By Paula Day

More than 22,000 young people from kindergarten through 12th grade will grow in knowledge of the Catholic faith this year primarily by attending religious education classes in their parishes.

The Georgia Bulletin asked Robert Melevin, archdiocesan consultant for leadership formation in religious education and ministry, to talk about the challenges facing the archdiocese in providing quality religious education for its young people.

Melevin is responsible for the archdiocese’s catechist certification program and several lay leadership programs. In addition to these, he serves as a resource for adolescent catechetical programs.

Q. In layman’s terms what is a catechist?

A. A catechist is a person who takes responsibility for the faith formation of another person. This would include parents and, in fact, should include all baptized Catholics. In a narrower focus, catechists are those people commissioned by their parish for this responsibility.

Q. What are the requirements for catechist certification in the archdiocese of Atlanta?

A. For level one, basic certification, the catechist must complete within two years a total of 15 hours of preparation, three in each of five specific areas: revelation and faith, elements of the Christian message, the Church, fundamentals of catechetics and lesson planning, and faith development and the learning process.

For level two, or advanced certification, the catechist must complete within three years a total of 35 hours, five each in the areas of the sacraments, morality, Scripture, prayer and liturgy, and 15 in methodology.

Q. Understand these requirements were revised in 1990 from earlier ones. Why?

A. We used to require 90 clock hours. The number has been lowered because the original number seemed an unrealistic expectation to ask of volunteers. We also wanted to give the catechists some sense of accomplishment early on, rather than wait for them to accumulate a number of hours.

Q. How many catechists are certified?

A. As of March, 1991, our most recent parish census data, 553 are certified out of 3,740.

Q. That doesn’t seem to be a sizable proportion. Can you explain that?

A. The archdiocesan policy is only as good as the parish. It’s a little more difficult for people outside of Atlanta to complete the process, but we do find the enthusiasm outside of Atlanta very strong.

The real challenge in many parishes is that some catechists think that just by volunteering they are contributing enough to the effort. But for many catechists, their education as a child is not sufficient for teaching in the Church today. Our task is to help the catechists reflect on the Church’s teaching at an adult level and then help them with methods of approaching these ideas at an appropriate level of the child.

A. Can you give an example of limited or misinformation you’re specifically aware of?

A. During the Gulf crisis, I was visiting a parish and overheard a catechist in a Confirmation class tell the young people the whole crisis had been foretold in the Book of Revelation. I pointed out to the coordinator that the catechist needed formation in the area of Scripture so she could present our Catholic view on the matter.

Many times when catechists participate in a formation program we hear comments such as “I never knew this before,” “Why haven’t I been told this before?” and they usually ask for more sessions.

Q. If I were a director of religious education (DRE) or religious education coordinator, I’d be reluctant to ask a volunteer who is already giving time each week out of what is probably a busy schedule with family, work and what not, to give more time to become certified. And if catechists are hard to come by, I’d be even more hesitant. What’s your response?

A. It has been shown in many volunteer programs, not particularly in the Church, that well-formed volunteers who are informed about how to perform their function will remain with the program because they feel comfortable with what they’re doing and have a direction for what they’re asked to do.

Also, we as a church have an obligation to the parents to provide quality catechesis.

Q. What does the archdiocese offer to help provide quality catechesis?

A. One of the strengths of our formation program is the effort to make it available as far as possible to all catechists.

Office of Religious Education staff members offer our services as consultants to parishes and we present workshops. If one of the three of us is not available, we will suggest other possible presenters. This year I will spend three of the four weeks out of each month in rural areas in the archdiocese.

Also, it is not necessary to have a live presenter. We have videos available through the Office of Religious Education. Catechists may gather in a parish to view and discuss these and complete the formation program.

Q. Is it possible for catechists to be prepared well without using archdiocesan resources?

A. In parishes that have qualified coordinators or directors of religious education we strongly urge these people to do formation in their own parish. I see this as the primary role of the coordinator, to form catechists. As we make available video resources, they may be used in formation. If a catechist does independent study, this may apply to the certification program.

