PART IV:
The Paladin Discussion Series

Creating the Content

Questions to Contemplate

Now that we’ve selected a great and practical book, it’s time for the second half of the process. We will create Questions to Contemplate, consider any additional elements we deem necessary, and then review and revise. Most of our work will focus on the questions, so let us begin.

Carefully crafting these questions can require even more time and attention than choosing and dividing the book, but at least this step is always doable! We already discussed how we create our questions in Chapter 10, so you might want to review that section. You have the theory; now it’s time for hands-on practice! Here, we will provide checklists and additional examples to help you through the process, although, admittedly, it’s more of an art than a science.

Well-crafted questions encourage lively discussion and help reveal essential truths of life; they are essential for the deep dive! These questions—these discussions—are designed to assist participants in applying the Gospel to their lives, promote deep sharing within the group, and foster closer fellowship with both God and one another.

Detailed Checklist

Rules & Techniques

• There should be five questions per meeting—six at the most.
  • We sometimes include a seventh optional question with Bible Studies that serves as a catch-all. 
    • Is there anything else from this chapter that stood out to you? (optional question)
• Three-part questions should be used. Often, four-part questions are used.
  • The theme or topic of the question should be placed before the actual question in bold text. This emphasizes the main point of the discussion and reminds members that they are not restricted to just answering the question.
  • Brief quotes or introductory comments before the actual questions can sometimes be helpful. These often elaborate on the question’s theme.
  • The first part of the question is often the most general and sometimes the least open-ended. It typically focuses on the theme’s fundamental concept.
  • The middle part of the question develops the theme and explores it more deeply; it may consist of two parts. 
  • The last part of the question usually draws more on opinion and experience.  
  • Mini-template:
    • Theme (bold)
    • Part 1: Basic concept
    • Part 2: Deeper Exploration
    • Part 3: Personal experience or application
  • Another solid approach is to have all parts of your question equally open, with each one naturally building on the previous. All of these suggestions are flexible enough.
  • Use your judgment when creating the parts of the question.
• Use open-ended questions as much as possible.
  • Most questions should encourage us to dive into personal experience, speculation, and application rather than seeking a single objective answer!
  • Sometimes, close-ended questions are necessary to establish an important idea or to introduce a deeper line of questioning. 
• Very broad questions are more effective than very specific ones.
• Avoid yes-or-no questions unless setting up something deeper.
  • Sometimes, a yes-or-no question is too important not to ask!
  • A yes-or-no question primarily functions as a prompt to introduce the next part of the question or to guide a line of thinking toward more profound reflection.

Tone & Purpose

• Challenge but don’t overdo it!
  • We should always focus on the Journey without being pushy.
• Questions should help advance the overall discussion.
  • Questions should build on previous questions.
  • Questions should not repeat the same points as previous ones in the same session.
• Avoid fishing for an answer.
  • Fishing for an answer means trying to get information from someone indirectly, often by asking leading questions. Avoid using questions to steer the conversation toward topics and ideas not covered in the reading. 
  • If the chapter doesn’t say it, don’t build a question that tries to smuggle it in.
  • You may bring up such related topics during the discussion. Please include these in sample answers and supplemental materials.
• Remember that many of these guidelines have exceptions.

Question Examples

We will now examine two examples of discussion questions on the same theme. The first version employs closed-ended questions but otherwise adheres to our guidelines. The second version fully adheres to all our guidelines; it is one of our Questions to Contemplate.

Multi-Part Question 1

The Primary Purpose -What is the primary purpose of the Catholic Church? [to form living, growing disciples] Have you always understood this to be the primary purpose? [yes or no] According to the book, what other purposes often compete with this one? [social justice, charity, raising money, Mass attendance]

This multi-part question begins by addressing the theme, but a brief answer is unavoidable for this closed-ended question. The next part is a yes-or-no question—clearly closed-ended. Ironically, this question offers slightly more scope for discussion than the first, as one might elaborate on its primary purpose. The third part is also a closed-ended question, unlikely to spark discussion, though someone might expand on the competing priorities. This is a weak question, but a healthy group could still have a fair conversation about it; it would just require more effort and might drift off topic. Now, let’s look at our question on the same theme.

Multi-Part Question 2

The Primary Purpose – Why is it essential for the Church to focus on forming living, growing disciples? What changes might occur if we once again prioritize this as our primary purpose? What experiences have most helped you grow as a disciple?

This multi-part question begins by examining why forming living, growing disciples is the Church’s primary purpose; it articulates the basic premise and invites discussion and further speculation on why this is true. This is an excellent starting point for the discussion. The second part delves deeper, focusing on the changes that prioritizing this primary purpose will bring. Once again, this provides excellent fuel for discussion. And finally, the very personal part of the question invites us to share our own experiences of growing as living, growing disciples. This is far better than the first multi-part question!

Hopefully, these examples provide valuable insights into crafting Questions to Contemplate the Paladin way. An additional example is available in Chapter 10 if you’d like to review it. And, of course, you can find examples of the five-question set at the end of Chapters 1-7.

