BROADCASTS.com

Summary of today\u2019s show: Catechetical Sunday is coming up on September 16 and this year the theme is Catechists and Teachers as Agents of the New Evangelization. Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O\u2019Connor talk with Kathy Curley and Susan Abbott about the joys and challenges of parish religious education and why catechesis is vitally important for the future of our Church and our families.\nListen to the show:\n\nToday\u2019s host(s): Scot Landry and Fr. Chris O\u2019Connor\nToday\u2019s guest(s): Kathy Curley and Susan Abbott\nLinks from today\u2019s show:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nToday\u2019s topics: Catechetical Sunday\n1st segment: Scot said today\u2019s show looks forward to Catechetical Sunday, especially preparing for the Year of Faith. Fr. Chris O\u2019Connor said St. John Seminary is also preparing for the Year of Faith. One thing they\u2019re doing is sending four of the faculty members out to parishes in each of four regions of the Archdiocese to talk about the four parts of the Catechism.\nThey\u2019re also inviting all of the 5th graders in the diocese, their teachers, parents, priests, and catechists to visit them at the seminary and to talk about the Sacrament of Holy Orders and to show them both the seminarians and the seminary.\nScot also recalled that today is the anniversary of the events of 9/11/2001. Fr. Chris read a prayer of remembrance for 9/11.\n2nd segment: Scot said Susan Abbott is here today not as a co-host but as director of religious education for the Archdiocese. Kathy Curley said she has been working in parish religious education for 16 years at St. Paul\u2019s in Wellesley. She said she started as part-time, but over the years the parish has grown significantly and it has become a full-time position and she now has an assistant.\nFr. Chris asked why the parish is experiencing such growth. Kathy discussed the parish\u2019s family Mass, social time for families, and how they work with families\u2019 schedules. Scot asked how many children they have registered. Kathy said they have 525 registered as of today, but they expect over 650 when finally registered. They have more than 50 catechists, but they expect to need even more. When parents drop off their kids, they will ask them to stay, to sit in on a class, and they can see how much support there is for the catechists and how it isn\u2019t so daunting.\nFr. chris asked what are the highlights of St. Paul\u2019s religious education. Kathy said during the family Mass, the pastor brings the children up around the sanctuary during the homily, when he asks them questions and gets them involved. After Mass, there is a social time with a lot of parents involved. Following that, there is a Sunday session of religious education. During the week, they have a Wednesday afternoon program as well to give parents an option. For older students they have Sunday afternoons and evenings.\nScot asked Susan how many catechetical leaders there are in the archdiocese. Susan said they don\u2019t know the exact split of full-time and part-time, but out of 288 parishes about 280 have religious education programs. (For example, Our Lady of Victory in downtown Boston doesn\u2019t.). They have about 435 listed as catechetical leaders because some parishes have multiple leaders who take charge of certain grades. Most of them are part-time. Susan said there are several parishes where the religious ed program is directed by a deacon. A few parishes have the pastor listed as the contact person, but there isn\u2019t more than a handful where the pastor or parochial vicar is solely responsible.\nAcross the archdiocese, there are about 11,000 catechists covering kindergarten to Grade 12 and not adult formation. There are about 122,000 students in those age ranges. Scot said there\u2019s a ratio of about 11\u201312 kids per catechist. Kathy said that\u2019s the perfect size class for one person, especially for people who are not professional educators. However, a lot of the catechists are sharing classes, teaching every other week, for example. The average class is about 18 and professional teachers will get even more students. Kathy pointed out that one of Susan\u2019s daughters is a catechist in her parish.\nFr. Chris said he\u2019s often making the announcement from the altar during Masses that they need more catechists. He asked how they convince people it\u2019s something they\u2019re capable of doing? Kathy said the best advertising is their own peer group. She said she sees friends and parishioners at the supermarket running the other way when they see her. Susan said she\u2019s recruited many a catechist in line at the supermarket. But Kathy said she asks teachers already involved to talk to their friends and maybe even ask them to plan one Advent or Lent activity which they can see go well.\nKathy said she often hears from a first-timers the objection that they don\u2019t feel qualified. But Kathy asks them to sit with her one-on-one and to show them the material. She encourages them that she doesn\u2019t know everything either. She also noted the importance of preparing for lesson because children pick up on that. So they give plenty of resources to the catechists. She said there are plenty of good resources like short videos that stimulate discussion.