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The Holy See has designated a number of Jubilee Days throughout 2025 to recognize and celebrate different groups of people and various ministries in the Church. The Jubilee of Catechists will be celebrated on September 26-28, 2025.
Spiritual Reflection
“The Church was founded so that by spreading Christ’s kingdom throughout the world to the glory of God the Father, every man and woman may share in the saving work of redemption, and so that through them the entire world may be truly directed towards Christ” (Apostolicam Actuositatem, no. 2). The Church teaches us that “in the building up of Christ’s Body various members and functions have their part to play. There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church” (Lumen Gentium, no. 7). One of these roles, present in the Church from her earliest beginnings, is that of catechist. The call to be a catechist is rooted in a person’s Baptism, strengthened by Confirmation and by regular participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Originally the term catechist referred to one who taught by mouth, but soon the term came to refer to any person who “instructed in the Word.” St. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, writes that “One who is being instructed [lit. a catechumen] in the word should share all good things with his instructor [lit. a catechizer or a catechist]” (Gal 6:6). Catechesis lies at the heart of the Church’s mission to make disciples of all nations. Pope St. John Paul II called it a “sacred duty and inalienable right” of the Church (Catechesi Tradendae, no. 14). Lay catechists have a beautiful part in the call to bring people to Christ, as we read in the Directory for Catechesis:
The immediate reasons why a catechist is called to serve the word of God vary greatly, but they are all means which God, through the Church, uses to call people to his service. Through this calling, the catechist is made a participant in Jesus’s mission of introducing disciples into his filial relationship with the Father. The true protagonist of all authentic catechesis is however the Holy Spirit, who by means of the profound union with Jesus Christ, which is nurtured by every catechist, gives efficacy to human efforts in catechetical activity. This activity is carried out in the bosom of the Church: the catechist is a witness to her living condition and a mediator who facilitates the incorporation of new disciples of Christ into his ecclesial Body (Directory for Catechesis, no. 112).
Catechists must recognize that the teaching they hand on is not their own but Christ’s. Through their words and life catechists proclaim the kerygma, and they make known Jesus’ teachings and life to those whom they catechize (see Catechesi Tradendae, no. 6). This time of Jubilee set aside for catechists is a reminder of the ongoing role that many of the Christian faithful have in supporting the Church’s mission to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” (Mt 28:19). “Catechesis is necessary both for the maturation of the faith of Christians and for their witness in the world: It is aimed at bringing Christians to ‘attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’; it is also aimed at making them prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls them to account for the hope that is in them" (Catechesi Tradendae, no. 25).
Here are some suggestions for celebrating catechists* in your parish:
Download Prayers.
Download a list of Key Saints and Blesseds.
Other Resources:
*It should also be noted that the official language used for this particular celebration on the Vatican calendar calls it a Jubilee of Catechists. A catechist is a “Christian who receives a particular calling from God that, when accepted in faith, empowers him for the service of the transmission of faith and for the task of initiating others into the Christian life” (Directory for Catechesis, no. 112). Though the official celebration of the Jubilee of Catechists in Rome includes the institution of men and women in the ministry of catechist on Sunday, September 28, it should be noted that the Jubilee of Catechists includes those catechists who are not called to be part of the instituted ministry of catechist.