Catechumens

Instruction of Catechumens:

In this important work of preaching and teaching the GOOD NEWS in Africa, the catechists have been, and continue to be INVALUABLE! If it were not for this institution of dedicated men and women, whose faith is profound and strong, the Church in Africa would not have developed to become what it is today.

1. Because of the enormous distances to cover, in order to reach the remote mission outstations, and in case of the absence of the missionaries, the catechist is trained to lead the community in prayer on Sunday.

2. The catechist also visits the sick, and is present at funerals.

3. He organizes community meetings to plan village improvement projects.

4. Because the missionaries cannot be in all the mission outstations at the same time, the catechist organizes, coordinates, and supervises Christian Instruction classes once a week, for the catechumens of his own village, as well as the surrounding villages. He also supervises the preparation for the reception of the sacraments.

The Missionaries of Africa have always been involved in the training of catechists and seminaries for priesthood, in all countries they have worked in. They have always attempted to face and deal with the root causes of poverty, which are illiteracy, ignorance, and the lack of formal primary education for boys and girls alike.

Over the years, they have worked to establish training centers for catechists. They have been able to offer the following formats:

• Interdiocesan Centers, where 2 full years of complete training is offered for entire families.

• One year course, offering to catechists a program of basic essential teaching and pedagogical skills.

• Seminars, workshops, and courses lasting as much as two weeks or as little as 2 to 3 days, over any given period of time.

Let's look at a few urgent needs:

Would you be interested in sharing some of the concerns of the Missionaries of Africa in the area of education and formation for catechists and seminarians?

We are presently trying to provide for the training of men and women catechists in Mwanza diocese of Tanzania. I just finished reading a letter from:

Rev. Baltazary Doto
Assistant Pastor of
Ibindo Catholic Parish
Mwanza Diocese

Rev. Doto says, "I am concerned about providing and updating courses and seminars for the catechists of my parish, after hearing the theme of the Third Millennium proclaimed throughout the Archdiocese of Mwanza, 'DEEPER EVANGELIZATION IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM'".

Rev. Doto would like to offer a series of seminars, as he says, "... to emphasize the need for active and full participation of the catechists in evangelization and development", throughout the upcoming year. He plans to organize 3 three-day seminars, which will be attended by no less than 50 catechists.

Would you consider contributing to Dev. Dr. Doto's project, so that he can offer these training seminars to his catechists, as we enter with them into the Third Millennium???

Another request comes from Rulenge Diocese, in Tanzania. Bishop Niwe Mugizi turned to us recently for financial assistance.

Bishop Mugizi rejoices that his diocese has been blessed with many vocations... 36 major seminarsians this year, to be more precise!! We rejoice too, because the Missionaries of Africa, in the past, were in charge of seminaries and houses of formation for a good many years, and we are still involved to a certain degree even today.

You may be wondering what it costs Rulenge to maintain a young candidate for the priesthood, in a major seminary for one year? Well... no more than $400 USD!

Bishop Mugizi is asking for partial funding for his seminarians for one year. He would be extremely pleased if we could assist him with $8,000 USD. And as he requests financial assistance from us, I am sure he is thinking of the population of his diocese, which has soared to 840,300 inhabitants... of whom 487,000 are Catholics.