Rome (Italy). On 7 October 2022, the Feast of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, the first online meeting of the International Commission for Catechesis of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians took place as the beginning of a process of reflection in search of ways to reinvigorate the educational mission by giving a new impulse to catechesis.
The Commission is made up of eight FMA from different Provinces of the world: Sr. Theresa Marie Kelly (SEC), Sr. María del Carmen Juárez Roldán (MME), Sr. Paula Cristina Langa (MOZ), Sr. Teresa Mai Thi Diem Huong (VTN), Sr. Aurora del Carmen Escobar Hodar (SPA), and Sr. Runita Borja, Sr. Sarah Garcia, Sr. Ana Victoria Ulate, Councilor and collaborators of the Youth Ministry Sector of the FMA Institute.
The Commission was convened in response to the solicitation of the 24th General Chapter regarding community presence in outreach and online, in particular the believing presence. In fact, in the Acts of the Chapter state, “We are convinced that the proclamation of Jesus is the priority mission of the Institute and that in the Church we are catechists by vocation (Cf C 70)” (Acts n ° 30).
A significant moment of the meeting was the presentation by Sr. Runita Borja of some references to Catechesis present in the Constitutions and other documents of the FMA Institute: Report of the 2014-2020 Six-year term, Working Tool and the Acts of GC 24, and Programming of the General Council for the 2022 – 2027 Six-year term, in addition to the Final Document of the 2018 Synod of Bishops on “Young people, faith and vocational discernment”.
The dialogue then focused on sharing about the challenges of catechesis in different contexts, the dream that each one carries in her heart regarding catechesis, and the exchange of ideas to give greater impetus to catechesis in the FMA Institute. Among the challenges that emerged, those relating to secularization, spiritual nomadism, globalization and human mobility, the anthropological question and gender ideologies, the world of communications, and others were highlighted.
Some dreams expressed by the participants are: to renew oneself in faith, in the encounter with Jesus who moves to proclaim Him; to be systematically formed, FMA and laity, in catechesis; thinking together of new languages and paths for a catechetical renewal; offer guidelines for Catechesis as an FMA Educating Community, etc.
From this meeting the idea was born of carrying out a small survey aimed at the Provinces, to get to know the realities better and concretely, taking into account resources, formation needs, objectives, and concrete possibilities to carry out the commitment to catechesis.
