Links to useful R.E. websites with data projector / I.T. resources:Technology at the service of R.E. 

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Some recommended Catholic Websites

https://www.catholicblogs.com/ The largest Catholic blog website on the Internet and one of the easiest to use and to search. Search for articles from thousands of Catholic blogs, or browse the directory of Catholic blogs and RSS/Atom feeds. Hundreds of articles added daily to this website.

https://www.godtube.com/ God Tube is a free video sharing website much like the infamous YouTube but which specialises in Christian-themed videos. The website has a huge selection of themes, from Christian music videos to fascinating insights on how the liturgy is celebrated in other countries and cultures.

https://www.mycatholic.com/ Personalize your content, layout, and preferences. Choose from daily Mass readings, reflections, news, links, tools and more.

https://www.catholicroom.com/ Catholic news, inspirational stories, articles and links presented by topics.

https://www.catholiccontent.com/ This website offers free content to Catholic blogs and other (non-profit) Catholic websites. By simply adding a few lines to your HTML code, you can easily provide Mass readings, reflections, and more to your readers.

https://www.indcatholicnews.com/ London-based daily Catholic news service.

https://www.catholictv.org/ For more than fifty years, Catholic TV has been providing programming for the Catholic community in Boston and beyond.

https://catholiccatechist.org/ Online curriculum support for catechists with discussion group, Catholic links etc. Some content requires subscription.

https://www.catholicparents.org/ Resources for parents who wish to educate their children (both home schooling and as a follow up to what their schools teach).

https://www.catholic.org/prayers/ An excellent resource website including information on saints and Catholic news. The link above is the prayer resource section on the website, including a good resource on the Stations of the Cross.

https://www.mycatholicvoice.com/ This is a beta site but contains lots of videos (many linked to YouTube) that may be used in a classroom setting. Information on prayer and youth groups is very good and there is a service where you can upload your own video masterpiece to share with other groups!

https://www.cathnews.com/default.aspx Australian website concerning Catholic resources. The pages under “Religion” are helpful as they provide comment and news on the different topics, e.g. Islam and Inter-faith dialogue

https://catholic-resources.org/ Does as it says on the tin!

General Websites for Religious Education

https://www.reonline.org.uk/ English website-Good resource pages

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/?Subject=25 Religious Studies section of this website provides links to larger websites (such as the British Museum). You can search by age group.

https://www.biblical-art.com/ Huge resource for biblical paintings and biblical art in general.

https://research.yale.edu:8084/divdl/eikon/index.jsp The EIKON Image Database for Biblical Studies is a faculty-library initiative at Yale Divinity School that provides digital resources for teaching and research in the field of Biblical studies.

https://www.ntgateway.com/images.htm NTGateway is generally viewed as the New Testament website. Good section on films that can be used in class.

https://saintjohnsbible.org/see/images.htm The St John’s Bible is the modern day equivalent of the Book of Kells-lovely pictures!

https://www.thebricktestament.com/ The one with the lego men. Check for age appropriate content.

https://www.godweb.org/atlasindex.htm Links to bible maps which make for useful visual aids.

https://biblemap.org/whyBeta.html This site uses Google Maps in connection with the full text of the Bible to allow site visitors to make a customized map of every place name found in the Bible, both ancient and modern.

https://thebackpew.com/backpew/bible_indexed.htm Funny cartoons on various bible passages.

https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/ The London Times website on various faith centered topics. Superb articles and lots of up to date information.

https://www.searchgodsword.org/se/pbm/ PowerPoint slides (maps etc)

https://bibledudes.com/biblical-studies/ Vernacular descriptions of terms associated with Biblical Studies. Good fun!

www.bustedhalo.com Excellent online magazine. Worth a look if you’re stuck for ideas or for keeping up with current trends in religion and spirituality. Beware of the quiz (link at the bottom of the page) – you will get addicted.

https://www.worldprayers.org/ A random prayer generator that is a lot more sophisticated than it sounds!

https://www.pray-as-you-go.org/ Daily prayers that you can download as MP3s. Very useful for playing via a laptop in the classroom.

