Lisa Mladinich is a bestselling author and Professional Strengths Coach dedicated to two things: 1) helping Catholics live fully into God’s authentic call on their lives; and 2) harnessing their most powerful natural talents to accomplish their dreams. Lisa offers strengths-based coaching programs to individuals, families, leaders, ministries, and teams, via phone and Zoom. She also offers practical and inspirational webinars for catechists on teaching the Faith, and now includes online teaching techniques to help build community during times of social distancing. Lisa podcasts at Homeschooling Saints and has appeared on EWTN, CatholicTV, Sirius XM radio, Sacred Heart Radio, Relevant Radio, and many other Catholic networks. She is the owner of AmazingCatechists.com and speaks widely on holy strengths; authentic beauty and aging; her conversion; Mary as a role model; praying with children; Eucharistic friendships; God-centered and goal-based time management; and teaching the Catholic faith with lessons that stick. Her popular webinars for teen girls on discovering their authentic beauty can be found at Homeschool Connections Online. For more information about strengths coaching, webinars, or media appearances, make an appointment for a free inquiry call, here, or text: 631-760-1551.
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Updates
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Media Appearances
Women of Grace: Grace-Filled Aging: The Beauty and Wisdom of Life's Second Half
Episode 1 of 5
EWTN's Sunday Night Prime with Father Andrew ApostoliNEW: What does it mean to age prayerfully and beautifully? Father Andrew Apostoli and Lisa discuss the increasing beauty of our souls, based on her book, “True Radiance: Finding Grace in the Second Half of Life.”
Lisa Talks About Authentic Beauty on CatholicTV with Father Robert Reed and Jay McFadden
Homeschooling Saints Podcast, hosted by Lisa Mladinich
At Patheos.com, join me as I share catechetical tips and all things Catholic and transformational at my blog, “Water Into Wine.”
My columns for CATECHIST magazine focus on religious education as well as guiding catechists to a deeper understanding of their faith and their ministry. Links to archived columns coming soon!
Publications:
Heads Bowed: Prayers for Catholic School Days
Catechetical thought leader Lisa Mladinich offers nearly 250 original prayers that will resonate with every Catholic teacher, principal, DRE, or catechist who has ever uttered the words, “Class, let’s bow our heads…”
Every teacher, catechist, or homeschooling parent appreciates a new collection of prayers to start the year. This book enables faith formation and prayer in a way that is easy to integrate into a busy class day.
Mladinich provides prayers for the needs of both teachers and students, as well as Scripture verses and suggestions for use. Read these prayers in your classroom, by yourself before the start of the school day, in your religious education class, or in department and faculty meetings.
(Available for preorder from Amazon.com and due out April 1, 2016)
Purchase at AmazonTrue Radiance: Finding Grace in the Second Half of Life
The promise of True Radiance is simple: Prayerful, faith-filled women become more beautiful as they age, not less. As a woman matures spiritually, as she grows in wisdom and holiness, she increasingly reflects a radiant inner beauty that touches others in countless ways. If you’ve ever felt negative about the onset of middle age with its array of physical and psychological challenges, this book can help you redefine your perception of aging. Along the way, you’ll gain a greater understanding of the possibilities for relevance, value, and contribution waiting to be discovered. Positive, personal, and practical advice from fellow traveler Lisa Mladinich will inspire and motivate you to thrive in the second half of life.
Purchase at AmazonBe an Amazing Catechist
Be an Amazing Catechist is a highly effective training program for the Catholic catechist. It is simple, engaging, and useful to catechists at every level of experience using any curriculum. You might not need every idea in this book, but you will find within it valuable tools for making your catechetical ministry more vibrant, more exciting, and more effective.
