This July, Montreal will welcome a new cohort of adults eager to be formed in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS), Level I \u2013 Part A<\/b>. These formation sessions, offered in both French and English, are designed to prepare catechists to accompany children aged 3 to 6 as they discover the voice of the Good Shepherd and grow in faith. But what happens after the training ends?<\/p>\n\n
For a glimpse of the fruit this formation can bear, look no further than St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish (STIG)<\/b>, which opened its Good Shepherd Atrium<\/b> almost seven years ago. What began with a handful of catechists and a dozen children has blossomed into a dynamic spiritual space that now welcomes over fifty children and twelve adult catechists<\/b>, spread across seven weekly sessions<\/b>.<\/p>\n\n
Even more inspiring is the emergence of youth assistants<\/b> \u2014 some of whom were among the very first children to enter the atrium years ago.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe assistants make a huge difference,\u201d says Rebecca Malone, program coordinator at STIG. \u201cThey support the work of the catechists in small ways, like taking attendance, and also in big ways, such as reading the Gospels to the little ones as they work with the hands-on materials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This intergenerational model of mentorship and faith-sharing is exactly what Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is about: offering a sacred space where children \u2014 and those who walk with them \u2014 are invited into a deeper encounter with God.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIn a world where so much in life is structured, the Atrium is a sacred space, almost like a retreat centre, which creates opportunities for children to listen for the voice of God \u2014 the Good Shepherd who first loved them into being and called them by name,\u201d shares catechist and mom Amalia Issa. \u201cIt is a place where children\u2019s faith can take root and grow wings, and a sense of wonder is celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This kind of transformation \u2014 for children, youth, and adults alike \u2014 begins with the gift of formation. The upcoming CGS formation sessions in Montreal are a unique opportunity for parish communities to invest in their present and future catechists. And as the team at STIG hopes, some of today\u2019s helpers will become tomorrow\u2019s catechists.<\/p>\n\n
Formation dates in Montreal:<\/b><\/p>\n\n To register or learn more, visit: www.cgsac.ca\/courses-1<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This July, Montreal will welcome a new cohort of adults eager to be formed in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nouvelle"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\t
\nTo discover the ongoing witness at St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish: stig.ca\/atrium<\/a><\/p>\n\n