The Jubilee of Catechists is an opportunity to recognise the important role that catechists play in passing on the faith and to express our gratitude for their efforts.
PRAYER
Loving Father, we pray today for our catechists. We thank you for their gift of ministry in your Church.
Grant them your wisdom that they may grow in the understanding and teaching of your Word. Grant them also your love that they may be fruitful heralds of your Word and lead others to love you.
Pour forth your Holy Spirit upon them to grant them the wisdom to know what to teach; knowledge of the truths of faith; understanding of their meaning; right judgement about how to apply them in life; courage to persevere even in the face of adversity; reverence before all that is sacred and holy; and that loving zeal which leads others to a transforming encounter with your Son.
We pray this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. (From the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn)
TEACHING
From Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter ‘Antiquum Ministerium’ instituting the Ministry of Catechist (2021):
“5. Without prejudice to the Bishop’s mission as the primary catechist in his Diocese, one which he shares with his presbyterate, or to the particular responsibility of parents for the Christian formation of their children (cf. CIC can. 774 §2; CCEO can. 618), recognition should be given to those lay men and women who feel called by virtue of their baptism to cooperate in the work of catechesis (cf. CIC can. 225; CCEO cans. 401 and 406). This presence is all the more urgently needed today as a result of our increasing awareness of the need for evangelization in the contemporary world (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 163-168), and the rise of a globalized culture (cf. Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, 100, 138). This requires genuine interaction with young people, to say nothing of the need for creative methodologies and resources capable of adapting the proclamation of the Gospel to the missionary transformation that the Church has undertaken. Fidelity to the past and responsibility for the present are necessary conditions for the Church to carry out her mission in the world.
“6. The role played by catechists is one specific form of service among others within the Christian community. Catechists are called first to be expert in the pastoral service of transmitting the faith as it develops through its different stages from the initial proclamation of the kerygma to the instruction that presents our new life in Christ and prepares for the sacraments of Christian initiation, and then to the ongoing formation that can allow each person to give an accounting of the hope within them (cf. 1 Pet 3:15). At the same time, every catechist must be a witness to the faith, a teacher and mystagogue, a companion and pedagogue, who teaches for the Church. Only through prayer, study, and direct participation in the life of the community can they grow in this identity and the integrity and responsibility that it entails (cf. Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, Directory for Catechesis, 113).
“8. This ministry has a definite vocational aspect, as evidenced by the Rite of Institution, and consequently calls for due discernment on the part of the Bishop. It is in fact a stable form of service rendered to the local Church in accordance with pastoral needs identified by the local Ordinary, yet one carried out as a work of the laity, as demanded by the very nature of the ministry. It is fitting that those called to the instituted ministry of Catechist be men and women of deep faith and human maturity, active participants in the life of the Christian community, capable of welcoming others, being generous and living a life of fraternal communion. They should also receive suitable biblical, theological, pastoral and pedagogical formation to be competent communicators of the truth of the faith and they should have some prior experience of catechesis (cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church Christus Dominus, 14; CIC can. 231 §1; CCEO can. 409 §1). It is essential that they be faithful co-workers with priests and deacons, prepared to exercise their ministry wherever it may prove necessary, and motivated by true apostolic enthusiasm.”
TESTIMONY
“I grew up as a Protestant Christian while attending a Methodist girls’ school for ten years. I was fortunately blessed to listen about Jesus and the scriptures in the school chapel every week. Eventually I became a believer and a Catholic. My family is not Catholic unlike other cradle Catholics.
“I watched the video inviting us to be a catechist in our parish in St Kevin Eastwood and the Holy Spirit stirred within me. I told Elaine Wicks, the speaker that day, that I wanted to join but did not know how as I did not have any experience. Thankfully, full training and support was provided and I started out as a catechist helper.
“Since joining as a catechist in 2018, I have taught almost 50 students. I continue to see some of the students and their parents in church and at the shops. It is a joy to teach them the Sacraments, how to read the Bible, about the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist, the transubstantiation amongst many other things. I have seen a transformation in students who were initially not interested and have since increased in their faith and understanding when we reach out to them and make Jesus come alive.
“The students are listening, we just need to reach out to them today and share the goodness of our Lord to them in their formative years.”
– Eunice Woo, Sydney (From The Catholic Weekly)
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
For lay catechists, that they may continue to generously respond to their calling to be instruments of God’s salvation, bearing fruit for the Church’s mission.
We pray to the Lord.
For bishops, the primary catechists of their dioceses, that they may strive to foster active and effective catechesis.
We pray to the Lord.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Apostolic Letter ‘Antiquum Ministerium’ Instituting the Ministry of Catechist, Pope Francis, 2021.
Apostolic Exhortation ‘Catechesi Tradendae’ of Pope John Paul II on Catechesis in our Time, 1979.
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