The Catholic Planner 2017: Weekly, Monthly, Yearly Planner, Organizer and Prayer Journal (Wine Red)

First, the physical aspect: this planner is handsome and compact, The cover is beautifully smooth, there's an elastic strap to hold the book closed, a pocket at the back lets you store a few loose papers, and there are two ribbon place markers. I love this last feature--I put one at the current monthly page and one at the current week.Second, the organizational aspect: there's a two-page spread for each month, then a two=page spread for each week. The weekly pages have plenty of space on each day for appointments. The division of time each day into morning/day/evening is helpful without being too detailed, and unlike many other planners the evening section has lots of room. The space for notes and lists on each week is also useful. The only real flaw is that the numbers for the dates are too small and visually non-salient, which makes it hard to find a given week when flipping through the planner.Third, the spiritual aspect: Sundays, feast days, and saints' days are listed in a sidebar on the monthly pages, with the major ones also noted on the day in the monthly calendar. I wish the Sundays and major feasts were also noted on the weekly pages. Most importantly, every week's planner pages are preceded by a two-page spread for a weekly retreat to take stock of the previous week, reflect on the Sunday mass readings, and make a plan for the upcoming week. I love the reminder that all our planning and scheduling is ultimately directed to fulfilling the will of God, and it's executed with the right level of structure It's specific enough to be a helpful guide, but not so detailed as to risk being overly prescriptive. However, my planner gets referred to by everyone in the family, while my personal retreat thoughts are more private. For me, it would be better if the retreat pages were grouped together in a separate section from the planning pages.

The planner is a very useful tool as both a planner and a journal. I find it useful for many reasons. I've listed both the pros and the con below. However, if you are looking for something with daily or weekly reflections or a large amount of scripture or journal space look elsewhere. This is a combo journal/planner. It's the perfect one stop carry with you tool to both plan and journal. If your looking for a prayer meditation tool I recommend a subscription to the "Magnificat" or the "Word Among Us"THE PROs1. The "Weekly Retreat" page is an great space to use in prayer for journalling and it also has a great little section on the bottom right where you can put in Rituals and Habits you want to work on and it gives you check boxes to see if you're really doing it or not!2. The weekly calendar page it is not divided up hour by hour like most daily or weekly planners are but this one is divided into three sections morning, afternoon and evening. I find this extremely good because I always struggle with the "I must be busy doing something every hour of every day", I call it the "Fill the white space" mentality. This prevents that while still allowing you to schedule and plan your day as necessary.3. The "To Do List". I really like the fact that this planner does NOT have a single large to do list. It is a bit of effort but each week you have to recopy your to do list to the next week. Which in my opinion is great because it gets me to say to myself, "I'm writing this again??? Why haven't I done this yet???"4. The built in envelope in the back is fantastic. I have a prayer card, and a list of all the people I pray for.5. The two ribbons. It's great having two one for the week I'm on and one for the upcoming full month calendar.THE CONsI've got one really big con I wish they would fix. Please please in the 2019 iteration (I have the 2017 and now the 2018) add at the end a full month calendar for January and February, not the weekly but the full month pages. It would add 4 sheets the planner which is not much. The reason being is that in November '17 if I have to put something on the calendar for February '18 or January '18 I can't because I don't want to carry two full sized planners around with me.

I really like this planner. It is very useful and functional. Good quality paper. I hate it when you get a calendar with glossy pages and the ink smears. This paper is smooth to write on, but absorbs. I like the binding, it is not spiral so it doesn't catch on things in bag. It has two pages for each month. For example, in January the month overall calendar is spread across two pages, on the side it lists feast days and milestones. I like that the feast days are on the side so it gives you more room to write on the calendar days. On the month page there is also a few facts and quotes and some space to write your own notes. Then each week has it's own two pages so you can make notes about things that have happened or write appointments to focus on the week you are in. It also has three open areas to write priorities, notes and a to do list with little check boxes. Super useful. At the beginning of each week is two pages of refections where you can do your own small writing retreat. It lists some of the readings, an area to write a reflection, some blanks space to write whatever you want, and some check boxes for rituals or habits you want to keep track of. While this sounds like a lot and you might think the planner would be too think, it's only a little over a 1/2 inch think. The cover is nice and it's plain on the outside, which I appreciate. It is an excellent planner, especially for a Catholic who wants to have spiritual reminders. Only frustration was that price literally dropped $10 two days after I received it. I think that was just bad luck, but I will definitely use this planner again next year. I hope they don't change it.