THE TABLET SEPTEMBER 17, 2005

CALLED TO BE CATECHISTS

For the past 70 years, the Church in the United States has designated the third Sunday of September---Sept. 18 this year---as National Catechetical Sunday. Its purpose is to recognize those men and women who generously respond to God's call to be catechists, those who hand down the story and vision of the Catholic faith. Since the ministry of teaching in the name of the Church has a profound dignity, a special blessing or a commissioning service is traditionally offered for those entrusted with the ministry of catechesis during a Mass on Catechetical Sunday.

Catechists serve in a variety of roles: teachers of children and youth in the Catholic school and religious education programs, youth ministers, young adult ministers, Adult Faith Formation Team members and teachers, and Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) team members, that is, those who initiate new members into the Church. It is truly a vocation to be called to be a catechist. It is a call to transmit and hand on the faith given to us by the Lord Jesus Himself and handed down in every generation since His time. Teachers of the faith are more witnesses to what they believe than anything else. It is important for catechists to believe what they teach and live it in their lives.

The theme of this year's Catechetical Sunday is "Life Is Christ," taken from St. Paul's letter to the Philippians, which he wrote from his prison cell. In his writing, Paul exhorts Christians to live as witnesses to Jesus Christ. The words "Life Is Christ" call catechists to echo God's word through their own words and actions and to teach others to do the same. All of us are called to know Christ so fully and intimately that for us "life is Christ" Himself. To live fully in Christ is to let Christ transform all that we are.

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, catechists powerfully influence those whom they catechize by their faithful proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the transparent example of their Christian lives. For catechesis to be effective, catechists must be fully committed to Jesus Christ. They must firmly believe in His Gospel and its power to transform lives. This clear direction is found in the National Directory for Catechesis, published in May by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The work of catechesis is certainly critical to the New Evangelization. In order that the faith be lived, it must be witnessed to. For those who take this tremendous responsibility upon themselves, usually as volunteers, being effective catechists comes from their faith life, which impels them to witness to others.

It is my hope that our diocesan efforts at catechetical renewal and training will be fruitful because this mission is critical to handing the faith on to a new generation. Some have called the last generation the skipped generation in the sense that its catechesis, in difficult and trying times, was not sufficient to allow them to integrate the faith into their lives. I am not sure that anyone was missed in our catechetical efforts. I do know, however, that sometimes understanding is lacking, and unless we understand, we cannot live our faith.

To communicate the faith to another is always an exercise in putting out into the deep because we do not know how another will respond to our efforts. This Sunday we ask a special blessing on all those who assist in the catechetical mission of the Church, that their efforts will be blessed in a special way by the Lord.