From 26-28 September, we celebrate the Jubilee of Catechists.
What a wonderful privilege for me to be involved in the ministry of and with catechists!
From the age of five, I grew up witnessing catechists firsthand. I witnessed my mother answering the call for new catechists to go into the local state school – they hadn’t had anyone for months! My mother couldn’t get to Fr Evans quickly enough after Mass to say she would be one of the helpers!
Little did she know then that she was the only one to respond (this she found out on her first day) and she had all the Catholic children in three groups. Did that turn her off? No! She continued for the next 52 years doing what all catechists do – planting the seeds of God’s love, peace and joy into the hearts of His children who mightn’t otherwise hear God’s message or come to know HIM! Others did join her sharing the ministry in that school.
We catechists are commissioned to help feed the seeds of faith sown by the Holy Spirit at Baptism, so they can grow and bloom!
Our Year of Jubilee, is a Year of HOPE for us pilgrims on our journey – our catechists bring that hope to the children in their classes:
Helping them to know God who loves and cherishes them.
Opening their hearts to our loving God at work in their lives.
Presenting a way of life Jesus came to show us.
Enfolding them in acceptance and love of who they are – a precious gift in God’s eyes given to us to love and mould!
We thank God for our catechists who have answered this call to be His representative to these children in our State Schools and have given their time to undertake the necessary training and formation so they can continue Jesus’ request at His Ascension, “to go and teach all people”.
Why be a catechist? Do we make a difference? This is a question often asked. I can honestly say from experience, “YES WE DO!”. We mightn’t see it today, but my heart is full of pride and joy when I see the children at Mass on the weekend or when they come to join the Sacramental programs and receive the sacraments. I also had the privilege to see several wonderful comments on a Facebook post from my mother’s past pupils (now adults!) of what the Scripture classes meant to them and the beautiful remarks about my mother who taught them – it was obvious she touched their lives and was loved in a special way.
I have been blessed by this experience – to share my faith with the children in my Special Religious Education (SRE) classes. This Year of Jubilee, I was able to join the pilgrimage group led by my parish priest to Italy – I didn’t go alone, the children in our Scripture Classes came with me as I carried their names on a sheet of paper and placed it on the altar of every Mass we celebrated in Rome and other special places we visited in Italy. Through relaying these experiences and places to the children, I hope and pray the seeds of this Jubilee Year might bloom during the next Holy Year and ignite a spark of remembrance of this one shared with them.
I thank God for the gift of all catechists and the work they do in His name: watering His seeds within the children. I pray for many more who will answer His call to, “Come be my messenger of Hope to these children of mine” and in the words of St Mary MacKillop:
Never see a need without doing something about it.
There is always a need for catechists in our Parishes – can you be the answer to this need?
Sr Rosemary Mitchell