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/ The online journal of British Jesuits.

https://www.theway.org.uk/ The Way is an international journal of contemporary Christian spirituality, published by the British Jesuits.

https://www.silk.net/RelEd/ Website of links to resources.

https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc/index.htm The online Catechism. https://youth.tearfund.org/ Christian youth website (VERY enthusiastic, possibly a little too much for cynical teenagers) subsite is https://www.bepartofamiracle.org.uk/ which focuses on social justice

https://bible.oremus.org/ Online, searchable text of the NRSV Bible. What did we do before cut and paste!

www.christianbook.com A favourite website for buying “hard copy” resources. Though it is based in the US the shipping is quite reasonable and they offer good discounts on bulk buys.

https://www.oprah.com/subtopic/spirit/inspiration Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it! The link to “breathing space” provides some beautiful photos which may aid reflection and the section on “Pay it forward” deals with helping others.

Professional

https://www.ncca.ie/ Website of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

https://www.ceist.ie/ Website of the trustee body for the voluntary secondary schools of the Daughters of Charity, the Presentation Sisters, the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, the Sisters of Mercy and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The newsletter of this website is especially useful and well designed.

https://www.catholiceducation-ni.com/ Resources for Catholic Schools in Northern Ireland. A more up-to-date version of https://www.catechetics.ie/

https://www.aarweb.org/ The American Academy of Religion. The religion in schools link under “Public Affairs” is worth a look for a different perspective.

https://www.sces.uk.com/ Access to information, advice and opinion on Catholic education and Catholic schools in Scotland. The links for articles under “Article Folders” provides some useful articles as well as links to papal statements on various issues pertinent to education.

https://education.crs.org/prayer_services.cfm Website run by the Catholic Relief Services. Lots of resources for prayer services. Excellent links page.

https://www.appleseeds.org/religfav.htm Franciscan run “link site” that is well updated. Currently displaying some good links for Advent

Some Irish Websites

www.catholicbishops.ie Revised and updated!

www.scriptureireland.ie Underdevelopment (to be relaunched in February 2009) but worth a look for biblical and liturgical resources.

www.catholicireland.net The largest Catholic website based in Ireland. Most Irish websites with a Catholic slant are subsites of this website so it makes a good starting point on a search for resources. Content is varied however so navigation away from the main page should be undertaken with reserve. The Requiem subsite is particularly out of date and prone to crashing. The “Talk to God” link above this is very good for personal prayer for students. Note that the site contains a link to the pdf document of the Liturgical calendar for the year (on the right hand side of the page)

https://www.micah.ie/ The Micah Community is a parish-based ministry for young adults offering opportunities for faith formation, friendship, and social outreach. Inspired by the words of the prophet Micah, our international community strives to “act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with our God.” (Micah 6:8)

https://www.sacredspace.ie/ A huge and valuable resource site on prayer and reflection. Can easily be used in the classroom on PowerPoint, a handout, or in assigning roles to prayer leaders. Continuously updated and good on seasonal resources.

https://parishrenewal.dublindiocese.ie/prayer_resources.htm Prayer resources for groups.

www.kandle.ie The website for the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin. Apparently a work in progress but already an excellent resource site. Education is under “Special Resources”.

Other Resources on the Internet

Many of the larger Museums and Libraries have lots of resources that you can use in discussions of religious themes.

Google Earth is invaluable for locating the “weird and wonderful” place names in the Bible and world religions.

