Message for Catechetical Month from the Archdiocesan Catechetical Office

In response to the Vatican document On the Better Care and Promotion of Catechetical Education issued by the Catechetical Office of the Holy See under Pope Pius XI, every country is encouraged to acknowledge the importance of the Church’s teaching ministry, and honour those who serve the Christian community as catechists.

The institution of Catechetical Month signifies the importance of the teaching or catechetical function of the Church, by which it faithfully proclaims and expounds the one deposit of faith contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition and entrusted to her by our Lord Jesus Christ.

By the initiation of Catechetical Month, the Church indicates to the faithful that catechetical instruction, containing the knowledge necessary for salvation, must be placed among her most serious obligations.

In our own Archdiocese of Port of Spain, as in others globally, Catechetical Month is typically celebrated annually in the month of September. During this special time, some parishes engage in catechetical activities including the commissioning of new catechists as well as the recommissioning of those who already actively and faithfully serve in this ministry in support of their parish priest.

Catechetical Month is meant to recognise catechists in our parishes who in serving as “evangelisers with the Spirit”, strive to ensure that those whom they catechise are exposed to a dynamic journey of evangelisation and catechesis.

Catechists are also celebrated since they serve a pivotal role in the advancement of the faith of all the faithful, as they nurture the spiritual growth and formation of parents and godparents of infants to be baptised, as well as that of children, adolescents, young and mature adults, and adult catechumens in our parishes.

In many of our communities therefore, recognition is given to the unique, decisive, and participatory role of catechists in the missionary and thus formative activity of the Church.

Catechetical Month serves as an opportunity to demonstrate appreciation to those in our parishes who, with God’s help, formally commit to the growth and maturation of the “seed of faith” sown in the baptised by the Holy Spirit at their Baptism.

The important role that catechists fulfil in the Church’s teaching ministry is further highlighted annually by designating the third Sunday in September as Catechetical Sunday. This year, parishes are encouraged to commemorate September 15 as Catechetical Sunday by taking the opportunity to thank their catechists for the service they provide in their communities.

Catechists are also encouraged to use this day as an opportunity to reflect on their call to share as well as to live out their own faith.

Catechetical Sunday 2024 will be celebrated with the hosting of a Catechetical Conference by the Archdiocesan Catechetical Office, under the theme Catechists: Missionaries of Healing and Service.

Each year, a theme for this special Sunday is chosen to inspire catechists to reflect and ultimately to action. This year’s theme is consistent with the vision of catechists as agents of a Synodal Church, since it emphasises the missionary mandate of the Lord (Mt 28:19–20), and the Church’s fundamental mission to make disciples.

As a sign of the Church’s responsibility to all human beings, catechists are called to embrace mission as the motivating energy for their ministry. As representatives of the Church, they are called to be passionate about Jesus Christ, serving as missionaries of healing and service, as they accompany the many men, women and children whom they encounter.

As missionaries of healing, catechists must recognise healing as a continuous process and as a component of mission. They must see their catechetical role as one that is invitational, constantly inviting those being catechised to full, active and conscious participation in the liturgy, where the source of all healing resides in the Eucharistic species.

They are also urged to see themselves as missionaries of service, who are on mission not to be served, but to be persons of service. Recognising that service to others is not optional, they are called to be witnesses to and imitators of Christ, ministering in His name, and making every effort to be persons willing to serve with humility, compassion, patience and charity or love.