Welcome to St. Anthony Faith Formation! I am so excited you have heard and an- swered the call of God to be a catechist! My hope and prayer is that this vocation will be fruitful for your own growth in faith and relationship with Christ as you journey with the students in your classes as they grow and develop in theirs. This manual is de- signed to be a resource for you to learn from and to look back and reference when you find yourself needing a fresh perspective. It is not a set of rules and obligations you need to follow. It is some insights into the craft of catechesis to which you have been called. You may have classroom experience as a teacher, you may have experience training others in your career, you may have coaching experience, you may have no experience teaching. Whatever your level of expertise, this manual should hold some new information specific to catechesis, which is different from traditional classroom teaching, though your time in a learning environment will be called upon as you reflect on these topics and techniques. Blessings, Beth Cowles Coordinator of Elementary Religious Education St. Anthony Catholic Church Bryan, TX This manual has some unique features: each section begins with a short prayer, scripture verse, or quote from a saint and ends with questions for reflection. The purpose of these is to help keep you focused on the fact that we are all here for the pur- pose of ministry…to bring others to Christ and His Church. Welcome St. Anthony...pray for us!
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Welcome to St. Anthony Faith Formation! I am so excited you have heard and an-
swered the call of God to be a catechist! My hope and prayer is that this vocation will
be fruitful for your own growth in faith and relationship with Christ as you journey with
the students in your classes as they grow and develop in theirs. This manual is de-
signed to be a resource for you to learn from and to look back and reference when you
find yourself needing a fresh perspective. It is not a set of rules and obligations you
need to follow. It is some insights into the craft of catechesis to which you have been
called. You may have classroom experience as a teacher, you may have experience
training others in your career, you may have coaching experience, you may have no
experience teaching. Whatever your level of expertise, this manual should hold some
new information specific to catechesis, which is different from traditional classroom
teaching, though your time in a learning environment will be called upon as you reflect
on these topics and techniques.
Blessings, Beth Cowles
Coordinator of Elementary Religious Education
St. Anthony Catholic Church
Bryan, TX
This manual has some unique features: each
section begins with a short prayer, scripture verse,
or quote from a saint and ends with questions for
reflection. The purpose of these is to help keep you
focused on the fact that we are all here for the pur-
pose of ministry…to bring others to Christ and His
Church.
Welcome
St. Anthony...pray for us!
Catechesis is the passing on of our faith to others in a systematic and orderly way
(General Directory of Catechesis, 66). There is a pedagogy of God that we strive to
emulate when teaching the faith to others. God revealed Himself and the essential
truths of our existence slowly and in stages “so as to draw even closer to man” (GDC,
38). Pope St. John Paul II, in his apostolic exhortation Catechesi Tradendae, tells us
that fundamentally, the aim of catechesis is to put people in intimate communion with
the Person of Jesus Christ (5).
This manual is designed to help you in your vocation as a catechist to achieve these
high ideals in your individual classes, with individual students. We need to remember at
all times that this is not simply a class to teach certain objectives for recollection on a
test. Our purpose is to journey with our students, our brothers and sisters in Christ, on
our way to heaven. Passing on the faith to others is a high calling within the Church.
Let us all help one another to succeed in this purpose and bring each other, our stu-
dents, and whole parish community closer to Christ and His salvation.
We follow Christ as Teacher, allowing Him to guide us in our task that He sets be-
fore us. So, let us begin as He taught us, calling on the name of our Father in heaven:
Introduction
The first proclamation of the Gospel is our first task
when catechizing. This is also known as the Kerygma. Re-
minding ourselves and our students what the big picture is
where our faith is concerned is important. ‘On the lips of the
catechist the first proclamation must ring out over and over:
“Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and
now he is living at your side every day to enlighten,
strengthen and free you” (Evangelii Gaudium 164, Pope
Francis, 2013).’
Here is an example of a simple statement of this Truth:
Jesus Christ, Son of God, became Incarnate in the fullness of time. He suffered,
died, rose again, and ascended to Heaven for the forgiveness of all sin. He is the
redeemer of the world.
You can formulate your own statement of this central core of the Good News. It
should be the one thing you return to with each lesson…how does this lesson tie into
this central core? Having your Kerygmatic statement on a poster or wall hanging is a
good reminder for everyone who walks into your classroom that this is the focus of
our faith.
"To restore the kerygma to its full power and clarity into one single
message proclaiming with joy and love the beauty and the promise of
the kingdom of God is the task of the kerygmatic renewal. Its chief aim
is to present the truths of the faith as an organic whole. The core is the
Good News of our redemption in Christ. It's fruit should be our grateful
and loving response to God's loving call (Jungmann, “Theology and
Kerugmatic Teaching, Lumen Vitae, 5).”
This proclamation demands a response. If I were to say to you, “I did all of your
chores today” what would your response be? Most likely, a “thank you” or “you
shouldn’t have!” or “what can I do for you?” In the same way, Jesus’ life, passion,
death, resurrection, and ascension should elicit a response from us. We can seek a re-
sponse from those whom we teach. Our desire for them is to develop a relationship
with Jesus Christ, so we begin with helping them to understand the relationships they
F or God so
loved the
world that
he gave
his only Son, so that
everyone who be-
lieves in him might
not perish but might
have eternal life.
John 3:16
The Kerygma –
our catechesis must be kerygmatic
already have with their family, friends, classmates, neighbors, and people at church.
We help them to see how those relationships are images of the relationship God desires
with them. This can look very different in each classroom with each grade-level, and
even with each individual person!
By putting what Jesus did for us in terms the children can un-
derstand, we help them to begin that relationship. We are representa-
tives of Christ in our faith formation classrooms. How do you develop
the relationship with the children? How can they make the leap from
relationship with a catechist to a relationship with Christ? This is our
job. By relating with them lovingly, telling them how you love them
through your love for Christ, and in your desire to teach them the
faith He called the “pearl of great price” (Mt. 13:45-46) you are accomplishing this
goal, this Task of Catechesis (General Directory for Catechesis, 85).
The story of salvation history is our story - it is our learners’ story. Knowing The
Story and being able to articulate it, to tell it in an engaging manner is important to
helping the children understand their place in God’s family. Human beings learn best
through stories; this is evidenced by how information was passed down through the
ages: oral tradition, clay tablets, papyrus, plays, poetry, novels, radio shows, television
series, movies are all storytelling ways and means. Ask a student to tell you about their
day or their grandpa and you’ll get a story! Ask anyone what their favorite book is and
you can bet it’s NOT a textbook! Stories
are who we are, it’s where we’ve come
from and where we are going. Making
The Story a central part of your faith
formation lessons and showing the stu-
dents how you and they fit into it will
create a sense of curiosity and wonder
that can prove invaluable when teaching
the truths of the faith that, on face
value, may seem dry or formulaic.
Using methods appropriate for the age
group, we should tell the story, asking them to put themselves into it. One way to ac-
complish this is imaginative guided meditation.
Some of the resources available include:
Guided Reflections for Children, Volumes 1 & 2, Loyola Press