USCCB - Catechetical Sunday 2009

For the Pastor

1. For the Pastor

As pastor, you are the lead catechist of your faith community (see Code of Canon Law, cc. 776, 777). Catechetical Sunday provides you with a wonderful opportunity to highlight your role not only as shepherd, counselor, administrator, and presider, but also as your parishioners’ lead catechist. Catechetical Sunday gives you the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the commitment and the many gifts of your staff, your faculty, and the countless volunteers who help you to carry out the ministry of catechesis and to proclaim the Word in your parish. This Sunday—as well as the implementation of the theme of “Catechesis and the Proclamation of the Word” throughout the year—gives you the opportunity to teach your people the importance of allowing the Word to come alive in their daily lives.

This article will help you to get the word out to your parish about Catechetical Sunday, implement the theme throughout the year, and make the most out of the Catechetical Sunday materials.

2. Getting the Word Out

September is a very busy month for you and for everyone, but don’t let Catechetical Sunday slip by. Be sure to mark your calendar with this important day for catechesis, and then plan in advance with your secretary and/or catechetical staff to get the word out. Order your supplies early. Display the posters (in English and Spanish) prominently in the church, at school, and wherever else is appropriate for your parish. Make use of the helpful resources provided online, including the sample bulletin announcements, clip art for bulletin announcements, and clip art for use in fliers, newsletters, e-mail, and your parish Web site. Start using these materials at least a month ahead of time. Tailor the announcements for your parish, and announce the date and time of the Mass at which you will be blessing the parish catechists. Blessing the primary catechists—parents, grandparents, and guardians—at all the other Masses is also encouraged. Distribute fliers to all parish organizations, especially faith formation groups of any age, the school, and the religious education program. Mail personal invitations to key people involved in catechesis, such as religious education catechists, Catholic school teachers, RCIA catechists, adult faith formation catechists, and Scripture group leaders. Consider having pulpit announcements for three weeks. E-mail parish groups last-minute reminders of the date and time of the Mass of Blessing. It is a busy life and a busy month! Keep this wonderful opportunity to celebrate “Catechesis and the Proclamation of the Word” in front of the parishioners so they will remember to celebrate with you.

3. Implementing the Theme Throughout the Year

Implementing the theme of “Catechesis and the Proclamation of the Word” throughout the year requires planning. Gather your staff—clergy, school principal, religious education director, youth minister, liturgy director, lead musicians, and bulletin editor—to begin the planning process. You may want to start the planning with a process of theological reflection. Pray and reflect upon how much of the work of the parish staff involves both catechesis and the proclamation of the Word, and how much of the parish ministries include efforts to catechize the whole parish community and lead it to prayer, worship, and action. Some may find this process unfamiliar, but it can provide a perfect lens for implementing Catechetical Sunday’s theme throughout the year. As you and your staff reflect on the parish’s activities, ask yourselves questions such as these: “How does this activity catechize?” “How does this activity proclaim the Word?” “How does this activity (program, etc.) lead people to an intimacy with Jesus Christ?” Once you and your staff have completed this process and identified planning goals and objectives, they and you can go to the parish’s various committees and continue the process. Ask the pastoral council, the religious education board, the school faculty, the parent-teacher organization, the liturgy committee, and, yes, even the finance committee, to identify how they contribute to the parish’s commitment to catechize and proclaim God’s Word all year. Every moment and every activity is an opportunity to put parishioners into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. The National Directory for Catechesis from the Catholic bishops of the United States emphasizes this point: “Catechesis leads people to enter the mystery of Christ, to encounter him, and to discover themselves and the meaning of their lives in him” (§ 19.B [Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), 2005]).

Every moment is an opportunity for the parish staff to act as living proclaimers of God’s Word. And on a practical level, the Church makes it very easy to incorporate this proclamation into parish life. For example, consider the planned liturgical cycle of readings. The Gospel for Catechetical Sunday 2009 is Mark 9:30-37, from Year B of the Sunday Lectionary cycle. Beginning with Advent 2009, we turn to Year C of the Sunday Lectionary cycle, when the Gospel of Luke is read most Sundays. The readings are proclaimed and explained every Sunday, but parish staff can continue to reflect upon the Sunday Word of God throughout the week—at all parish gatherings, not just those for catechumens. Indeed, the General Directory for Catechesis states that the baptismal catechumenate should be the inspiration for all catechesis (see nos. 90, 91 [Washington, DC: USCCB, 1997]).