\nFr. Chris asked Susan some of the benefits of being a catechist. She borrowed a line from the Peace Corps: It\u2019s the toughest job you\u2019ll ever love. She said we\u2019re all called to be an evangelizer, but we\u2019re not all called to be a catechist. However, those who do answer the call are mentored by catechetical leaders and then should spend time in prayer and with the teacher\u2019s manual. Susan said in the end that we are handing on the faith of Christ. How can we not be in love with this idea? Then considering that some of the kids in class won\u2019t be in Mass on Sunday, you are the face of the Church to them.\nSusan said they get 24 hours per year to educate them in their faith compared to the thousands of hours of school. These children need to know that God loves them. Quoting John Paul II, the whole point of catechesis is not just to put people in communion, but in intimacy with Jesus Christ. Scot said we want to teach them that Jesus is not just a historical figure, but is alive today and loves them infinitely.\nSusan said catechists make a deep commitment, being there for the kids week after week after week. They are not just showing up, but are spending plenty of time preparing for each class.\nKathy said she tells the catechists to preach the Gospel every day and if necessary to use words. They will teach through their love and nurturing and caring. If they are witnesses to Christ in their lives, they will teach better and get their points across even when there are questions you can\u2019t answer.\nKathy said a great way to keep young people involved after confirmation is to get them to volunteer as catechists. She even has young people who started in religious education when she did 16 years ago who are now catechists.\nKathy said summer is a tough time for recruiting, so they ask people in March and April if they\u2019d like to come back next year as catechists. She also starts preparing for people who retire from teaching catechism. She has one volunteer who has been teaching for 16 years and is finishing up his time teaching. So they always look to have extra teachers at every grade. That\u2019s especially true in second and third grade for preparing for the sacraments. And if they get ten more students in late September at the last minute, they\u2019ll need another teacher. Kathy also said that 7th and 8th grade is a tough slot to fill, so they have changed the program to put all the students together and have a team of 3 teachers. They also have parents who are willing to be small group facilitators.\nFr. Chris talked about how it\u2019s essential to go to both religious education and Mass. He said it\u2019s like going to all the football practices and not playing in the game itself.\nHe asked Susan about Catechesi Tradendae, the apostolic exhortation that Pope John Paul II wrote about catechesis in our time which was one of the first things he wrote as Pope. Susan said it was published on the first anniversary of his election as pope. She said she often pointed out in budget meetings this quote:\n\nAs the 20th century draws to a close, the Church is bidden by God and by events - each of them a call from Him - to renew her trust in catechetical activity as a prime aspect of her mission. She is bidden to offer catechesis her best resources in people and energy, without sparing effort, toil or material means, in order to organize it better and to train qualified personnel.\n\nShe also noted this quote:\n\nAccordingly, the definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ: only He can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity.\n\nWe are telling the story of 2,000 years of our faith, the Good News of Jesus Christ, and we have to proclaim it with joy. Yes, we have issues, but if we can\u2019t proclaim this message with joy, then just turn out the lights.\nScot asked Kathy about the joys of being a catechetical leader at St. Paul\u2019s. She gets joy from meeting people, including parents who tell her how enthused their kids are at learning their faith. she also pleased by the class they\u2019ve developed for students with special needs who wouldn\u2019t otherwise be coming to religious education.\nScot asked Susan how parishes mark Catechetical Sunday. She said some parishes will do a commissioning of the catechists at Mass on Sunday. She said the Sunday being marked on the third Sunday of September was started by the Holy Father in 1935. The theme for Catechetical Sunday this year is Teachers and Catechists as Agents of the New Evangelization and the USCCB has a treasure trove of free resources on their website (see link above.)\nShe said this is heady stuff because if we don\u2019t hand on the faith, it won\u2019t continue on.\nKathy said many of us could go back in time and pick out one person who told us one thing that sticks with us that caught our attention about our faith.