We must remember that certification doesn’t evaluate, it doesn’t say whether catechists are good teachers or not. It says they have taken hours of formation in areas that will help prepare them to feel confident in the catechetical presentation.

Q. What about the approximately 2,100 who are not certified. Do you have an evidence they are working on their certification?

A. I hear from directors and coordinators all the time that their catechists are working toward certification. Many just haven’t taken the time to complete the paperwork.

Approximately 900 attended the two-day Catechetical Institute last year. That’s a fourth of our catechists. Since these sessions offer certification hours, this would indicate that many catechists have completed the hours, but haven’t yet applied for certification.

Also we must realize we have a transient population, especially in the metro Atlanta area. Within a year or two there is a rapid turnover of catechists, as well as coordinators and directors. The result may be they begin the certification process and then move. It would be normal for a parish to have a 30 to 50 percent turnover, so it’s a never-ending challenge.

Q. Isn’t that a good argument for not having volunteers?

A. No. In the first place, parishes could not afford to pay their catechists. But more important, the role of catechist is the role of the whole parish, not just the professionals. We are called by our baptism to declare the “Good News” of salvation. To be a catechist is the baptismal call of every Christian.

Q. So, what do you consider the greatest challenge for the archdiocese in the area of catechist formation?

A. The real problem, real challenge is for the parish – the pastor, DRE, or coordinator of religious education – to hold the catechist accountable.

We could have guidelines, certification programs, whatever, to help, but the local parish has to make catechesis one of the major priorities of its mission. The policy of catechist formation is only as good as the parishes' implementation.

One of the obstacles in our archdiocese is that the catechist may not be challenged to participate in formation programs because parish leadership, coordinators, directors, have not been formed themselves. The archdiocese does offer some programs for these parish leaders.

Q. You have been in the Office of Religious Education now for five years. Have you seen any progress in the area of catechist formation?

A. I’ve seen a real effort by parishes in the metropolitan area to have well-formed coordinators and directors.

Q. How would you assess the overall picture of catechesis in the archdiocese?

A. The archdiocese is presently emerging from a narrow focus on child-centered faith formation to a total parish-centered formation program. We are seeing that even to educate children we must first be concerned with the formation of adults.

Many catechists have told me parents are uncomfortable sharing their faith with their children. This seems to indicate many parents have been educated in the doctrines of the faith as a child, but they have not been helped to integrate these teachings into their adult life and then how to communicate that with others.

Q. How are parishes helping parents bridge this gap in adult understanding and feeling comfortable sharing their faith with their children?

A. Some parishes offer preparation session for parents for the sacraments of Eucharist, Reconciliation and Confirmation. Some offer adult education sessions at the same time children’s classes are offered.

Q. Can you give an example of a parish making great efforts in the area of faith formation and growth for all its parishioners?

A. St. Lawrence in Lawrenceville has committed the total parish staff to making catechist formation a priority. They offer monthly formation programs for catechists involving all levels, elementary, youth, adults and RCIA catechists. This means a cooperative effort between the pastor, Father Marty Kopchik, the DRE, Claudette Cuddy, and the youth minister, Bruce Keehner.

Q. How does the catechist formation in the archdiocese fit into the larger picture?

A. That’s a good question because many people think it’s only our archdiocese which promotes catechist certification. It was the mandate of the U.S. bishops in the 1979 “Sharing the light of Faith,” the National Catechetical Directory, that all dioceses are to offer catechist formation programs. Every diocese in the U.S. offers a catechist formation program.

Q. Vatican II marked a turning point in the Church in many ways. Was there any shift in the approach to catechesis?

A. Prior to Vatican II the emphasis in religious education was in memorizing doctrine. Immediately after Vatican II we saw the need to expand our understanding of religious education to include total faith formation. In that transition the areas we’d not emphasized previously such as participation in community and service were emphasized at the expense of knowledge of doctrine. Today we are using methods that incorporate all three.