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Be an Amazing Catechist: Sacramental Preparation
Be An Amazing Catechist: Sacramental Preparation is a guide for teaching the Sacraments, with a special emphasis on Reconciliation, Eucharist, and Confirmation, accurately and vibrantly, so that both the catechist and the children will come to a more complete appreciation for their purpose, beauty, and power to transform lives. Within these pages you will find simple and effective teaching methods that are transferable to any faith formation program or parish school; and tips for getting the most out of your lesson planning, assessments, and classroom discipline.
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Why Book Lisa Mladinich for Your Next Conference or In-Service?
Becoming an amazing catechist is something anyone can do, whether you’ve been teaching for decades or you’re just getting started.
Experience faithful, dynamic workshops that refresh your veteran catechists and embolden your new ones, inspiring them to teach with creativity and passion, and a renewed sense of hope and trust in God.
Learn the principles and teaching techniques that DREs and catechists from around the country are calling, “Amazing!” and “100% effective!”
Speaking Topics:
You Can Be an Amazing Catechist...Here's How!
Based on the belief that we can do amazing things in Christ through faithful sacramental life, prayer, and a spirit of trust, this entertaining, high-energy program of easy, creative teaching methods covers a lot of ground. Included: the spiritual life of the teacher/catechist; making lessons thrilling and memorable; lesson planning techniques; setting the tone; teaching children to pray; circle time; assessing progress; discipline; learning and teaching styles; developmental issues; using art, music, and movement; memorizing scripture; acting out Bible stories; using puppets, and more (depending on time frame). Tons of fun.
O Sacraments Most Holy: Preparing Children to Lead Powerful Sacramental Lives
Sacraments of initiation. Included: the call within a call; sacraments as the bridge between heaven and earth; what are sacramentals and sacramentality?; leading by the example of our own sacramental lives; obstacles to sacramental life; some of the deeper issues in teaching sacraments; lesson planning basics. Reconciliation: inspiring heroism in children; teaching reverence; reconciliation is about love and restoring relationships; overcoming fear of the confessional; the joy of repentance; Bible stories; effective lessons. Holy Communion: Eucharist as source and summit; parish and Eucharistic field trips; the connection between love and food; learning games and techniques; Bible stories.Confirmation: giving teens something worth living –and dying– for; the “armor of God”; breaking the ice with teens; the value of rote learning as a component; a framework for suffering; preparing them to engage on moral and ethical issues (resources); loving the Bible; discerning their purpose/vocation; developing a positive Catholic identity. Curriculum recommendations.
Hi-Tech Catechetics for the Low-Tech Catechist
The New Evangelization call of our recent Holy Fathers and how use of new media mirrors the work of St. Paul and the early church Fathers. Social media, apps, and websites that are most user-friendly to low-tech types (like me) for use at home, for prayer and spiritual growth, in ministry, for teaching and learning in a variety of settings (Catholic homes, schools and/or parishes considered – depending on audience). Also: the dangers of electronic media (predators, bullying, effects of over-use on brain development and mental health), internet sources for faith/curriculum, living our faith in a world of technology (aimed at teachers, students, parents). Highlights many free online resources for project-based teaching, evangelization, ministry, parish communications and outreach. Resources recommended.
Teaching the Faith Using the Liturgical Year
This warm and engaging presentation plumbs the importance of understanding and celebrating established liturgical cycles and rhythms; looks at deepening and better understanding our relationship with God through our relationship with the Church and her traditions. Each liturgical season is briefly examined through its origins and meanings, traditions, themes, and opportunities for lively and effective (age-appropriate) catechetical lessons. Includes use of the principal seasons: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time, as well as sample feast days of the Church (Jesus, Mary, and the saints), daily and Sunday Mass readings, Liturgy of the Hours, and religious art as a jumping off point for prayer and learning (free art resources shared). Encourages catechists to integrate elements of the liturgical year into their existing parish curriculum, as well as creating lessons around a particular liturgical event or theme. Ideas for making abstract concepts come to life and taking these lessons out into the world included. Sample lessons and helpful resources shared as well as created during the long-format session. Discussion and Q&A follows.
