ASIA – After the “Antiquum Ministerium”: the key role of catechists in the Salesian mission in India

by Stefano Lodigiani

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “We firmly believe that the mission of catechesis in India is strong only in the preparation of lay catechists and catechism teachers, who play an important role in nurturing and defending the faith of our youth. We must therefore continue the tradition carried on by our first missionaries in the formation and empowerment of laity for this important mission of evangelization and catechesis”. This was emphasized by Pastor Sivy Koroth, Salesian (SDB), coordinator of the faith education dimension for the Salesian South Asia region, which includes India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. “Pope Francis’s Apostolic Letter Antiquum Ministerium has been well received in India, and the Episcopal Conference has organized an online training program for catechists”, the Salesian priest noted, also recalling a meeting held in Hyderabad (see photo) at the “Antiquum Ministerium”, which brought together the Dimensional coordinators for the faith education of the South Asia Salesian region, as well as the two Provincial Leaders. Father Sivy Koroth underscored for Agenzia Fides the importance of catechists, and even more today, for evangelization, and the commitment of Salesians to their formation, which goes back to the first missionaries of the Salesian Society of Saint John Bosco, who arrived in this land a century ago.

Don Bosco, explained Father Sivy Koroth, began his mission to young people with a simple “Hail Mary”. For him, teaching young people about the truth of our faith is the most important task of youth mission. The Salesian missionaries who arrived in India more than a century ago carried in their hearts the same apostolic zeal for evangelism and catechesis as Don Bosco. Missionaries setting out to proclaim the Gospel far and wide in this country, especially in the northeastern part of India, which includes various cultural and linguistic groups, need the help of committed laypeople who can accompany them and support the mission they founded. Missionaries follow the style of the apostles by traveling through villages and staying in one place for a few weeks or months at most, teaching, preaching, and administering the sacrament. As soon as the missionaries leave the village, lay catechists accompany the faithful on their journey of faith. Thus, since the beginning of the Salesian mission in India, lay catechists have been its backbone.

In his memoirs, Monsignor Mathias, India’s first Salesian inspector, relates how, in the early 1920s, he accompanied a group of young Salesians on their famous “missionary tour” through the hill region of Meghalaya. They moved from village to village, bringing food, blankets, musical instruments, visual aids for catechisms (pictures, posters, press clippings) and primitive cinema projectors, to project Bible films. Therefore, the arrival of the missionaries was a feast for the village: music and singing, entertainment and, of course, many catechesis, followed by confession and a solemn celebration of the Eucharist. The local catechist assists the missionaries on this journey.

With the arrival of the Salesians, local catechists ceased to be simple prayer teachers, but became a kind of “substitute priests” who took care of the spiritual and pastoral life of the inhabitants of a village. It is said that in 1932, Fr Alessi set up specially trained “catechical examiners” in Tezpur, who moved from village to village to supervise and guide the ministry of other catechists. They then prepare monthly reports for the missionaries and review plans and strategies for continuing their missions based on the needs they encounter. They also provide the population with books and pamphlets published by the missionaries. Unfortunately, we do not know the number of catechists involved at that time by the Salesians on missions in India. There are certainly hundreds of them.

In India, a new step forward in Salesian catechesis was noted since the 1970s, motivated by the request of the Salesian Special General Chapter (1972), which declared “youth catechesis” to be “the first and main activity of our apostolate”, and asked to “rethink and reorganize” all other activities in relation to the formation of the faith of young people (cf. SGC 279). The Chapter reminded that Christ’s presentation to young people is the main reason for the existence of the Salesians.
The Indian provinces have responded to the Congregation’s call to revive this call. The catechetical centers established in Kolkata (NITIKA) in 1976 and in Bangalore (Kristu Jyoti College) in 1977, were only the beginning of the many other catechetical centers that have developed in the country. The Salesian Network in India currently has several faith formation centers, both in cities and rural areas. Deepakam in Chennai, Kapadvanj in Gujarat, Bosco Ashram at Ponnur in Andhra, Alaihal in Tiruchy, and the Salesian catechesis centers in Pune, Lukme and Shillong deserve special mention for their creative and contextual approaches to faith formation. These catechetical centers focus mainly on the training of lay catechists and catechetical teachers, while offering special catechetical courses for priests and consecrated persons, as well as on the production of catechetical materials for catechists to use effectively in their ministry.

Each Salesian province in India prepares its catechists and catechetical teachers by offering catechetical training at one of its catechetical centers. The Bangalore Catechetic Center (Visvadeep) offers diplomas in catechesis after a one year course. The center has formed more than 600 dedicated religious, mainly women, who are involved in evangelization and catechesis missions across India. In 2021, Guwahati province is hosting a year of faith formation for 125 catechists from India’s northeastern state. Hundreds of lay catechists, male and female, are regularly trained through short-term coaching and animation programs organized at all other catechetical centers in India.

At the level of the South Asian Salesian Provincial Conference (SPCSA), in 2023 the Salesian Families Commission organized two catechesis formation programs (in Guwahati and Bangalore) for fifty members of the Salesian Family involved in catechesis and evangelization. Ministry of Youth Dimension SPCSA for Education in the Faith organized an animation program for provincial coordinators with the theme ‘Antiqueum Ministerium’. Following this program, in August 2023, Dimensions of Education in Faith organized a three-day formation program for catechist coaches, to promote more effective catechesis of the laity in various provinces of the South Asia Salesian Region”.
(Agenzia Fides 22/7/2023)

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