The much debated drop in attendance at Sunday Masses has led naturally to a discussion about why. It is clear that today’s secularist culture has much to do with the decline.

But, surely, part of the problem is what some have described as “a crisis in the transmission of the faith” - the challenge to pass on the message of Christ and of his Church in a way that is appropriate for our time.

It is a “crisis” occasioned by faulty catechesis, by a poor understanding of what is required of the Catholic believer. It must have been this awareness that led the bishops of the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) to formulate, in 2000, the Pastoral Letter “On the Ministry of Catechesis”.

The AEC document called for a consistent interaction between faith and the life of the Catholic believer, “a raising of consciousness about the social obligations of the faith.”

Catechesis is defined in the Apostolic Exhortation Catechesis In Our Time as “an education of children, young people and adults in the faith, which includes especially the teaching of Christian doctrine imparted, generally speaking, in an organic and systematic way, with a view to initiating hearers into the fullness of Christian life”.

It is, therefore as the AEC letter expresses it “a life-long process”. It begins in the family and is meant to span the entire life of the individual. It is wrongly understood as a programme to prepare children for the sacraments.

Catholic Christian Life must be lived and shared in community. It is the responsibility of the entire Christian community. Catechesis “requires an authentic Christian community for the ministry and aims at the development of authentic Christian community as the goal of its ministry,” say the AEC bishops.

The lay apostolate

In today’s communication environment sound catechesis will require knowledge and use of new media, at least by some. In the past year, we saw one attempt at adult formation through the use of DVDs disseminated in our parishes.

The Archdiocese will have to continually seek creative ways to further the catechetical thrust. One hopeful initiative of the Archdiocesan Catechetical Office seeks to cater to children who have made First Communion but are not yet ready to enter Confirmation class.

The plan envisages that primary school leavers – 11 and 12 year olds – attend sessions in their parishes every two or three weeks where they are helped to grow in their faith through a variety of exercises and are equipped to start Confirmation classes with more than First Communion knowledge.

Having enrolled in this “Promises of God” programme children are no longer registered for Confirmation but are ushered from this group into direct preparation for the sacrament.

The parishes that have adopted this approach are already recording some success. The programme should have received a real boost this year since for first time the Catechetical Office sent data to parishes about Catholic children who have entered secondary school and should be part of this group.

On this the final weekend of Catechetical Month, we congratulate all our catechists and indeed all who have embraced the vision of lifelong and total parish catechesis. Assisting in this process is the Alpha programme, which has been established in several parishes in recent times.

But much work has been done over the years through small faith communities in our parishes which have assisted in forming disciples with strong Catholic identity. All these must be sustained.

Critical to all our catechetical work is the development of a lay apostolate who become expert in adult formation. It is one of the areas in which the Catholic Religious Education Institute (CREDI) will have to play a significant part.