Catechists

The night before last was a very interesting experience for me. I was asked to give some lectures to a group of catechists at the Diocesan Centre. There were over 40 people present. These are all volunteers who come once a week to receive input (ongoing formation) so as they can be better catechists. It is a voluntary programme (all the catechists are volunteers too) but, once you sign up for it, you are expected to come to all of the sessions - generally they do.

I was asked to speak about Christology - the theology surrounding Jesus Christ. It was a lively discussion and, which was great, we tried to keep the focus on what might be really useful when working with a catechism group.

The sessions are organised by a Daughter of Charity, whose name I didn't catch. Most of the input is given by Fr. Santiago (the Rector of the seminary) - so he was pleased that I was able to give him a night off.

The really striking thing is the urgency that these people feel about learning more, as much as possible in fact. Their commitment is amazing.

The only fly in the ointment was that when I came home I left my phone behind me. It was gone when we phoned the following morning but, by some miracle, someone had found it and put it aside so we were reunited last night - quite stressful I can tell you.

Yesterday was taken up with different things here in the seminary - helping students prepare for exams, and with their essays etc. Yesterday evening I had to run the Holy Hour and then, after supper, we had Mass in english. This was at the request of a group of the seminarians themselves. All I can say is that I hope they know more theology than they do English!!! That said, it was a happy experience and they all enjoyed it. What made it that little bit more special was the fact that we were joined by an ex-seminarian and his fiancee who came to make their engagment formal with the blessing of the engagement ring. It was really very nice and it was clear that for them, the religious aspect of their marriage was very important.