Catechesis Supplement

Bilingual catechist workshop builds up bonds of faith in New Albany Deanery

Members of St. Michael Parish in Charlestown pose during an Aug. 16 bilingual catechist workshop at St. Mary Parish in New Albany. They are, from left in the front row, Laura Kinder, Jessica Sarver, Jennie Lathem and Christina Smith. From left in the second row, Nick Smith, Haley Cady, Abigail Martinez, Evangelina Delgado Veliz, Luz Elena Niño-Melchor and Gerardo Pascual. (Submitted photo)

By Sean Gallagher

Catechists from across the New Albany Deanery gathered on Aug. 16 at St. Mary Parish in the southern Indiana city to learn more about the faith and to hone their skills in passing it on to others.

The workshop involved a bilingual question-and-answer session and opportunities for bilingual communal prayer. There were also breakout sessions in Spanish and English that focused on teaching young people how to pray and how to retain the knowledge of the faith they are given.

Ken Ogorek, executive director of the archdiocesan Secretariat for Evangelizing Catechesis, and Felix Navarrete, archdiocesan coordinator of Hispanic ministry, helped lead the workshop attended by more than 20 catechists from three New Albany Deanery faith communities.

“It’s so important for catechists to invest in their own formation,” Ogorek said. “Workshops like this are great ways for folks who teach the faith to increase their own knowledge and ability to share sacred truths as catechists.

“And a bilingual format is an excellent way to manifest the breadth of our Church as well as showing how several offices and ministries can collaborate fruitfully.”

“We are a Church that every day is becoming more diverse,” Navarette said. “The fact of having such different catechists in this workshop gave us a widely open panorama about what a multicultural Church means.

“There were not only people with different skin colors, but also people with different realities, from different parishes, with different experiences and backgrounds. In the end, though, they were united by the same goal: to train to better serve others.”

Andrew Hennessy, St. Mary’s parish catechetical leader and youth minister, helped organize the workshop. He noted that the initiative can strengthen the ties within the diverse New Albany Deanery faith community and give encouragement to people who are just beginning to pass on the faith to others in parish programs.

“Every opportunity to have folks from different ethnic and language backgrounds together for a common cause is a small but important step to continued integration and mutual enrichment,” Hennessy said. “Perhaps the special thing about the workshop is it also acknowledges our common needs to grow, of our common doubts about taking up the role of lay apostolate.

“When our new catechists are nervous and see the same in the others, there is a chance to build not only cooperation but mutual support.”

Jessica Sarver, pastoral associate at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Henryville and St. Michael Parish in Charlestown, attended the workshop with 10 catechists from St. Michael.

“We are always seeking to develop in our ministry, and this was a perfect opportunity for our Spanish and Anglo communities to come together for a common training,” Sarver said. “The training was very helpful, as it gave us some practical suggestions, some of which I was able to put into practice at a recent meeting at my parish.

“I have two new young adult volunteers that will be helping with youth ministry this year. They were both able to attend the training with us.”

She also appreciated how people from diverse ethnic backgrounds came together at the workshop to learn more about the faith that they all share and seek to pass on to others.

“This is extremely important, especially for the parish communities that serve both a Spanish-speaking community and an Anglo community,” Sarver said. “We do a pretty good

job of bringing our Anglo and Spanish communities together in children’s and youth ministry, but not so much in adult ministry.

“We are working hard to collaborate more at St. Michael. Bringing our Anglo and Spanish catechists together for one training really helps. †

 

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