This weekend we celebrate Catechetical Sunday and the start of religious education at the Catholic Community of Our Lady of Mount Carmel! If you have not registered your child for Confirmation of Religious Education please consider doing so soon and if you are able please consider volunteering in the many programs we offer our youth! Check out below, Cardinal Tobin’s letter on this special weekend!
My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
On one Sunday each year the Catholic Church in the United States focuses special attention on its teaching ministry. This year dioceses across the country will mark Catechetical Sunday 2017 on September 17th, using the theme established by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: “Living As Missionary Disciples.” The Archdiocese of Newark celebrates this theme in every parish as we commission the faithful who serve as catechists in faith formation programs, Catholic schools, youth ministry, adult catechetical programs and in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. At the same time, we should recall that the mission of catechesis, that is, living as missionary disciples and helping others to do the same – belongs to all of us. Every baptized person shares in the call to proclaim the Gospel by the way we live and the choices we make. The catechetical mission is given in an extraordinary fashion to parents, who are the first educators of their children in the faith. Through its faith formation program, each parish must support the family in their crucial responsibility.
The Bishops of this country propose that we consider a very powerful theme this year: “Living As Missionary Disciples.” To be a disciple implies a relationship with the Master with whom we live as apprentices in faith, learning by living the words of Jesus and sharing in his mission. We stand beside the apostles and hear the words of the risen Lord, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you…” (Mt. 28:19-20a). Jesus commissions us to draw others into intimate communion with him. Thus, the purpose of catechesis is to lead us ever closer to Jesus through a deeper understanding of Him and His teaching, illuminating our vocation as Catholic Christians to “live as missionary disciples.”
As your Archbishop, I join all the faithful in grateful recognition of our brothers and sisters who offer such incredibly generous service as catechists and parish catechetical leaders as well as Catholic schoolteachers and administrators. Let us together offer them our support and our prayers.
May God bless you abundantly as you take up your mission as catechists of God’s people of the Church of Newark.
With every good wish, I remain
Sincerely yours in Christ the Redeemer,
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R.
Archbishop of Newark