Look for the websites of various magazines and journals designed for teachers and chaplains. Many often have “free samples” and articles and resources you can download.

www.vatican.va is technical but having a snoop in the “secret archives” (Almost disappointingly linked from the home page!) is good fun-the site offers a virtual tour!

https://www.dfes.gov.uk/scheme QCA schemes of work . https://www.ncaction.org.uk National Curriculum in Action has exemplar pupils’ work linked to levels https://www.channel4.com/hajj Hajj, The Greatest Trip on Earth. Supplementary materials to television programme screened by Channel Four https://www.dharmathecat.com Buddhist philosophy via cartoons

https://www.islam.org

https://www.hindu.org

https://www.sikhs.org

https://www.agnostic.org

https://www.theresite.org.uk Information on all key stages and integration of ICT into RE lessons

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet

https://www.thinkquest.org/library Based around ideas of evolutionary biologist Prof. Richard Dawkins, a non-believer, it offers ideas about how creation could have occurred without a supreme being.

ICT Exercises for KS3 R.E.: Cut, paste and surf for RE by Gwyneth Windsor pub. By Nelson Thornes (0748770518) ICT Activities for R.E. version 1.1 resources pack pub. By Heinemann (0435108263) Using ICT in R.E. by Paul Hopkins pub. Nelson Thornes (0-7487-4341-3)

https://ks4.reonline.org.uk/ https://www.gcsere.org.uk/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/world_religions/ https://www.request.org.uk/main/dowhat/dowhat.htm https://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/re/

God is Love: the first encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI. See the pope’s own commentary on the encyclical.

Pope Benedict’s address at the University of Regensburg from September 12, 2006

The Pope Benedict XVI fan club, formerly the Cardinal Ratzinger fan club

What kind of Catholic are you?: answer 23 questions and find out!

Sisters of the Holy Cross: the website of the sponsoring congregation of Saint Mary’s College

Catholic Resources on the Web: information about Catholic teaching and links to other Catholic web sites and home pages

Web Links: great collection of Catholic links on liturgy, saints, religious orders, Catholic media and organizations, etc.

The Theology Library: a site with over 8000 links–extensive information on the Catholic Church, Church history and worship, sacraments; saints (a list of patron saints with information on individual saints); Mary and Marian apparitions, links to justice and peace sites and to many ethical issues; descriptions of non-Catholic Christian denominations (including the First Church of Cyberspace, which offers online worship every Sunday evening at 9:00 PM E.S.T.), non-Christian religions, and other religions and belief systems; directories of Catholic resources on the internet; links to a broad spectrum of Catholic views; a glossary of religious terms (under the “Religion” subheading). See also links to the religions of the world by Prof. Ehud Ben Zvi of the University of Alberta and the religions of the world from an online text and course by Dr. Philip A. Pecorino.

Catholic Goldmine: an idiosyncratic, but fairly comprehensive collection

Frequently asked questions about the Catholic Church: contains a nice Q & A format on major areas of Catholic belief and practice

The Catholic Internet Directory: a site featuring the top 40 most visited Catholic sites on the internet, Catholic diocesan web sites and e-mail directories, Catholic publications, Catholic organizations on the web, Christian service volunteer organizations, Catholic internet directories, religious orders, and catholic high schools and colleges on the web.

Catholic Online: major gateway to Catholic resources on the internet. This site also features news and current events relating to Catholicism.

Catholic-USA.com: This site has links to the Vatican, National Council of Catholic bishops, online dioceses and parishes, all Catholic colleges in the United States and many high schools and grade schools, male and female religious orders, Catholic news agencies and organizations.

Chester’s Catholic Index: an extensive (and eclectic) list of Catholic links, arranged alphabetically

Catholic Teaching and the Iraqi War: another collection of links to Catholic teachings about war, statements from Church leaders about the Iraqi war, and so on

Resources for Catholic Educators: over 2300 links in an alphabetic listing of topics geared towards catechists.

Ex Corde Ecclesiae: “From the Heart of the Church”–Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution on Catholic colleges and universities. The U.S. Catholic Bishops then wrote Ex Corde Ecclesiae: An Application to the United States.

