The importance of catechist formation

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

*Maria Jose Mitsoulis - Director of Religious Education

English Spanish

"Catechesis aims to bring about in the believer an ever more mature faith in Jesus Christ, a deeper knowledge and love of his person and message, and a firm commitment to follow him." (National Directory for Catechesis No. 19A)

In my previous blogs, I have written about the importance of being called to the ministry of catechist formation. Being called by God to hand on the faith is an honor and a major responsibility as well.

When I remember my teenage years here in the United States I see a young immigrant catechist active in the Gesu youth group, choir, and in other church activities. I remember the director of religious education (DRE), who was a Missionary Guadalupana sister named Eloisa, taking me to the Catechist Certification courses at St. Raymond Parish, the Religious Education Congress and to other events here in the Archdiocese of Miami. I remember Sister Rosa Monique teaching the course, Teaching Religion, in the 1980s and ‘90s. She taught with much conviction and enthusiasm. Years later, I see Elizabeth Levitz teaching at St. Katharine Drexel using hands-on activities to involve her students.

Today, when I teach I also try to do it with much love and dedication. I give thanks to God for all the leaders and catechists who passed on to me love for God and the Church. The pastoral and academic formation that I have received has guided my path in life. As I continue to meet other diocesan DREs from around the country and engage them in conversation, I become more and more convinced that the formation of catechists is essential. The National Directory for Catechesis, the General Directory for Catechesis and other Church documents reassure me of the importance of the formation of catechists for the present and future of our Church.

"Therefore, the careful selection of women and men called to be catechists and their initial and ongoing formation is one of the greatest factors in assuring the quality of catechesis in the parish, school and diocese. Formation will help the catechist grow in maturity as an adult, a believer and an apostle." (General Directory for Catechesis No 238)

In January, our department decided to do a survey. We wanted to know how many of our still active catechists have taken any of our Catechist Certification Courses. Eight parishes provided us with the names of those active catechists. We compared our database with the information provided by these DREs and concluded that out of the eight parishes there were three who had a high percentage of their present, active catechists who have finished level one or have taken any course.

By adding the percentage of those finishing level one and the percentage of those who have taken any courses from the four levels, we ended up with a total percentage.

Click here to view the chart

These are the three parishes whose catechists have been most active in pursuing archdiocesan coursework: St. Matthew with 50 percent, St. Martha with 23 percent and St. Agnes with 22 percent. Congratulations to them! I want to thank the DREs who responded to this survey. I encourage other DREs to keep sending me their surveys to keep this survey going. Let us be grateful to all women and men who have served as teachers of the faith and who take time to update their knowledge and to share their experience as catechists.

Today more the ever, catechists need basic and advanced training. We are always striving to offer quality courses in our Catechist Certification Program. There are several options available in our archdiocese to complete one or more levels.

A total of 12 ten-hour courses, from Methodology and Scripture to Social Justice are offered. These courses may be applied toward credits at St. Thomas or Barry universities. Parishes and Catholic schools request specific courses throughout the year. In partnership with the University of Dayton we offer online courses as well.

Next month, we will again offer the Summer Institute two-week series, at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Miami and at All Saints School, Sunrise. Professional and volunteer catechists alike can select from over 20 courses in three time periods per day. We urge you to visit our website www.miamiarch.org/ReligiousEducation to download the flyer for more information.

Comments from readers

Maria Jose Mitsoulis - 05/28/2010 12:06 PM

Thank you all for your comments. I thank the readers who did not post their comments online, but emailed me. Let's keep praying for each other. Amen.

Nelson Araque - 05/27/2010 08:35 AM

Thank you Maria Jose for pointing out the importance of the formation for our catechists. As an instructor of the Catechist Certification Program, I am so proud of my students; school teachers and catechist. The last course I taught was in San John Bosco parish. The only thing I can say about this course is that I really enjoyed it. I saw the power of the Holy Spirit in our interaction. I was so glad being there because these catechists showed me the importance of my ministry.

Thank you to all our catechists.

Maria Jose Mitsoulis - 05/26/2010 09:09 AM

I am encouraging the rest of the DREs to continue sending us their catechist list to keep working on this survey. We can see how many are still active, but we can also see how many more out there need to have basic formation as catechists. We need the support of the pastors and DREs to keep providing catechist formation in our Archdiocese. Thank you.

Neida D. Perez - 05/26/2010 06:53 AM

I hear you that the survey took a great deal of time and effort. Yet, could it be expanded to some other parishes? Maybe begin by county or by sections? I would like to show parishes where they are in the area of catechist formation in relation to other parishes that are doing better.

Maria Jose Mitsoulis - 05/25/2010 07:01 PM

This survey took a long time to get it done and complete. The chart was nicely put together, but I guess technology does not make it look nice here. I thank Ana for trying...but I would like to focus on the comments...now

I liked very much what Neida said about the call to generosity from volunteers. I agree that catechists volunteer and give their time, but I would like them to also see that to be a good catechist formation is required. I believe the Spirit of God continues to touch people's heart, it is a conversion experience that moves individuals to want to learn more about the faith, etc. So we hope for the conversion of hearts to happen in our parish communities.

We have had many good catechists in the past like Esperanza, and all those mentioned below, but we most continue to offer in creative ways basic formation to our catechists. It takes love and dedication. Thank you again for all our catechists in our parishes in the Archdiocese.

Ana Rodriguez-Soto - 05/25/2010 12:58 PM

Brother Richard, and all, my apologies. Inadvertently we posted the wrong version of Maria Jose's blog, with the wrong parishes named. What is posted now is correct, and I hope the chart is little easier to read as well. This is all a learning process... Thank you all for sticking with us!

