Video Overview
In this video, popular Catholic author and speaker Dr. Jo Ann Paradise introduces Awaken: Becoming Disciples of the Word, an adult lectionary resource.
Pflaum Webinars
Pflaum offers webinars for catechists, teachers, catechetical leaders, and parents. To view the current list of webinars, click here.
Leader’s Guide
The Leader’s Guide is a tool provided for use with all Awaken lessons and includes a program overview, suggested pacing plan, lesson walk-through, and correlations.
Leader’s Guide – 2024-25, Sep. 22 – May 11 (English)
Leader’s Guide – 2024-25, Sep. 22 – May 11 (Spanish)
Lesson Planning Calendar
This one-page resource gives catechists and teachers a glimpse of the whole year, including the Gospels for each Sunday.
Digital “Bonus” Lessons
The Pflaum Gospel Weeklies include three lessons that span over two weeks for each level. For Awaken, these three two-week lessons are presented as individual weekly lessons, with one week offered exclusively as a digital lesson, which can be downloaded here for free (make as many copies as you need).
These digital-only lessons cover the weeks of Christmas (12/25/24), the Holy Family (12/29/24), and the Second Sunday of Easter (4/27/25). QR codes leading to these digital lessons will be included in the printed lessons the week prior to their use, and they can also be accessed at gospelweeklies.com/awaken.
Growing Faith
Each Awaken lesson connects the Gospel with the teachings of the Catholic Church. To help users dive deeper into the beliefs of our faith, we offer Growing Faith as a supplemental resource.
Growing Faith is a compilation of the main themes of the Catechism that helps adults understand their faith through the lens of modern life and their own experience. Growing Faith consists of twelve booklets that are divided into four sessions each, which provide a systematic and comprehensive presentation of the Catholic faith. Each Awaken lesson is correlated to the Growing Faith sessions over the three-year Liturgical Cycle.
Weekly Videos
Awaken users: Use these videos as you discuss Sunday’s Gospel. Please preview to select the video appropriate for your group.
Eucharist Resources
The Gospel Weeklies naturally link to the Sunday Mass and the Eucharist. Every lesson also includes a quotation from Scripture, Church teaching, a pope, saint, or other model of faithful living to promote belief in the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion. View our collection of additional Eucharist quotes, reflections, videos, and articles.
Lesson Updates
Here you will find information specific to lessons and Teaching Guides—when new material has been added to the website, corrections or additions to printed material (e.g., the editors forgot to put the answers to a quiz in a Teaching Guide), or even a video showing how to assemble a booklet or craft project. We will list these items by week and lesson level. If you see something we’ve overlooked, email editor@pflaum.com, and we will add it here.
Dr. Jo Ann Paradise is a national speaker and Spiritual Director who comes to us from Pittsburgh, PA. Most Recently Jo Ann was the National Consultant for the Our Sunday Visitor Curriculum Division. In that role, she has presented on catechetical and theological topics both in the United States and Canada. She also worked with the product development team in creating Catholic resources for children and adults. Jo Ann served as a Catechetical Leader in the Diocese of Pittsburgh for over 32 years as well as an elementary and high school teacher. She has given retreats to women and parish staff for over twenty-five years. She is appreciated for her ability to connect God’s Word with our day-to-day lives through storytelling. Jo Ann is currently the author of Awaken: Becoming Disciples of the Word, an adult lectionary resource from Pflaum Publishing.