The Church and the Internet: A 2002 document from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications which assesses the positive and negative contributions of the internet for both Church and world. A companion document entitled Ethics in Internet analyzes the ethical implications of this new form of communication.

The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend: see also its Office of Catechesis, which includes a catalogue of its video library.

Catholic Freebies: absolutely free Catholic stuff you can get over the web

Resources on other religions from the Pluralism Project of Harvard University

The Multifaith Library: resources for teachers, educational institutions, and chaplains

Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology: a great collection of resources for teaching and learning in theology and religion. See also the Wabash Center Internet Guide, which features a wide variety of course areas, including a very good section on Roman Catholicism; bibliographies, electronic journals, syllabi, a guide to internet resources in religion, official websites of religious bodies, a reference section, and suggestions for incorporating electronic media into the teaching of religion. There’s also a listing of the compiler’s top sites.

The American Academy of Religion: the major learned society and professional association for scholars whose object of study is religion

Academic Info: Christianity: meta-indexes and general directories, reference resources, online texts and archives, Christian thinkers and theologians, and a lot more.

Other Catholic Resources on the Net: billed as the largest index of Catholic sites on the web, this site features information on art & architecture, the Bible, online Catholic books and periodicals, Church teachings, reference resources, saints, college student organizations around the country, and traditional sites featuring Latin prayers and the Latin mass

Common Catholic prayers in Latin

Traditional Catholic Reflections and Reports: News, opinion and information with an emphasis on spirituality and social justice

Catholic Answers: questions and discussion about official Church teachings regarding such topics as God, creation, revelation, sin, salvation, eschatology, the Church, saints, sacraments, and morality

The Vatican Home Page: information about the pope, along with on-line versions of his major writings; and a wealth of other background about the Vatican, including the Roman Curia, the Vatican News Service, the Vatican Museums, and the Vatican Archives.

Vatican Radio: news of the Holy See and real-audio hook-up in English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, and Swedish

The Sistine Chapel: an extended visual tour

The “Unofficial” Pope John Paul II Web Site: information about the pope, major writings, the doctrine of papal infallibility, links to other Catholic WWW sites

The cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: a rich source with biographical information on all cardinals since 1900, documents on the origin and evolution of the Roman cardinalate, a photo gallery, and other links

The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church: current and historical information about bishops, cardinals, popes

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference Home Page: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) are organizations of the American Catholic hierarchy. This site contains the departments of the NCCB/USCC and recent events and publications from the U.S. Catholic Bishops.

Information on the institution of the Church: a complete list of popes, with information on each one; basic Catholic teaching on the papacy; a complete list of all the world’s cardinals, with links to those with their own home pages; home pages to Catholic religious orders and dioceses in the United States

The Complete List of Popes with their dates and a brief biography, and links to many of their important writings

Selected Papal Encyclicals and Pronouncements: organized by pope and by subject

Pius XII and the Holocaust: a good collection of links and articles about the continuing controversy of the pope’s actions during the Second World War

Church documents by subject: an alphabetical list of Latin titles along with the subject of the statement, and usually its author and date

The on-line version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Documents of Vatican II: The Second Vatican Council (or Vatican II) was a series of meetings between the pope (first, John XXIII, and then Paul VI) and the world’s Catholic bishops held from 1962-1965 in Rome which sought to re-evaluate or reappraise all aspects of the Catholic faith as they related to the modern world.

The Code of Canon Law: the juridical law of the Roman Catholic Church, canon law is the body of regulations made by Catholic ecclesiastical authority for the government of the Church and its members

Ask-a-priest: e-mail your questions about the faith

The Roman Catholic Liturgical Calendar: includes mass readings for every day of the year through 2031!

Mass times and places: This site lists Mass times for more than 80% of U.S. churches and provides a map option to view a local street map to find a church’s location.

