The Catholic News

Hundreds of catechists attended their annual day of recollection recently

On May 6, the Catechetical Office held its Annual Day of Recollection for catechists of the archdiocese.

The theme of the recollection was The Spirituality of Imperfection based on 2 Corinthians 12:10 (“for whenever I am weak, then I am strong”).

The Catechetical Office collaborated with the Ignatian Spirituality Team for this recollection.

The day saw about 260 catechists coming together at the Catholic Spirituality Centre to reflect on how God can work through the wounded humanity of the Christian.

Catechists were invited to reflect on their awareness of their own fragile humanity through a short reflection by catechetical director Fr Erbin Fernandez on the Serenity Prayer.

The prayer begins with “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

The recollection also included small group sharing and a practice of the Examination of Consciousness, led by the Ignatian Spirituality team.

At the start of the recollection, Fr Erbin noted that one of the challenges catechists face is to help the young person make sense of his or her Christian faith in the context of an increasingly secularised society.

This, in turn, would mean that catechists themselves need to make sense of their own life experiences.

Fr Erbin encouraged the catechists to become more aware of their own way of living in the world, and to nurture a spirituality which would help them constantly make positive choices in spite of difficult circumstances.

Catechists were later led through the Examination of Consciousness (Examen) as a simple yet powerful spiritual practice that could enable them to sense presence of God and His will in their lives.

Ms Josephine Leow, a catechist from the Church of the Holy Spirit, said she came away from the recollection “with a better insight into my role as a catechist”.

“More than anything, I knew that I was being confronted by the question of my own relevance as a catechist. How do I treat my role? Have I the passion required of me to bring others to Christ?” she shared.

She added that the sharing of the facilitators and her own group of catechists helped her “look forward with optimism to help initiate and lead our young to the Good Shepherd”.