Church of St. Anne (1846)
Jalan Kulim, 14000 Bukit Mertajam
T: 04-5386405
F: 04-5387422
Parish Priest : Msgr. Stephen Liew
Assistant Priest: Rev. Simon Ee, CDI
In Residence : Rev. Francis Chao,: Rev Alexander Edwin, Rev Clement Pereira
Saturday Sunset Mass: 7.00 pm (3rd Sat. only in English)
Sunday Masses :
8.00 am (English)
10.00 am (Mandarin)
5.00 pm (Tamil - 2nd & 4th Sunday)
St. Anne's Shrine: 11.00 am (1st Sunday)
Chapels:
Chapel of Our Lady of Fatima, Berapit (Occasional)
Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows, Alma (Occasional)
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Catechists called to echo God's word |
| Posted by Diocese of Penang (pgdiocese) on Oct 05 2007 |
30 September 2007
BUKIT MERTAJAM: A second session for catechists was held at the Church of St Anne. The speaker Dr Steven Selvaraju, shared this one-day session with the theme Sowing the Seeds of Faith. Dr Steven holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology with specialisation in Catechetics and Youth Ministry from the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome. He is also the Director for our Malaysian Catechetical Syllabus.
Catechists from the Nativity of Beloved Virgin Mary, Butterworth and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Kulim also joined this one-day programme. Dr Steven started the session by reading a passage from the Bible, ‘The sower and the seeds,’ from Mark 4:3-9.
“The catechist is like a sower. We are committed to the parish as we come every week to sow the seeds of faith. And the seeds are the words and teachings of God.”
He further explained that the seeds that we sow have to be good seeds, just like the farmer chooses the best quality seeds to get the best harvest. Like in the Bible passage, the soil, rocky ground, and the thorny bush represent the children and teenagers.
Dr Steven prefers not to call the teenagers children as they are going through the age in which they are searching for their identity towards adolescence.
“Do you know that only five per cent of faith formation is formed in the catechism class, while the other 95 per cent, the children and teenagers learn from their parents, friends and people around them?” he asked the catechist.
“The word Catechist derived from a Greek word means to echo or re-sound and as catechists we echo God’s word though our words and actions. A catechist means, ‘the deepest dimension refers to the very being of catechist,’ he explained further.
Then, Dr Steven conducted interesting ice-breaking activities.
Dr Steven then explained the importance of a catechist, by referring to Jeremiah 1:4-10. “In these verses, our vocation as catechist is being clearly stated.”
A cateshist plays three important roles: to Teach, Witness and Herald. He stressed that we do not only give input during the classes, but also to gain output.
All those present were made to feel very special when Dr Steven emphasised how important they all were: “We are set apart, chosen from the community, to the community. We are different and unique and we respect each other. And most importantly, we can lose our vocation if we do not reach our own spirituality.”
Dr Steven shared with us lots of interesting true stories that made us laugh and ponder as well. He impressed us with his drawing skills on each of his slides.
Before the session ended, he went on to explain the responsibility a catechist should carry. “We do not carry the responsibility all by ourselves, but to share it with the community and do not think you are burdened. Plant the right seed in the right way and allow God to do His work.”
An evaluation form was passed around for the catechists to evaluate themselves as a catechist. The session ended with a prayer and fellowship.
— By Marlina Sara Sylvester
Last changed: Oct 08 2007 at 9:03 AM
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