Pope Francis issued a Motu Proprio Tuesday, May 11, announcing the new Rite of Institution of the Lay Ministry of Catechist from the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Catechists are those formally engaged in religious formation and education in the Catholic Church.
The ministry will be announced through an apostolic letter, Antiquum ministerium, by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization. The apostolic letter draws on the Directory for Catechesis, which was released last June, and the Church’s wealth of catechetical documents.
Catholic University faculty teaching in the catechetics area of Theology and Religious Studies prepared to comment on this letter include:
Jem Sullivan, visiting associate professor of catechetics, teaches in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at Catholic University. She instructs courses on liturgical catechesis and the history and theory of catechetics. She has served as a catechetical consultant at the national and diocesan levels within the Church.
She is the author of four books on catechetical themes including a Study Guide to the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, A Weekly Study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, A Catechists’ Guide to the New Evangelization, and The Beauty of Faith (2010), published by Our Sunday Visitor. She is the host of Echoing Faith Today, a podcast series presented by the School of Theology and Religious Studies, on themes in the new Directory for Catechesis.
Contact Sullivan at sullivanj@cua.edu.
Rev. Raymond Studzinski, associate professor of spirituality and catechetics area director in the School of Theology and Religious Studies, can comment on topics related to catechetics, religion and culture, and spirituality. He is the author of Reading to Live: The Evolving Practice of Lectio Divina, (Liturgical Press, 2009). He is the editor of the new catechetical journal, International Journal of Evangelization and Catechetics, published by The Catholic University of America Press.
Contact Father Studzinski at studzinski@cua.edu.
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