Intimate Communion with Jesus Christ 

Most parishes, realizing this to be the case, usually anoint someone with the imposing title: Director of Religious Education. The title changes from parish to parish, but the job descriptions look amazingly similar. First, teach our children the basics of the faith in such a way that they will not leave the church when they are 17. Second, with whatever time you have left, mount a successful adult education program, establish a year-round RCIA process (for adults, teens, and children), and assist the youth minister with the confirmation program.

Toward intimate communion with Jesus Christ

How in the world is that possible? How can you be responsible for the intimate faith life of every person in your parish? Well, it's not easy, but it is possible. This newsletter aims to show you how to make that possibility a reality. It will not only show you how to do it but how to do it in such a way that you don't burn out from stress and overwork.

The key to success: team building

As the DRE in the parish, you need to see your ministry as the hub of all the catechetical efforts of the community. Every ministry catechizes; it is impossible for ministers not to catechize. So, as catechism-central, your concern needs to focus on how the other ministers are catechizing and what their catechesis is teaching about faith. In any parish, there are several, perhaps dozens, of ministers. But the areas of ministry tend to fall into four key areas, which may be headed by a person, by a committee, or by whoever happens to be available on a given day. Nevertheless, these four key areas are focal points of every parish's activities:

1. the catechetical ministry
2. the liturgical ministry

3. the pastoral ministry within the parish
4. the pastoral ministry beyond the parish

1. by a suitable catechesis that acquaints them with the word of God and the dogmas of the church.
2. by living and praying the liturgical life of the community
3. by following the example of the rest of the community as they live the Christian life
4. by working to spread the Gospel through the apostolic work of the community

If you can, imagine for a moment that you don't have to prepare materials for 15 volunteer catechists next week and you don't have to prepare 300 first communion certificates and you don't have to meet with the liturgist to plan confirmation. What would you say is the most important thing about your job? It is difficult to guess the answer of each individual reader, but based on the work of most religious educators, it is not hard to assume that your answer has something to do with passing on faith.

If you can still imagine for a moment, imagine you could get every area of ministry in your parish to agree that the most important job of the parish is to pass on faith. That shouldn't be too hard to imagine. Most pastors, most liturgists, most youth ministers, most school teachers also want to pass on faith. It is why they got into ministry in the first place.

Okay, one last leap of imagination. Imagine you could channel all that pass-on-the-faith energy into a single effort, a single direction, everybody working together. That may be harder to imagine, but it is doable. It may be difficult in your situation, but there are few places where it would be absolutely impossible. Perhaps your first response is to think, "Sure, it would be possible if we had a better pastor or a flexible liturgist or a competent youth minister." Resist that thought. As true as it may be, it won't help to think that way. Somehow, you need to turn the other ministers of the parish into your allies. Thinking of them as roadblocks only establishes them more firmly as roadblocks.

Think of them instead in the ideal way you would like them to assist in the catechetical effort of the parish. Think of their unique gifts and talents and how you can encourage those gifts to move the parish along in its work of passing on the faith. Think of the ideal way you can interact with each of these ministries to enable your community to come into intimate communion with Jesus Christ. Simply by asking yourself how that can be accomplished is a catechetical act. The very asking of the question moves your community into deeper communion with Jesus.

Focus: First things first

A primary goal of the liturgical ministry is the full, conscious, and active participation of the assembly. How does catechesis happen by encouraging the liturgical planners to meet that goal? How does preparing children and adults to celebrate the liturgy well function as an act of catechesis?

Build a parish-wide catechetical effort

Everything a parish does catechizes. Your colleagues in ministry may not think of what they do as catechesis, but they probably think of what they do as setting a good example. You can build on that to create a unified, parish-wide catechetical effort. Even your willingness to try, to die to yourself, to redouble your efforts in the face of initial resistance is a catechetical act. You teach by your example.

In coming issues of this newsletter, we will focus on some of the specifics of how you can more effectively interact with your colleagues. Not all suggestions will work in every situation. However, you may get a new idea or a fresh insight. One thing you cannot do is retire to your corner of turf and "do your own thing." That, too, catechizes, but it catechizes badly. Your job is not impossible, but it is important. This newsletter can be a tool to help you discern what needs to be done and how to go about doing it. If you are successful, you will be able to accomplish the goal set out by the pope to bring everyone in the parish into communion and intimacy with Jesus Christ because all the ministries of the parish will be working toward the same end. -- Nick Wagner