact it is now considered to be the most viral video in history defeating the likes of Susan Boyle, Lada Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Miley Cyrus.

Halloween, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day are often linked together as would make sense since they fall on consecutive days.

The month of October is Respect Life Month. When we hear "respect life," most of us immediately think of the pro-life movement to end abortion. This is a key cause to support during October (and all year round!). But Respect Life Month is also meant to remind us of the issues of capital punishment, euthanasia, contraception, and respect for those with disabilities. September 28 begins the 40 Days for Life campaign that coincides with Respect Life month and ends on November 6.

Sr. Cheryl Milner, SNJM, and Dennis B. Ryan of Bellarmine-Jefferson High School in Burbank, California, have spent the past few years asking some of the "most renowned and influential thinkers and doers in the English-speaking world" to write letters of advise and counsel to the school's graduating classes. In 2010 they assembled these letters to form an excellent book Wisdom from Giants: Contemporary Legends Give Students Advice. The letters are wonderful and difficult to summarize in limited space. Two of the best are from Los Angeles-area sports' legends: UCLA basketball coach John Wooden (who passed away in 2010) and Dodger baseball announcer Vin Scully, now in his sixty-second year with the team. Here is what they wrote:

Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay issued a decree that authenticated the nineteenth-century apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a young woman, Adele Brise, in the farmlands near Champion, Wisconsin.

On Sunday September 19, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, Catholic convert and exceptional apologist.

The issue of immigration, especially due to the recent Arizona immigration law, is complex, as this case study reveals.

Below are some suggestions for teaching about the new Health Care Law in the context of Catholic Social Teaching.

Enjoy the time of March Madness with your students but also allow some opportunities to talk about the benefits of attending a Catholic college as well as some of the interesting facts and stories surrounding higher Catholic education in the United States and the religious communities that have founded these schools.

The Church celebrates the lives of two founders of religious communities who have been dedicated to educating boys and girls in Catholic high schools that flourish to this day.

News coverage of the March for Life rally in Washington DC.

"Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Listed below are some opportunities for you and your students to get involved in the relief efforts in Haiti.

Some photos and updates from NCYC.

Along with Pope Benedict XVI, commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the first World Day of Prayer and Action for Children with your class by praying with your class on behalf of suffering children worldwide.

You may wish to share some words of encouragement for the new school year from Lou Holtz, coach of the 1988 National Champion Fighting Irish from his book A Teen's Game Plan for Life

The logo for World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, Spain was unveiled last week.

The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator in the first place, amongst whom are the Muslims.

Pray with your students for their commitment to live healthy and safe lives during these next few months and in the years ahead.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has for many years operated an Office for Film and Broadcasting that serves “to provide the public with a Catholic evaluation of both entertainment features and documentaries from a moral and artistic perspective.”

Here's an annual breakdown of the NCAA men's basketball tournament with a focus on Catholic colleges that have been selected.

Help your students to understand this issue and the Church's position on the side of life.

The Vatican announced this weekend that Blessed Damien De Veuster, a priest of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, who had ministered with lepers in Hawaii in the nineteenth century and later died of the disease, would be canonized a saint on October 11, 2009.

Pope Benedict XVI said that new technologies have an "extraordinary potential" to bring people together and that they can help people share the search for goodness, beauty, and truth.

Today, on the 36th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States, take some time to pray with your students for the rights of the unborn, a change of laws, and a change of heart.

In small groups have the students role-play peaceful resolutions to situations that are often marked by racial tensions.

Today's Facebook generation is getting a little taste of what Purgatory and Heaven are like all wrapped into one.

Agnes Kam Leng Lam, a Chinese laywoman and President of the Catholic Biblical Association of Hong Kong, made the interesting suggestion that the Pope begin his own blog.

Mission Sunday, October 19, is the date of the beatification of the mother and father of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, one of the most popular saints of modern times.

A tradition that goes back to 13th-century Europe, Red Masses are celebrated in order to ask for the blessing of the Holy Spirit on those who administer justice, especially lawyers, judges, and lawmakers.

