It’s incumbent upon veteran catechists to engage the newbies and make them feel welcome and appreciated. I just had such an opportunity; here’s a brief report.
Yesterday my parish put on a light dinner and faith-formation for the catechists. My instinct is to sit with catechists I know, and schmooze. Instead I chatted with them briefly, then sat at a table with strangers- which is to say, new catechists. I first met the married couple beside me. The husband will be the bouncer in my 6th-grade class, and his wife will teach third grade. I asked them right off if they were cradles or converts; they had converted from the Southern Baptist denomination a few years ago. We discussed their faith journey, their dissatisfaction with “Bible churches” they’d attended, their RCIA experience, why they converted to Catholicism in particular, why they were at our parish, how Catholicism suited them, their motivations and expectations for catechizing, etc. Then we talked with a cradle Catholic preschool catechist from Michigan, who sat on my left. She commented on the number of proselytizers who come to her door down here. We discussed seeing those visits as evangelizing opportunities, and I said that preparing my 6th-graders to evangelize is a big part of class. Finally I invited them all to give the monthly parish breakfast a try: it’s affordable, restaurant-quality food with a wide selection of dishes, and a chance to experience some Catholic Fellowship (yikes!) and plug into the parish family.
It was a very agreeable and affirming evening- and not at all unusual.
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