Vatican Liturgy Office Issues Guidelines for Catechist Ministry

The archbishop also explained that the way this role will be carried out may be different in each diocese, depending on the particular needs of the community; the tasks of a catechist in a mission territory will differ from those in an area with a long-standing tradition of the Catholic faith.

It is the job of bishops’ conferences, Roche said, “to clarify the description, the role, and the most appropriate forms for the exercise of the ministry of Catechists” in conformity with Pope Francis’ May 11, 2021 motu proprio.

The two main categories of tasks for catechists, he said, are catechizing, or teaching the faith, and participating in apostolates.

Baptized adult Catholics who have received the sacraments of confirmation and first Holy Communion and would like to be instituted in the ministry of catechist can present a written and signed petition to their diocesan bishop, who decides who may be admitted as a candidate.

The ministry is conferred by the bishop or by a priest delegated by him, according to the liturgical rite promulgated by the Holy See on Dec. 13, 2021. The institution should take place during a Mass or celebration of the Liturgy of the Word.

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The structure of the rite proposes an exhortation about the role of the catechist, an invitation to prayer, a blessing, and the handing over of a crucifix.

In his letter, Roche emphasized the “vocational aspect” of the ministry, and noted the importance of careful reflection on the part of diocesan bishops regarding who to institute in the ministry.

“It does not seem appropriate for everyone to be instituted as a catechist,” he said, encouraging suitable discernment about who should be admitted to the lay ministry.

He added that it is not necessarily appropriate to institute as catechists all people who are involved in parish formation programs for adults seeking to join the Catholic Church — in the U.S. this program is now called the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults, or OCIA.

“If, however, those who are involved in initiation are entrusted — under the moderation of ordained ministers — with a task of formation or the responsibility for coordinating all catechetical activity, then it would seem more appropriate for them to be instituted as Catechists,” Roche said.

The liturgy office also offered guidelines for who, with some exceptions, should not be instituted as catechists in a diocese. This list included men who are preparing to receive Holy Orders as priests or deacons, men and women religious, catechists for ecclesial movements, and Catholic religion school teachers.

In Antiquum ministerium, Pope Francis said that recent decades had seen “a significant renewal of catechesis,” and “catechists are called first to be expert in the pastoral service of transmitting the faith as it develops through its different stages from the initial proclamation of the kerygma [Gospel proclamation] to the instruction that presents our new life in Christ and prepares for the sacraments of Christian initiation, and then to the ongoing formation that can allow each person to give an accounting of the hope within them.”

“It is fitting that those called to the instituted ministry of Catechist be men and women of deep faith and human maturity, active participants in the life of the Christian community, capable of welcoming others, being generous and living a life of fraternal communion,” the pope wrote.

Catechists “should also receive suitable biblical, theological, pastoral and pedagogical formation to be competent communicators of the truth of the faith and they should have some prior experience of catechesis,” he continued. “It is essential that they be faithful co-workers with priests and deacons, prepared to exercise their ministry wherever it may prove necessary, and motivated by true apostolic enthusiasm.”

Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.