One of the methods used to prepare catechumens for Baptism is to “break open” the Sunday readings with them, following the rhythm of the liturgical year. But the richness of God’s Word and the catechesis it has to offer is for all of us, not just catechumens and candidates. Don’t focus on the Word of God only on Sundays. Take time to break open the Word at every parish meeting, class, and prayer group. Discuss questions that challenge people to apply God’s Word to their lives: What is God saying to us this week? What does his Word mean? Where in my life am I being called or challenged to change the way I live? Change brings us to conversion, and conversion is one of the goals of catechesis. Numerous resources are now available to help the leaders and catechists of various groups break open the Scriptures. One such resource in the 2009 Catechetical Sunday materials is the article “Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Art and Practice of Lectio Divina,” by Sr. Antoine Lawlor, IHM.

4. Making the Most of the Catechetical Sunday Materials

With so many wonderful resources and materials for Catechetical Sunday, you might have a hard time figuring out how to use them all—but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Many of the activities already suggested in this article can be done with the resources provided at http://www.usccb.org/catecheticalsunday/ especially the Leader Resources and the Parish Resources. Use the bulletin inserts, the posters, and the clip art to get the word out. The clip art can be used in your publicity, lesson plans, and training materials. With the exception of the prayer cards, the posters, and the certificates (discussed later in this section), all of the Catechetical Sunday materials are available on the USCCB Web site, for easy and free downloading: http://www.usccb.org/catecheticalsunday/. No more waiting for booklets!

The Family Conversations resources are wonderful. Make them available to your families. Short, direct, relevant, and powerful, these resources are made up of brief reflections on the Advent and Lenten readings. They can be used to start family conversations at home or in the car on the way to church and back. (In the car, parents have a captive audience!) Help families make the most of their precious moments together. Let them know that a great deal of fruitful catechesis, ritual, and proclamation of the Word can take place very simply within the domestic Church—the home. Most families just need a little encouragement to see and use their homes as sacred spaces. Remind them that their homes are sacred because they themselves make them holy.

Part of your parish planning should include retreats for catechists and families. The 2009 Catechetical Sunday materials include a catechist retreat that focuses on the theme of the vocation of the catechist. Catechists, responding to a call from you as the pastor, or from the parish director of religious education (DRE), often are not aware that they are really answering a call from God and fulfilling the call of their baptismal mission to proclaim the Word of God. Parents also have a catechetical vocation, living out their baptismal call as the primary catechists of their children.

Also available is a collection of teaching aids: four articles that can be used not only as part of catechist training throughout the year, but also as adult faith formation materials. These articles, available in English and Spanish, are entitled “The Great Commission: Ad Gentes,”“Catechesis: ‘Teaching What God Has Taught Us,’” “What Does Evangelization Look Like? Mind the Gap,” and “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi: The Word of God in the Celebration of the Sacraments.”

As in past years, the following print materials will also be available for purchase from USCCB Publishing: Prayer for Catechists (English: No. 7-076; Spanish: No. 7-077), Family Commitment Prayer (English: No. 7-080; Spanish: No. 7-081), Catechist Certificates (English: No. 7-078; Spanish: No. 7-079), and the Catechetical Sunday poster (No. 7-082). Distribute the “Catechist’s Prayer” cards at the Rite of Blessing on Catechetical Sunday or at any catechist training, and pray the prayer whenever you gather. Distribute the “Family Commitment Prayer” cards on Catechetical Sunday, at parent orientation sessions, at intergenerational faith sessions, and at adult faith formation sessions throughout the year. Encourage parishioners to use the “Prayer for Catechists” to call down God’s blessing and guidance upon catechists for the important work that they do.

We hope this article is helpful to you and your parish staff in getting the word out, implementing the theme of “Catechesis and the Proclamation of the Word” throughout the year, and making the most of the rich 2009 Catechetical Sunday materials. May your year be filled with the wisdom and grace of God’s Word.