Catholic Worship: a site devoted to the Catholic liturgy, with information on rites, prayers, sacraments, and music

The Mary Page: features numerous links to most aspects of Marian devotion and theology, including the Medjugorje page

The Saints Page: offers brief biographies of individual saints, frequently asked questions about saints, a calendar of feast days, and a list of patron saints

The Busy Christian’s Guide to Catholic Social Teaching: an online timeline with helpful summaries of all of the Church’s major social teachings from Rerum Novarum in 1891 to Centesimus Annus in 1991

The Catholic Democracy Project: an organization dedicated to educating Catholics about the fullness of Catholic Social Teaching. Their Catholic Media Report features news relating to social justice issues and a variety of links to particular topics.

ZENIT: an international news agency whose mission is to provide objective coverage of events, documents and issues emanating from or concerning the Catholic Church

Voice of the Faithful: a lay-led, lay-initiated group founded in 2002 in response to the sexual abuse crisis, its motto is “Keep the Faith, Change the Church.”

Restore Trust: Response to Clergy Sexual Abuse: a comprehensive site from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops featuring history and documents relating to the sexual abuse crisis

Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People: the 2003 report on the compliance of the dioceses in the United States with the charter developed by the U.S. bishops at their 2002 meeting in Dallas. See also the reports by the National Review Board, and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The former contains a national tally of the victims and abusers. The latter addresses the causes of the crisis. The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend was one of eight dioceses in the country to receive a special commendation for their compliance.

The Radical Catholic Page: Catholic views from the left on liberation theology; “The Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Catholic Handbook” (discussions of homosexuality in the Bible and in the Catholic theological tradition–on this, see also Hope College Libraries Perspectives on Sexual Orientation and the excellent Homosexuality and Catholicism: A Partially Annotated Bibliography); women priests; the death penalty; and links to other radical Catholic sources. This site also features extensive links to social justice issues.

The Catholic Worker Homepage: not an online version of The Catholic Worker, but rather an ‘unofficial’ collection of links to issues relating to this periodical and its heritage; links to Catholic Worker houses around the world, links to writings by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, and other WWW resources for Catholic workers

The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church: a group seeking to promote justice in the Church and an egalitarian understanding of what it means to be the People of God. This site also contains numerous links to sites relating to justice in the Church.

SisterSite: a clearinghouse for information on women’s religious congregations, the history of religious life, and the contemporary concerns of women in Church and society. This site also features extensive links to women’s theology and spirituality.

Center for the Study of Latino/Catholicism: Sponsored by the University of San Diego, this mission of this center is “To research and reflect theologically on Latino/Catholicism and its impact on the overall U.S. (western) Catholic Church, and to do so in a systematic, ecumenical, multiperspectival, interdisciplinary, intercultural and critical manner.”

Religious Resources on the Net: a lengthy list of resources from Rhodes College

Pastor’s Pointers: an enormous collection of links to denominations and ecumenical programs, music ministry resources, online seminaries and divinity schools, religious resource websites, starting points for web searches, and other interesting websites for social action.

Websites relating to the millennium with particular attention to religious groups

Fidens Quarens Internetum: information and online works by notable theologians–Augustine, Aquinas, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Luther, Wesley, Buber, C.S. Lewis, and others

From Jesus to Christ: website from the PBS series about the first Christians. It features extensive background on the life, death, and influence of Jesus Christ, and excellent links to related issues.

Christian Classics Ethereal Library: extensive links to non-fiction, fiction, and reference sources with authors arranged alphabetically. This site also contains a link to Early Church Fathers, the most important writings from the first 800 years of the Church.

Selected Sayings of the Saints and Fathers: arranged alphabetically

Oxford University’s Internet Resources for the Study and Teaching of Theology: general guides, biblical studies, history of theology, contemporary theology, pastoral studies, religions and denominations, print and electronic publishers, institutions, departments and (digital) libraries

Theology bibliographies: a truly extensive collection of resources on a wide range of theological and biblical topics

Finding God in Cyberspace: a guide to religious studies resources on the web. This site offers a selective list of general and specialized internet resources for religious studies faculty and students. It links to print resources, people resources, digital resources (e-texts and journals), sub-disciplines of religious studies and theology, religious traditions; and also has an interesting set of links on the topic of the effect of cyberspace on the theory and practice of religion.

