Florida Catholic | Faith Formation Day

Catechists urged to be people of hope

Faith Formation Day participants challenged to live as models of compassion.

PEGGY DEKEYSER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PENSACOLA-TALLAHASSEE BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 10.26.07

PENSACOLA | A veteran teacher from New Orleans who witnessed the toll Hurricane Katrina took on the hearts and minds of city residents challenged catechists from around the diocese to be people of hope.

“We must be hope-filled. We must be hope bearers,” keynote speaker Dr. Saundra Kennedy said to participants in the diocesan faith formation day Oct. 13 at Pensacola Catholic High School.

The annual conference brings together those who teach in religious education programs, schools and Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults programs throughout the diocese, providing talks and materials to take back to their classrooms to enliven their teaching. Even more, though, the conference gives catechists and others who share and teach the faith a chance to network with one another, exchanging their stories and inspiring each other, according to Rita Tolbert, resource coordinator for the Department of Christian Formation, which sponsors the event. The theme of this year’s conference was “Encounter the Living Christ.”

Kennedy, who represents Sadlier Publishing, said that the word “catechist” is drawn from a Greek word meaning “to echo,” and that the one whom catechists must echo is the person of Jesus.

“We each probably got into this business of teaching the faith in response to a voice — either from within or from outside — and we said yes without knowing exactly what we were getting ourselves into or what was coming next,” she said. “If we did know, we might never have said yes in the first place. Mary, riding on a donkey over rough roads to Bethlehem nine months pregnant, may have been thinking ‘I didn’t know that saying yes to the angel was going to mean this!’”

Kennedy called on the catechists to become people of deeper faith, always seeking to deepen their relationships with God. “When people pray during the tough times, in hospital waiting rooms and at funeral homes, they don’t worry about the fine points or wording of the prayers. The prayers of our hearts are all about relationship, about having God to cling to.”

The job of catechists is to live as role models for those they would teach, she said, modeling what has been learned from Jesus: profound compassion, constant prayer, loving the unlovable, and enthusiastically preparing and sharing lessons that engage the heart, mind and soul.

Joan Fayard of St. Mary Parish in Pensacola said of the keynote speaker, “She was fantastic, inspiring and moving.”

Bishop John H. Ricard, SSJ, joined the conference for the beginning prayer service, saying, “People have a hunger to learn more about their faith. We have heard throughout the diocese that people want better and more communication. That’s because they want to know more, to engage more in their faith lives. That’s a good thing. That’s why you’re here.” He encouraged the participants to develop their own abilities to communicate the Gospel and to exemplify Christ. “We have to live what we preach, proclaiming the word and living the word,” he said.

Following the keynote address, participants chose break-out sessions from a range of presenters, including Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart Sister Maria Luz Ortiz, RCIA and Bible study; Barbara Nichols, welcoming adults; Denise Walden, arts and crafts with young children; St. Joseph Sister Karen Kirby, elementary-age catechesis; Marianne Rhode, sacramental catechesis; Sister of Christian Community Andrea Zbiegien, seasonal catechetical materials; Ann Marie Eckert, young teens; Stephanie McNeill and Tom Baroco, RCIA and liturgy; Thomas Gordon, RCIA and Scripture; and Denise Pressley, catechesis as a call from God. Publishers also were on hand to display and explain various curricula.

Aurora Ramos of Christ Our Redeemer Parish in Niceville came to the conference for ways to learn to do her job as a catechist to Spanish-speaking Catholics better. “We are always seeking better ways to meet the needs of these people and I know that I will find some new ideas today.”

Deacon Jim Cox from Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Niceville thought the conference was “pretty cool,” saying that no one could have fallen asleep during the keynote address. He came looking for ideas to better involve the sixth-grade students he teaches at St. Mary School in Fort Walton Beach. “I just got a ‘smart board’ in my classroom. I’m looking for ideas to grab to put up there to keep sixth-graders awake.”

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Catechists urged to be people of hope

Faith Formation Day participants challenged to live as models of compassion.

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