Last week we celebrated catechists with the archdiocese’ annual catechist Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. This is where we take the time to reflect on and honour the Catholic faithful who give up their time each week to go into our public schools and evangelise the students through the mode of teaching the faith and bearing witness.
Those of us who didn’t have the good fortune to attend a Catholic school will probably have a favourite catechist. I recall an elderly Irish lady named Rose who would turn up at my local school on the Central Coast each week and introduce us to the bible stories. Often, she’d bring along teaching aids such as book, where we’d join the dots to reveal Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, or the perennial Noah and his ark.
One day she turned up with a desert diorama in a wooden box, with little figures of the apostles propped up in the sand. She invited us each to select an apostle to hold onto for the lesson. I chose Judas Iscariot—how was I to know he was the one on the yellow robe? Some of the children in the class audibly gasped. Miss Rose lifted her eyes towards heaven.
“You have a lot to learn young Lacey,” she said in her lilting voice.
She was right. I did have a lot to learn. And it was the catechists over my school years who taught me about the Catholic faith.
Our catechists are a literal God send. In spreading the good news, they have to put up with difficult children, and with difficult questions. Where did the animals in the ark go to the toilet? Why didn’t Adam and Eve wear clothes? How can God be three things at once?
The catechists handled every child and every question with aplomb, guided by the Holy Spirit and no doubt a little guile of their own.
Archbishop Fisher drew on St Paul when describing our catechists as “stewards of the mysteries” (1 Cor 4:1).
“They are helping to ensure our young people in public schools can encounter Christ, pointing them towards that Word and sacraments that empower them to be heroes, to be saints,” he said.
On 8 February 2008, Benedict XVI said the secret to being a good catechists is to live what you preach.
“Unite the transmission of right doctrine with personal testimony, with the firm commitment to live according to the commandments of the Lord and with the lived experience of being faithful and active members of the church,” he said.
As anyone who has ever known a catechist will attest, we in the Sydney Archdiocese are blessed with a cohort of catechists who always try their best to live what they preach.
Currently there are around 1700 volunteer catechists in Sydney, visiting around 26,000 Catholic students.
Say a prayer for their continued service to God.