Programs for the Study of Religion Worldwide: a site from the University of California at Santa Barbara offering the most comprehensive index presently available of programs devoted to the study of religion that also have sites on the World Wide Web

Beliefnet.com: a site exploring religion, spirituality, and morality, with a good bit of information on other religions as well featuring online versions of different faiths’ sacred texts, some interactive quizzes, and information about various forms of spirituality. See also sacred texts of the world’s religions.

The Universal Life Church: a group which will even ordain you online. You can also become an ordained member of the Spiritual Humanist clergy.

The Librarian’s Index to Religion: an incredibly rich site with subheadings on Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Eastern religions.

Links to religion resources: information on the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, as well as Eastern traditions

Shamash: The Jewish Network, which “strives to be the highest quality central point of Jewish information and discussion on the Internet”

Al-Islam.org: a comprehensive site about Islam, “maintained by a dedicated group of individuals who are trying to present a balanced and accurate picture of Islam.” It features information about Islamic history, beliefs and audio and video files of Islamic practice. This is, however, Islam from a Shiite point of view. For a different (Sunni) perspective on Islam, see IslamiCity.

Adherents.com: gives statistics on membership in different religious groups. A statistics-rich site.

Summaries of World Religions: helpful introductions in just about a paragraph in length

Guide to Resources in Theology: Anglican resources, Catholic resources, Evangelical and Ecumenical resources, Orthodox resources, Protestant resources, along with links to various sacred texts and manuscripts

Sacred and Religious Texts: excellent resource with links to sacred texts from many world religions

Virtual Jerusalem: a site with information on Jewish holidays, customs, beliefs, and also gives you the chance to send a prayer to the Western Wall of the Temple International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology

American Religion Data Archive: archive that stores and distributes data sets from the leading studies on American religion. Many poll and survey results.

Homework Central’s Religion Resources: explanations of various faiths and theologies; along with reference sources, religions by location, interreligious studies, and religion research tools

Religion Depot: discussion forums, artwork, quotations from and information on Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism. There’s also a good section on the meaning of life.

The American Religion Links Resource Page: links to some of the web’s most useful and interesting American Religious History sites

Online dictionary from Beliefnet.com: a great comprehensive resource

Glossary of Religious Terms

Glossary of Theological Terms

Glossary for the Study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Foundations: an online glossary for beginning theologians, created by undergraduates at the University of Notre Dame

Glossary to terms in ethics

The history of western philosophy in a helpful summary outline

The Bible

The Bible Gateway: Here is the entire Bible online. Just select book and chapter. See also the Latin Vulgate and the English King James version.

Search the entire Bible for any word. Every passage where that word appears will show up. Or, just type in a particular citation under “Passage,” select “Look Up,” and that portion of the Bible will appear. I also recommend selecting the “RSV” version of the Bible.

World Wide Study Bible: an attempt to organize all the Bible-related resources on the web. This site features both text and commentary on all the books in the Bible.

Biblenotes: a summary of each book of the Bible

The Online Parallel Bible: examine each verse of the Bible in eight different translations

Walking in Their Sandals: a pictorial journey through the land of the Bible

Resource Pages for Biblical Studies: Bible texts and translations, electronically published biblical studies, aspects of the Mediterranean social world, biblical studies and computer technology

The Synoptic Gospels: View the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John side-by-side

Society of Biblical Literature: The SBL maintains this page of electronic publications and resources for biblical studies. It features electronic journals and extensive resources for biblical scholars.

The Jesus Seminar Forum: a gateway to research on Jesus and the Gospels

Goshen Net Bible Study: multi-translation concordance, Bible dictionary, dictionary of names in the Bible, Greek and Hebrew lexicon