Maria E. Semper - 05/25/2010 09:31 AM

As a cathequist at St. Joaquim parish in the 80's and 90's, I would like to also acknowledge Esperanza Ginoris, from the Dept. of Religious Ed. who came to our parish and took great interest in teaching various courses and levels to certity all our volunteers. Much was accomplished by her. She was a true source of inspiration to all. She lovingly taught to love God, the children, our faith, and as she use to say "the richness of our numerous and beautiful traditions". She also told all volunteers that in the end as catechists, we were going to learn, grow in our faith and be enriched even more than the children themselves. Thank you Esperanza for your guidance.
Maria E. Semper

Richard DeMaria - 05/25/2010 09:00 AM

Maria Jose: Thank you for the reminder about teh importance of formation for those persons who take on the important ministry of Catechetics. I am disappointed to see that the statistics given are incorrect, and leave out one of our parishes which has a wonderful record of participation. Richard

Neida D. Perez - 05/24/2010 08:51 AM

I also remember the Misioneras Guadalupanas, Sr. Monique, and the others. I give thanks to God for all of them, including Maria Jose who used to be at the media center when I went to borrow videos for some of the credits. I have completed the four levels of the catequist formation program and I can say that I enjoyed each one of them. My favorites were the ones on Liturgy and the two parts of Becoming Peacemakers. I wish there was a way to encourage more catechists to participate in the program. I have heard that they are volunteers and not much can be expected in terms of requirements. I say, if they answer the call with generosity, they would not hesitate to give a little bit more for love of the ministry and the children. They need the right kind of encouragement.

Maria Jose Mitsoulis - 05/28/2010 12:06 PM: Thank you all for your comments. I thank the readers who did not post their comments online, but emailed me. Let's keep praying for each other. Amen.

Nelson Araque - 05/27/2010 08:35 AM: Thank you Maria Jose for pointing out the importance of the formation for our catechists. As an instructor of the Catechist Certification Program, I am so proud of my students; school teachers and catechist. The last course I taught was in San John Bosco parish. The only thing I can say about this course is that I really enjoyed it. I saw the power of the Holy Spirit in our interaction. I was so glad being there because these catechists showed me the importance of my ministry.

Thank you to all our catechists.

Maria Jose Mitsoulis - 05/26/2010 09:09 AM: I am encouraging the rest of the DREs to continue sending us their catechist list to keep working on this survey. We can see how many are still active, but we can also see how many more out there need to have basic formation as catechists. We need the support of the pastors and DREs to keep providing catechist formation in our Archdiocese. Thank you.

Neida D. Perez - 05/26/2010 06:53 AM: I hear you that the survey took a great deal of time and effort. Yet, could it be expanded to some other parishes? Maybe begin by county or by sections? I would like to show parishes where they are in the area of catechist formation in relation to other parishes that are doing better.

Maria Jose Mitsoulis - 05/25/2010 07:01 PM: This survey took a long time to get it done and complete. The chart was nicely put together, but I guess technology does not make it look nice here. I thank Ana for trying...but I would like to focus on the comments...now

I liked very much what Neida said about the call to generosity from volunteers. I agree that catechists volunteer and give their time, but I would like them to also see that to be a good catechist formation is required. I believe the Spirit of God continues to touch people's heart, it is a conversion experience that moves individuals to want to learn more about the faith, etc. So we hope for the conversion of hearts to happen in our parish communities.

We have had many good catechists in the past like Esperanza, and all those mentioned below, but we most continue to offer in creative ways basic formation to our catechists. It takes love and dedication. Thank you again for all our catechists in our parishes in the Archdiocese.

Ana Rodriguez-Soto - 05/25/2010 12:58 PM: Brother Richard, and all, my apologies. Inadvertently we posted the wrong version of Maria Jose's blog, with the wrong parishes named. What is posted now is correct, and I hope the chart is little easier to read as well. This is all a learning process... Thank you all for sticking with us!

Maria E. Semper - 05/25/2010 09:31 AM: As a cathequist at St. Joaquim parish in the 80's and 90's, I would like to also acknowledge Esperanza Ginoris, from the Dept. of Religious Ed. who came to our parish and took great interest in teaching various courses and levels to certity all our volunteers. Much was accomplished by her. She was a true source of inspiration to all. She lovingly taught to love God, the children, our faith, and as she use to say "the richness of our numerous and beautiful traditions". She also told all volunteers that in the end as catechists, we were going to learn, grow in our faith and be enriched even more than the children themselves. Thank you Esperanza for your guidance.
Maria E. Semper

Richard DeMaria - 05/25/2010 09:00 AM: Maria Jose: Thank you for the reminder about teh importance of formation for those persons who take on the important ministry of Catechetics. I am disappointed to see that the statistics given are incorrect, and leave out one of our parishes which has a wonderful record of participation. Richard

Neida D. Perez - 05/24/2010 08:51 AM: I also remember the Misioneras Guadalupanas, Sr. Monique, and the others. I give thanks to God for all of them, including Maria Jose who used to be at the media center when I went to borrow videos for some of the credits. I have completed the four levels of the catequist formation program and I can say that I enjoyed each one of them. My favorites were the ones on Liturgy and the two parts of Becoming Peacemakers. I wish there was a way to encourage more catechists to participate in the program. I have heard that they are volunteers and not much can be expected in terms of requirements. I say, if they answer the call with generosity, they would not hesitate to give a little bit more for love of the ministry and the children. They need the right kind of encouragement.