The Six Tasks of Catechesis
Dynamic interactive workshop experience begins with brief lecture unpacking the Six Tasks for the purpose of clarifying their origins and importance, as well as practical applications in the classroom (or home). Includes inspirational perspectives on each, and simplifications geared to lowering the intimidation-factor for catechists new to the concepts, as well as discussion and Q&A. Slideshow features many free online resources (i.e. art and photography for use in class; technology and sample projects for engaging children and teens in learning and social engagement, with real-world emphasis). Also: using music, art, creative dramatics, memorization, Bible stories, and more. Sample lesson plans shared and new ones created by attendees in groups in long-session format. Each attendee will leave with a clear sense of the six tasks and the confidence to integrate them organically into their catechetical work.
What Only Parents Can Teach About God: The Role of Parents in Religious Education
This presentation begins by affirming all the good that parents do in teaching their children to recognize error, reflect, and make amends, and how it prepares them for sacramental life. Also invites parents to consider their own search for love and happiness, their own values and treasures of virtue and spirituality, and the critical importance of their personal growth in holiness for the well-being of their children’s souls. Engages the un-churched and poorly catechized adult in considering the most vital realities of their existence and the Church’s role in leading them to their own true purpose in life. Encourages inquiry, study, and prayer. In parish settings, the speaker offers mentoring options for taking baby steps in learning the truths of our faith. Emphasizes the role of Christianity in giving the best possible framework for suffering and for our understanding of the meaning of our lives and relationships. Sacramental life is unpacked and discussed with an emphasis on Reconciliation and faithful reception of the Holy Eucharist. Resources are recommended for further study and for encouraging a culture of faith at home, both online and in print. Anecdotes and inspirational materials shared. (When this presentation is given to catechists, the focus is on parents and caregivers as our mission field, and ways to make contact, since we are the face of the Church to them, even if we only see them at drop-off and pick-up time. Since many parish catechists are both parents and in need of additional formation, this presentation works from both angles.)
Mary, a Role Model for Parents, Teachers, and Catechists
This talk takes as its premise that Mary’s discipleship has been one of “true grit,” rather than a “wimpy” or passive acceptance of God’s will. All major points are based in scripture, the teachings of the Church, the writings of saints and Catholic scholars, but the flavor is down-to-earth, full of humor, and inspiring in its practicality as well as its call to an engaged and virtuous faith. Attendees will learn about Mary in prayer and in relationship to angelic beings, her courageous other-oriented choices, her virtues, and her appreciation and acceptance of faith customs and liturgical celebrations. Insights into our sacramental lives comes through the Wedding Feast at Cana, where Mary instructs us to do “whatever he tells” us. The liturgical year as a treasure map is included.
Testimonials
“You were great!! Widely celebrated!! How am I going to follow that up, next year? Love to have you back!!!”
Deacon Dana Nearmyer, Archdiocesan DRE, Kansas City, KS, “Pillars of Faith” Archdiocesan Conference“Lisa worked with our catechists, last year, and she was fantastic! So when I was planning our annual Communion Breakfast, this year, she was the only speaker I thought of.”
Cathy Weiss, DRE, Holy Family Parish, Hicksville, NY"I asked Lisa to speak at an event several years ago, involving three parishes in Connecticut, and I have invited her to speak at each of my parish assignments since! Her workshop is exactly what I was looking for."
Fr. Richard Gill, Administrator, St. Lawrence O’Toole Catholic Church, Brewster, NY“I helped bring Lisa to Kansas to keynote our archdiocesan event in 2012 and she was a smash hit; so we asked her to fly out again, later in the year, to do catechist in-services at the two largest parishes in our Archdiocese and an event for our deanery leaders. Her work is dynamic, creative, and inspiring, giving catechetical leaders a vision for the heart of the Church’s mission of Evangelization and Catechesis, as well as providing great practical ideas on how to engage students.”
William O’Leary, DRE, Church of the Ascension, Overland Park, KS