Yearlong catechist training begins

Intermountain Catholic

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Sr. Linda Marie Bolinski presents a Year of Faith workshop to catechists from Saint George and Christ the King parishes. IC photo/Marie Mischel

ST. GEORGE — Catechists from Saint George and Christ the King parishes gathered Sept. 29 for the first in a series of nine workshops designed to teach them how better to instruct others in the faith.

Father Martin Picos, St. George pastor, and the parish’s director of religious education, Jill Luttrell, devised a list of topics they wanted addressed through a series of presentations for which they have contracted through the Congar Institute, a Texas-based organization devoted to the formation of lay ministers.

The training is needed so the catechists can learn to better transmit their faith, Fr. Picos said, adding that by next summer he hopes that those who attended will have learned "to love Christ and be witnesses. They are right now, but at the end of this year they are going to be better able to speak the Truth."

Sister Linda Marie Bolinski, a member of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius of Danville, Penn., gave the Sept. 29 presentation, focusing on the Year of Faith and the New Evangelization.

"This was a wonderful opportunity to enrich my understanding of what it is to be a catechist, to learn more and to be with my brothers and sisters from the church," said Joe Reed, who teaches sixth-grade religious education at St. George Parish. Not only did he get ideas to take back to the classroom, he said, but the workshop also encouraged him to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church for his own education.

That reaction is precisely what Luttrell was hoping for from those who attended the workshop, she said. "I hope they get the desire to continue the growth and learning and knowing how rich the faith is, and then planting that seed into the children of our church. Sister [Linda Marie] said from the beginning, ‘We talk about it, we teach it, we go to church, but do we live it every day in our life?’"

For St. George parishioner Kimberly Jones, who substitutes for the catechesis program, the workshop was a way to strengthen her faith so she could learn to transmit it to her children, she said. "Being a parent is hard," she said, adding that she strives to teach her children to not be worldly. From the workshop, she learned that "I need to talk to my children, encourage them to search for God in their lives, and that they need to pray to listen to his will for us," she said.

Cathy Mensel, Christ the King Parish’s director of religious education, said she was excited for herself and her fellow catechists from Cedar City to get professional development as well as grow in their personal faith. "It’s such a wonderful opportunity for those of us in southern Utah to get catechesis as catechists," she said. "We really have nothing available to us here without driving to Salt Lake and it’s hard to get our catechism going that distance."

Sr. Linda Marie’s presentation was phenomenal, Luttrell said. "I think she’s made a great statement and presence for the beginning of all of the rest of the sessions."