AI Questions

ChatGPT or another AI can help generate Questions to Contemplate if you provide it with the chapter text and a good prompt. Of course, the quality may vary greatly even with these. Sometimes ChatGPT did great; other times it failed miserably. To improve your odds, make sure you prompt it during off-peak hours. Even when you get the best possible result, you will still need to review and refine the questions;  you will likely need to replace some sections entirely. Nevertheless, ChatGPT can still get you a long way toward your goal. It assisted me in writing the discussion questions for the first seven chapters of this book.

The biggest challenge for most books is finding or creating text you can copy and paste into the AI. If you’re fortunate, you might find an e-book online that allows you to copy text. If you’re unfortunate, the alternative is quite time-consuming.

You can manually scan each page of the chapter you want to generate questions for. You will need sufficient light and may need to dismantle a copy of the book to obtain high-quality scans. Even with good scans, MS Word did a poor job of converting the text; Google Docs did far better. You will still need to clean up the text before copying it.

Once you paste it into ChatGPT, you still need to specify precisely what you need in your well-worded prompt. The following prompt will serve as a good starting point:

PROMPT: Please state the five primary themes of this chapter. Please create three-part discussion questions for each theme. The third part of the question should draw on personal opinion or personal experience.

You might want to experiment with using six primary themes, or even all primary themes, to obtain a more thorough response, depending on the chapter’s length and complexity. ChatGPT is sometimes more accommodating than at other times. You will need to experiment.

ChatGPT may also vary too significantly in how it constructs the questions. Sometimes it may produce very long themes and long commentary between the theme and the actual question. You may need to refine these to ensure consistency throughout the discussion series.

AI can be very helpful with the Questions to Contemplate, but you should not rely solely on it. Remember that results will vary significantly, and prompting outside regular hours often yields better results. When everything goes smoothly, it can provide a strong starting point; however, you’ll still need to rewrite and fine-tune parts.

Ok, let’s move on to other elements you may choose to include in your discussion series.

Additional Elements

Once your questions are drafted, a few optional pieces can elevate the whole series. Some of these additional elements are crafted to further support the leaders. Others are supplemental material for the entire group.

First, we highly recommend preparing sample answers for your questions. These answers are designed specifically for leaders and reassure them they can effectively cover all key concepts. Generally, the more advanced the book and the less experienced the leader, the more valuable the sample answers become. For example, sample answers about Christ as the Good Shepherd will likely require fewer details than those about the Virgin Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant.

While your sample answers can certainly reflect your own opinions, they must also remain faithful to Church teaching and cover key points. Please visit our website to see sample answers in our discussion series. Most leaders will not create as detailed sample answers as I tend to; your sample answers may only be a few sentences per question.

You might also consider including a brief introduction for each session. Opening and closing prayers that reflect the session’s content are also beneficial. If you copy your questions and sample answers into ChatGPT, you can ask it to compose the introduction and prayers for you; it usually provides a relatively good rough draft. Additional materials, such as quotes, suggested reading, handouts, and similar resources, may also be included.

The leader can use the sample answers and other materials as they see fit. They might read some during the discussion, reference them as notes, or ignore them altogether. However, leaders should not rely on them in lieu of journaling on the questions themselves, unless they have written the sample answers. The leader should always be the most prepared person there!

Review and Adjust

Leaders introducing a new discussion series should review the questions after the initial use with the group and make any necessary adjustments. It’s best to ask participants for feedback rather than infer it from the discussion. Please don’t assume the question is lacking simply because the group didn’t immediately dive into it. Awkward pauses aren’t failures—they’re space for the Holy Spirit to work.

Leaders typically revise questions for clarity, structure, or scope. The questions should use precise and concise language. They should be organized logically and transition well between parts. And they should definitely relate to the question’s clearly defined theme. Even when all these are addressed, leaders will discover they overlooked something or need to tweak a question.  

While the bulk of your revisions will address the questions, you should also tweak any other elements as needed.

I encourage you to review the details of this process as you work on your own Paladin discussion series; however, I also want to provide a quick-reference sheet to highlight the key points at a glance. You will find it below.

The Process at a Glance

Prepare

• Read the book and evaluate suitability.
• Decide whether it can be covered in 8-10 sessions.
  • If not, can you split the book into two discussion series?
  • Will you need to combine multiple chapters into single sessions?
  • Will you need to split huge chapters into two sessions?
  • Should you consider not covering the entire book or extending the length of the discussion series?

Craft

• Create a tentative session breakdown.
• Draft questions.
  • Five questions per session—six at the most.
  • Include the theme in bold before the question.
  • Use Three-part questions—four at most.
  • Use open-ended questions.
  • Last question expressly based on opinion and experience.
• Write sample answers.

Refine

• Test with your SCC.
• Revise and finalize.
• Submit for broader use (optional).

+ + +

This concludes the “Paladin Discussion Series” section of the book. I hope you found it both informative and instructional. I highly recommend selecting an easy book for your first discussion series: 160-240 pages with 16-25 chapters should be straightforward.

If you stay faithful to the process and to the Lord, your discussion series will produce fruit right before your eyes. It will keep producing fruit long after the series ends. And it will produce fruit for people you won’t even meet until Heaven.

To Appendices →

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