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parish religious education programs begin across the diocese

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

With 90 diocesan religious education programs beginning across the diocese, catechists and their students are gathering in parishes on a week night or weekend to share their faith and the Gospel message.

Each year the programs begin around the time of Catechetical Sunday, this year Sept. 20, to mark in a special way, the role of those who minister to young people not enrolled in Catholic schools.

According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ web site, “Catechetical Sunday is a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon the role that each person plays, by virtue of Baptism, in handing on the faith and being a witness to the Gospel. Catechetical Sunday is an opportunity for all to rededicate themselves to this mission as a community of faith.

At SS. Peter and Paul Parish in Waterloo, religious education classes began Sept. 9 with young people and their parents gathering at the church for a message from their priests and their catechetical leaders.
While students gathered with their teachers, parents remained in church to hear more about the program and their roles as their children’s first teachers.

“You begin the work of evangelization of your children by word and example in your houses,” Father Osang To the young people, he said: “At PSR (parish school of religion), you learn about faith; you learn about the Church; and you learn to be better Christians.”

To the catechists, Father Osang said: “It is important that the teachers communicate to the kids what is important; your lives will be an example to them.”

The catechists, after numerous meetings and classes, enthusiastically welcomed their students. First grade catechist, Amy Ingram, began her career as a volunteer when her son entered first grade.

Later, she followed her son and became a third-grade catechist “because I wanted to be a part of his learning experience and wanted him to realize that I was there to support him in his faith formation,” Ingram said. Second-grade catechist Cathy Pfeil will be preparing her students for their first Communion and waves a skit or game into the class along with the materials.

“I love to use music and memorization,” she said. The skits and games give her a way to “test their knowledge,” she added.

Pfeil said she “loves to share my faith with anyone who will listen. I see my job as a catechist as an animator, to bring the Catholic faith alive for my students and everyone with whom I come in contact.”

Catechists who teach on a week night also meet the challenges of teaching young people who have already spent a full day in a classroom and may have other things on their minds.

Students are beginning another lesson after the dinner hour. Some “are tired and may have homework to do” after they go home, Pfeil said. “Getting the message of faith across to them” can be a challenge.

Aware of her role as someone who sets an example for her young students, Pfeil remembers the message of St. Francis of Assisi: Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.

“I pass my faith on to my students by showing them how much I love my Catholic faith and just how fortunate we are to be given the opportunity to follow Christ in the Church,” Pfeil said.

In the case of seventh-grade catechist, Linette Hermanns, she is following her students from sixth to seventh grade.
This is Hermanns’ second year as a SS. Peter and Paul catechist.

“I enjoyed my students so much (last year), and they asked if I could be their teacher (again), so I decided to move with them to the seventh grade.”

It was obvious students were overjoyed at the prospect of having Hermanns for their teacher. When she was introduced as a catechist at the large gathering in the church, her students applauded their returning teacher.
She became a catechist “to get more involved with the church and also to become more engaged in my faith,” Hermanns said.

This is ultimately the goal of all catechists across the diocese: to engage the young people and serve as an example for them to live and learn more about their own faith as they pass it along to others.

Father Osang noted that by sending young people to parish religious education programs, parents “entrust” their children to the parish and its catechists so that they may “become Catholic and remain Catholic” as they are “brought up in the faith.”

Because parents are the first teachers of their children, their responsibilities of passing on their own faith does not stop at the church doors as they drop off children for catechesis, he added.

The role of catechist must be shared between the parish and the home, from the community of faith to the domestic church of the home.

By sharing in the evangelization of children, the Catholic faith will continue to be passed from one generation to the next in a partnership for the benefit of all.