Catechist Joan Hiel teaching about Pentecost at a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd session in 2019 at St. John Vianney Parish in Kailua. (Photo: Anna Weaver)
CATECHETICAL SUNDAY
This year, the church celebrates Catechetical Sunday on Sept. 15. Across our diocese, those whom the pastor has designated to serve as catechists will be called forth to be commissioned for their ministry. We thank them for their commitment and dedication and, more importantly, for being a model of Christian witness in our world today.
Catechetical Sunday is also an opportunity to reflect on the critical role each person plays, by virtue of Baptism, in handing on the faith and being a witness to the Gospel, and for all to rededicate themselves to this mission as a community of faith. After all, we are a missionary church!
Jesus defined the church as missionary through his “Great Commission” when he said, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19). This is our missionary mandate. It is who we are. Pope Francis puts it succinctly: “What would happen if we were to take these words seriously? We would realize that missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the church’s activity.” (Evangelii Gaudium, 15) Elsewhere he states: “The church is herself a missionary disciple.” (Evangelii Gaudium, 40)
In our increasingly secularized society there are many powerful influences on our young people who often leave the church altogether. Bishop Robert Barron, chairman of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, notes in the 2018 Saint Mary’s Press study, “The Dynamics of Disaffiliation in Young Catholics,” that “one of their most alarming findings was that youth stop identifying as Catholics at a median age of 13 for reasons ranging from disbelief to dissatisfaction with church teaching.”
Yet, Bishop Barron continues, there is good news: “Young people who end religious practice do not necessarily end their spiritual desire. The [whole] church [not only those who formally serve as catechists] must walk with young people and their families, listen to them with attention and love, and then be ready intelligently to give a reason for the hope that is within us.”
This year’s Catechetical Sunday theme, “Stay with Us,” is supported by a variety of articles, videos and podcasts. They focus on the encounter, and accompaniment, which helps us to respond to our critical need to build a community that then sends forth missionary disciples. I particularly enjoyed the three-part podcast entitled “Helping Parents and Families Engage and Evangelize the Nones in their Homes” by Robert McCarty, D.Min. (A “none” is one who answers “none” to the question, “What religion are you?”
Access these resources at http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/catechesis/catechetical-sunday/index.cfm
Jayne Ragasa-Mondoy is the director of the diocesan Office of Religious Education and Faith Formation.
