Catechists called to be agents of healing – Bishop

Catechists are called to become agents of healing for those they catechise (children and people).

“A hurting Church can only become an effective sign of God’s loving and saving presence, if it is open to acknowledge its wounds and seek healing to become the wounded healer,” said Bishop John Persaud of Mandeville, Chair of the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) Commission on Doctrine and Faith Formation in his message for Catechetical month 2024.

In the message, Bishop Persaud said that the year’s theme, Catechists: Missionaries of Healing and Service, emerged from the Synodal listening sessions.

People, he said, had expressed much hurt spiritually, psychologically, mentally, physically, and even socially. These hurts may have had their genesis in the relationships in the family, school, work, neighbourhood communities or traumatic events that occurred, even in the Church community.

“It is difficult for hurting people to grow if they do not encounter the healing touch of Jesus in their lives,” the Bishop said.

It is thus important for catechists to understand the four dimensions of the person: intellectual/mental, emotional/psychological, physical, and spiritual.

“It is in our understanding of the whole person that we can plan the healing sessions appropriately and with the appropriate personnel for such sessions,” Bishop Persaud said.

This aspect of the ministry will invite catechists to work with psychologists, emotional intelligence personnel, spiritual directors, mental health personnel, physical health professionals and other holistic healers.

“The choices we make here must be done with careful consideration and contemplation on the Church’s teachings. It is also important for us to examine our own selves and what is crying out for healing within us. Remember, you cannot give what you do not have,” he said.

Healing, Bishop Persaud stressed, was a significant and important part of Jesus’ ministry.

“Members of the body of Christ are calling out for healing just as they did when Jesus walked on this earth. Let us hear their cry! …This is where our ministry of evangelisation begins – when people encounter the God who heals,” he said.

Bishop Persaud invited catechists to become God’s presence throughout this region and urged them to develop a fervent life of prayer, stay close to Sacred Scripture, allow the Liturgy “to form you, enrich your community with your gifts and talents”, value and love people, and celebrate Eucharist in all of creation.