Faith Formation

We all live in a home, a parish and a diocese. Catechesis is to occur in all of these settings.

Christ was speaking to all of us when he said, “Go and make disciples … baptize them … and teach them.” Catechesis then begins and ends with Christ. It is all about helping us understand profoundly what it means to be a baptized Christian and how we are to live with and as Christ. It is, by its very nature, a never ending task while we are on Earth. It is the journey of a lifetime.

Our approach to catechesis is an extension of the highly successful and effective Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It is intended not only to inform, but also to form us as Christians. It is a way of enculturation and incarnation as Christ lives and acts through us. It helps us to know who we are and why we are.

“At the heart of the Christian message we find, in essence, a person, the person of Jesus of Nazareth … . The definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch, but in communion, in intimacy, with Jesus Christ. Only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity.”

The Holy Spirit fosters, nurtures, and continues the conversion process of the whole person and community into the image and likeness of Christ. The cooperative action of our church in this work of the Spirit is the well from which all catechetical activity springs. In catechizing, we seek “to develop in women and men a living, a conscious and active faith,” that is, discipleship for the reign of God.

~ From Taste and See, Catechesis as Food for the Journey

Diocese of Greensburg, 1999