Pope Benedict XVI began a "marathon of Bible reading" on live Italian television on Sunday, October 5, while encouraging people world-wide—Catholics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all others—to spend some time with this sacred book.

This years only three private high schools achieved Blue Ribbon status; two of them or Catholic high schools: St. Viator of Arlington Heights, Illinois and Aquinas High School of La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Grassroots Films, an independent company, from Brooklyn, New York has released a powerful, thought-provoking film reminding and encouraging Catholics of the power to inform their conscience and to vote their conscience.

In light of the recent announcement that the United States Catholic Bishops will take up the issue of politics and abortion at the meeting of the full body of bishops in November, take some time to visit the Faithful Citizenship site sponsored by the USCCB.

As you begin a new semester, the Church is celebrating a special jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul.

The twenty-third World Youth Day begins tomorrow in Sydney, Australia.

A study tracking and comparing high school students who reveived special financial aid to attend Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles netted overwhelming and positive results.

Pope Benedict XVI addressed Catholic educators on Thursday, April 17, at Catholic University in Washington D.C.

There are good reasons for teaching adolescents about sexual abuse.

Why is the pope’s visit such big news?

Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate his 81st birthday next week, on April 16, when he visits the United States.

With the opening of another baseball season, consider ways the some of the folks that make up a Catholic school compare with those associated with a Major League baseball team.

Here's a re-do of a post we published last year during the all-encompassing NCAA Basketball tournament.

February 12 marks the 199th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States.

Pause and read the story of one Catholic High School Student from Cretin-Derham Hall High School in Minneapolis.

Today, prejudice against Catholics has been called “the last tolerated form of prejudice.”

Jesus understood the pain of racism. He preached and gathered to himself the outcasts of society.

With presidential politics and primaries in full swing and the feast day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American born saint recently celebrated, consider the following lesson icebreaker on the theme of the Catholic Church in America.

The end of Christmas also celebrates the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry with his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.

The current HBO special has brought nationwide attention to the unique ministry of Justin Fatica.

More information on the November 14 unanimous vote of approval of a national curriculum framework was reported in a recent article in My Catholic Standard, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.

Some Practical Ways to Counter Consumerism.

Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi (“Saved by Hope") says, "the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known—it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing."

Some reader responses on the greatest challenges that Catholic theology teachers face.

The Catholic High School Honor Roll, an independent project of the Acton Institute, an international research and educational organization, recently announced its best 50 secondary schools.

A preface from a final draft of the National Curriculum Framework for high school religion envisioned "a Christ-centered catechetical initiative that is intended to have the student encounter the living Lord as he is found in the Church, in the Word of God and in the sacramental life of the Church, most particularly, the Eucharist."

The new National Curriculum Framework has a strong Christological focus and roots each course in the life of Christ and the saving actions of the Paschal Mystery.

Young people are terrified by the social ostracism that could come with being identified as a “snitch” or a “tattle tale.”

Over the summer, the Associated Press and MTV released findings of an in-depth study of young people and happiness.

Mother Theresa's spiritual struggles may raise some difficult but worthwhile questions to discuss with your students.

No one, not even in the secular media, can ever doubt Mother Teresa’s service to the “least brothers and sisters” of this world. She spent a majority of her life caring for the “poorest of the poor.” She spoke many times of the importance of love and family, of accepting the gift of life, and of learning many lessons from the poor.

An item in this month’s issue of St. Anthony Messenger reports that, according to a survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research (CARA), only a quarter of American Catholics have read their diocesan newspaper at least once in the past six months! And almost a quarter reported that they had read one or more national Catholic publications during that time.

As Holy Week approaches you may be considering showing or assigning some of Mel Gibson’sThe Passion of the Christ. The movie initially sparked charges of anti-Semitism against Gibson and the producers. A suggestion as part of any viewing of The Passion of the Christ is to address the larger issue of anti-Semitism. The USCCB collection of documents on “The Bible, The Jews, and The Death of Jesus” offers an overview of the issue.

Once again the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is upon us.

In times like those you can feel some tangible glimpse of that everlasting kingdom we all long to be a part of and experience while we journey along on Planet Earth.