Thirty years of teaching religion at school is an opportunity to examine conscience, but also to designate some new directions and new tasks that await catechesis, according to Bishop Marek Mendyk, former chairman of the Catholic Education Committee. 30 years of catechesis at school was one of the topics of the 386th Plenary Meeting of the Polish Bishops’ Conference held on August 27-29 this year. at Jasna Góra.
Bishop Mendyk noted that the first thing that should be paid attention to is, first of all, shaping the awareness and awakening the identity of the catechist. “The catechist must know who he is, what mission he has to fulfill, what he wants to build on. This is a task that the Commission sets itself for the future when it comes to relations with the directors of religious education departments, ”he said.
Bishop Mendyk mentioned the formation of catechists as the second issue. “It is not only a substantive formation but also a spiritual formation. Although the catechists last year passed this exam well when there were strikes, life brings new problems and it turns out that this formation is extremely important and necessary,” he stressed.
He also emphasized the essence of boldly entering the information space in the sense of new information technologies and reaching people. “I think it is not only a middle ground but a space where we should be boldly present with the Good News.”
Bishop Mendyk also drew attention to the pedagogization of parents, i.e. meeting the problems that life brings. “The idea is to show parents the problems that life brings, the world brings, to help them read these problems and find solutions,” he said.
