Exciting times ahead seen by new ORE staffer

The newly appointed associate director for catechist formation in the diocesan Office of Religious Education said, "So much is happening."

The excitement, she said, stems from two new documents, the General Directory for Catechesis and the New York State document, "The Catechist in the Third Millennium." They create a blueprint for catechesis and call for the certification of all catechists. (Separate articles about those documents appear in this special section.)

Certified

"My primary duty will be to provide opportunities for 5,500 catechists to become certified or to continue the certification process," she said. "My focus is not so much on a list of 20 courses but on helping people realize we are all called to develop in faith and spirituality."

While she is excited by this task, she also recognizes the challenges it presents. One of the main hurdles will be finding ways to provide catechist formation to people who have multiple time commitments.

"The challenge is the business of people," she said. "People are unbelievably busy. How do we provide them with opportunities to learn to be great catechists? It's a challenge."

Solutions

Sister Patricia pointed out that the Office of Religious Education already offers catechist certification in a creative way.

"One of the ways we provide basic certification is in a retreat model," she said. "It is done in the context of prayer. [Catechists] look at their own relationship with God."

Helping catechists know themselves in relationship to Jesus Christ is an important part of the certification process, she said. Certification also touches on understanding the stages of child development as well as the levels of faith of children and their learning styles.

"We look at the whole catechist so they can look at the whole child," she said.

Changes

"When I first started to teach, we would help the students obtain a body of knowledge," she said. "Now, religion is a way of life rather than a body of knowledge."

The shift in focus has created a challenge for parents. They were raised memorizing statements for religion class; now, they must deal with religious ed programs that encourage children to make faith a part of their daily routine. Parents are sometimes left feeling unsure of what it is they should be focusing on at home.

"My experience at St. James was that folks really want to do the right thing," she said, "but they are uncertain their faith is okay. They want to teach their children. They need to trust their own relationship with God."

New goals

"I miss the daily interaction with the folks," she said. "I miss the parish staff terribly. We have an extraordinary, wonderful priest."

Working in the ORE, though, is the right place for Sister Patricia at this point in time. "I never thought I'd be here," she said. "I couldn't have been happier in my ministry. When I saw the opening, I knew it was an invitation from God to grow in ministry."

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