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catechetical sunday celebrates religious education programs

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Catechetical Sunday, Sept. 19 will be celebrated in parishes across the nation and in the Diocese of Belleville as new and returning catechists begin their ministry in the classroom with young Catholics, helping them grow in their faith and preparing them for the sacraments.

In the Belleville diocese 91 of 119 parishes have religious education programs for their young parishioners. Some parishes, like St. Clare and St. Nicholas in O’Fallon, work together in one program at the parish school.

At Corpus Christi in Shiloh, the religious education program begins this year with a new director of religious education, Sarah Ayran.

While she is young — 24 — and a graduate student at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, she looks like a natural as the program’s leader.

“Sarah’s young and enthusiastic,” Kay Ruppel said.

Ruppel is part of the team of Kay and Jim Ruppel who are teaching fifth- and sixth-graders at Corpus Christi this year. They have been active with young people for many years.

For them, this year will be new as well since they are used to working with teenagers in youth ministry, and last year they worked with seventh- and eighth-graders at the parish.

“We’re really new,” Kay Ruppel said. “We’ve never worked with this age group.”

However, they both know Ayran because Msgr. Jim Margason, pastor, asked the Ruppels to be available to her when she began working at the parish as the youth minister two years ago.

Ayran said she really appreciated the idea that she could talk to them about youth ministry.

That was one of the reasons, she said, she wanted two teachers for each religious education class — so they could share ideas and be available if one or the other person could not be in class on a particular weekend.

Her move to religious education director seemed a natural fit, and she said she feels very comfortable in this new role.

That comfort level may stem from her activity in her own parish youth program as a teenager.
“I was really involved in youth ministry in high school” at St. Teresa’s in Belleville, she said.
Even then, “I could see myself working for the church,” she said.

With that in mind, Ayran pursued a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from McKendree College in Lebanon and then enrolled at Aquinas.

Every day has been a learning experience and a challenge.

She has enjoyed being able to bounce ideas about religious education off her teachers and another director of religious education, Barb Furdek at St. Nicholas in O’Fallon.

This year, like the O’Fallon parishes, the students will talk about character traits, which ties into what they do in their public schools.

The first trait they will talk about is respect, Ayran said.

This is also what Msgr. Margason discussed with young people as he welcomed them to the program.
“We need to have respect for each other and also for the teachers,” he said.

Those teachers have volunteered their time to share their faith with their students.
What makes a good catechist?

“A good catechist is someone who is passionate about what they are doing, someone who puts time and thought into their preparation for class,” Ayran said.

Put in larger or more general terms, Furdek said: “A catechist is someone who echoes the faith.”
Being a catechist, like so many other roles in parish life, is being open to and accepting an invitation to serve.
That’s how the Ruppels became involved in parish religious education.

Because they had been involved in youth ministry, becoming involved n the program would seem like a natural transition, but Kay Ruppel said it was definitely a new experience.

This year, especially, they were working with younger students, but it was made easier, Kay Ruppel said, because their granddaughter is the same age as their students. “It made me more comfortable.”The Ruppels, like other catechists in the diocese, continue to say “yes” when invited to share in parish ministry “because the need is there,” Kay Ruppel said. “We love being involved in our parish.”

That love of parish encourages many parishioners to become involved in parish ministries, including as catechists.
“Jim (Ruppel) said the CYO (now youth ministry) helped us raise our children,” Kay Ruppel said. Now, being catechists, they can “give back” to their parish, she said. Not only is it a way to give back to the parish, but the students bring their questions and their concerns to the class, energizing the teachers.

“The enthusiasm of the students is contageous,” Kay Ruppel said. “The kids are very appreciative of our efforts; they’re so affirming and they keep you in touch with young people.”

The theme for Catechetical Sunday this year, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is “Matrimony: Sacrament of Enduring Love.”

The theme, Ayran said, ties in to the basic idea that parents are the primary catechists of their children. She hopes to capitalize on the theme, reminding parents of their important role in passing on their faith as their children’s first teachers.

Also, with that in mind, Ayran said, the program, this year, will concentrate on basics. “Our goal,” she said, “is stressing fundamentals.”

With that in mind, Ayran began her lesson, and her first meeting with the students, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”