A catechist (and teacher) is a person of faith who lives the baptismal call by sharing the faith with others. They help bring others to Christ through the traditions and teachings of the Catholic faith. A catechist (and teacher) realizes God’s voice in this call to serve and recognizes the ongoing need to grow in a relationship with Christ and deepen an understanding of the Catholic faith.
Pope Francis, 2021

Reflect on Your Ministry

• How would you describe your ministry as a teacher or catechist?
• What are some of the specific ways you live out (practice) your ministry as a teacher or catechist?

Three Roles

The Directory for Catechesis (para 113) describes the role of a catechist and teacher in three ways:

1. A witness of faith and keeper of the memory of God; in experiencing the goodness and truth of the Gospel  in his or her encounter with the person of Jesus, the catechist keeps, nourishes, and bears witness to the new life that stems from this, and becomes a sign for others. The faith contains the memory of God’s history with humanity. Keeping this memory, reawakening it in others, and placing it at the service of the proclamation is the specific vocation of the catechist. The testimony of life is necessary for the credibility of the mission. Recognize his or her own frailty before the mercy of God, the catechist does not cease to be the sign of hope for his brothers and sisters.
2. A teacher and a mystagogue who introduces others to the mystery of God, revealed in the paschal mystery of Christ; as an icon of Jesus the teacher, the catechist has the two-fold task of transmitting the content of the faith and leading others into the mystery of faith itself. The catechist is called to open others to the truth about human beings and their ultimate vocation, communicating the knowledge of Christ and at the same tie introducing them to the various dimensions of the Christian life, unveiling the mysteries of salvation contained in the deposit of faith and renewed in the Church’s liturgy.
3. An accompanier and educator of those who are entrusted to him or her by the Church; the catechist is an expert in the art of accompaniment, has education expertise, is able to listen and enter in the dynamics of human growth, becomes a traveling companion with patience and a sense of gradualness, in docility to the action of the Spirit and through a process of formation helps his brothers and sisters to mature in the Christian life and journey toward God. The catechist, an expert in humanity, knows the joys and hopes of human beings, their sadness and distress (Gaudium et Spes 1) and is able to situate them in relation to the Gospel of Jesus.

Reflecting on the Three Roles

Reflect on how you see yourself practicing each of the three roles as a teacher or catechist, and how you might try new ways to practice each role.

A witness of faith and keeper of the memory of God

• Ways I currently practice this role.
• Ways I could practice this role.

A teacher and a mystagogue

• Ways I currently practice this role.
• Ways I could practice this role

An accompanier and educator

• Ways I currently practice this role.
• Ways I could practice this role.