Forming Catechist Enrichment Groups

In her book, Cultivating Your Catechists: How to Recruit, Encourage, and Retain Successful Catechists (The Effective Catechetical Leader series), Jayne Mondoy reminds us that corporate America invests millions of dollars in coaching groups of individuals (employees or clients) to work together toward a common goal and to be fully engaged. The truth is, without engagement, people (especially volunteers) tend to burn out more quickly. In his book, Growing an Engaged Church (Gallup Press), Albert L. Winseman identifies three ways to make an immediate impact on the level of engagement of church members:

Clarify the expectations of membership.
Help your members discover what they do best.
Create small groups.

I think these can (and should) be easily applied to catechists, who, without engagement, do indeed burnout quickly. Those catechists who persevere the longest are the ones who become more deeply engaged in the faith community. The best safeguard against constant turnover of catechists is to care for and nurture them. The three strategies above are helpful.

Catechists need to have clarity on what is expected of them (more than just “teach the fifth grade”) in this vocation, as well as what they can expect in return!
Catechetical leaders need to help catechists discover and develop their gifts through ongoing formation—not just completing courses to get a certificate, but true attention to personal growth.
Catechists should be encouraged to form small enrichment groups (perhaps four to six catechists), dedicated to working together on their faith formation. In fact, if anyone in the parish should be in small faith groups, it should be catechists!

Such enrichment groups can meet informally at the catechists’ homes to select books to read and discuss together, seminars and workshops to attend, and online courses and webinars to participate in together. To get started, here are some resources I would recommend from the Loyola Press library for catechists to use in their small groups. The resources are organized according to categories normally required for catechist certification.

Teaching Skills

Jesus

The Catholic Faith

Scripture

The Stories of the Old Testament
The Bible Blueprint
Six Weeks with the Bible
Meeting St. Mark Today (also, St. John, St. Luke, St. Matthew, and St. Paul)

Liturgy and Sacraments

Living the Mass
Means of Grace, Ways of Life: Sacramental Theology
Living the Sacraments: Finding God at the Intersection of Heaven and Earth (Joe Paprocki’s newest book, available Fall, 2018)

Prayer and Spirituality