Catechist Formation

For religious education teachers, meeting a new group of children provides a fresh and exciting opportunity to lay a solid foundation for the year ahead. The way in which your students experience you for the first time can make a powerful and lasting impact that will lead them enthusiastically forward into the months ahead.

Is faith one of those words we use often, not realizing the depth of its meaning? Could we ever realize its expanse? In many ways, we could make several distinctions of faith or look at faith through different lenses and, through each, see a new facet.

Your questions, answered by Master Catechists.

Returning to school in September, right after Labor Day, is a good time to think about work and celebrate what work means in our lives. After a leisurely summer vacation, we rev up for another year of all the possibilities that await us in teaching and studying. I can feel the energy of September! Of course, the beginning of a new learning year means work—and work is a law of the human condition through which we learn and grow.

As our year's program comes to an end, we want to take time to thank those who have diligently labored, exercised patience, and modeled Christian love to share the Catholic faith with the children, teens, and adults participating in the parish education and faith formation programs. A nice party or a pretty thank-you card is not enough! This is a time for a significant blessing of those who have served your parish responsibly!

Master Catechists answer questions from readers

Each time I drive to do my shopping at the closest supermarket, I pass a yard with reminders of a food source far more ancient than the packaged presentations or aisles of produce that I will find at the supermarket: a vineyard. The grapevines I pass are reminders and symbols from my own past, and from the past of the Church that I dearly love.

It's not unusual for us catechists to get tunnel vision—to become so caught up in successfully teaching each individual chapter in our texts that students are not able to see the forest for the trees. In other words, we are not always as effective as we could be in helping kids see the big picture—God's plan for all people—and the relationship between each lesson and God's plan.

I have often reflected on the story of the young Jesus teaching in the Temple. "And all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers" (Luke 2:47). The wisdom of the youthful Jesus comes to mind when I consider the controversy over what age one should be before he or she can take on the full responsibility of being a catechist.

Our roles in catechetics have changed over the years. Decades ago, lay parish leaders of religious education and catechists primarily were faithful volunteers willing to give of their time and energies to assist in helping children learn about Jesus throughout the school year. Today, men and women are trained to be pastoral leaders, directors of religious education, and catechists. Their own faith formation is as important as that of the people to whom they minister.