{"id":6421,"date":"2021-05-11T14:47:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T18:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/news\/news-2\/pope-establishes-ministry-catechist\/"},"modified":"2021-05-11T14:47:25","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T18:47:25","slug":"pope-establishes-ministry-catechist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/news\/news-2\/pope-establishes-ministry-catechist\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope establishes ministry of catechist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Vatican News<\/a>
\n
\n\u201cFidelity to the past and responsibility for the present are necessary conditions for the Church to carry out her mission in the world,\u201d writes Pope Francis in the Apostolic Letter Antiquum ministerium<\/em><\/a>, with which the Holy Father institutes the lay ministry of catechist.<\/p>\n\n

In the context of evangelisation in the contemporary world and in the face of \u201cthe rise of a globalised culture,\u201d it is necessary to recognise \u201cthose lay men and women who feel called by virtue of their baptism to cooperate in the work of catechesis.\u201d At the same time, Pope Francis emphasises the importance of \u201cgenuine interaction with young people,\u201d as well as \u201cthe need for creative methodologies and resources capable of adapting the proclamation of the Gospel to the missionary transformation that the Church has undertaken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

A new ministry with ancient origins<\/strong>
\n
\nThe new ministry has ancient origins, going back to the New Testament: it is mentioned, for example, in the Gospel of Luke and in St Paul\u2019s Letters to the Corinthians and Galatians, albeit in a seminal form. But \u201cthe history of evangelization over the past two millennia,\u201d writes Pope Francis, \u201cclearly shows the effectiveness of the mission of catechists,\u201d who have \u201cdevoted their lives to catechetical instruction so that the faith might be an effective support for the life of every human being,\u201d \u2014 even to the point of sacrificing their own lives.<\/p>\n\n

Since the Second Vatican Council, there has been a growing awareness of the fact that \u201cthe role of catechists is of the highest importance\u201d (Ad gentes, 17) for \u201cthe development of the Christian community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIn our own day too,\u201d writes Pope Francis, \u201cmany competent and dedicated catechists\u2026 carry out a mission invaluable for the transmission and growth of the faith,\u201d while a \u201clong line of blesseds, saints and martyrs who were catechists has significantly advanced the Church\u2019s mission.\u201d This \u201crepresents a rich resource not only for catechesis but also for the entire history of Christian spirituality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Transforming society through Christian values<\/strong>
\n
\nWithout in any way detracting from the \u201cthe Bishop\u2019s mission as the primary catechist in his Diocese,\u201d nor from the \u201cparticular responsibility of parents for the Christian formation of their children,\u201d the Pope recognises the importance of lay men and women who collaborate in the service of catechesis, going out to \u201cencounter all those who are waiting to discover the beauty, goodness, and truth of the Christian faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Pope Francis emphasises that it is \u201cthe task of pastors to support them in this process and to enrich the life of the Christian community through the recognition of lay ministries capable of contributing to the transformation of society through the \u2018penetration of Christian values into the social, political and economic sectors\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Avoiding clericalization<\/strong>
\n
\nEvery catechist, says Pope Francis, \u201cmust be a witness to the faith, a teacher and mystagogue, a companion and pedagogue, who teaches for the Church.\u201d Catechists, he continues, \u201care called first to be expert in the pastoral service of transmitting the faith,\u201d from the first proclamation of the kerygma to preparation for the sacraments of Christian initiation, and throughout the process of ongoing formation.<\/p>\n\n

All this is possible, he says, \u201conly through prayer, study, and direct participation in the life of the community,\u201d so that catechists can grow in their identity and in \u201cthe integrity and responsibility\u201d that identity entails.<\/p>\n\n

Receiving the lay ministry of catechist, in fact, \u201cwill emphasize even more the missionary commitment proper to every baptized person,\u201d writes Pope Francis, \u201ca commitment that must, however, be carried out in a fully \u201csecular\u201d manner, avoiding any form of clericalization.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Vatican News \u201cFidelity to the past and responsibility for the present are necessary conditions for the Church to carry…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6421","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\/6421","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=6421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diocesemontreal.wp.vortexdev.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}