By Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Navrongo (U/E), April 18, GNA – The Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese has trained and commissioned 105 Catechists, the first batch of Catechists who have received intensive training in the Diocese.
They were part of 119 people who graduated after completing a three-year training and formation programme at the Department of Faith Formation under the Diocese’s Centre for Development Communications (CEDEC).
They studied courses including Theology, Scripture, Church history and Catechetics (instructions before baptism or confirmation) among others.
Most Reverend Alfred Agyenta, the Catholic Bishop of the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, in his homily, encouraged the newly instituted Catechists to display honesty, integrity, and truthfulness in their work to contribute to the growth of the Church.
He said the Diocese had limited priests that could not reach every Church in the Diocese to proclaim the Gospel and noted that Catechists had important role to augment the efforts of the priests to serve the people.
Most Rev. Agyenta explained that per statistics from the Ghana Statistical Service during the 2021 Population and Housing Census, the population of the Catholic Church had steadily declined in population for some years, and it was imperative for the Catechists to support the priests to reverse the trend.
Reverend Father Felix Anafo, the Director of Catechetics, Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese, said the work of the Catechist included, visiting communities to conduct communion services, preparing children for sacrament and marriage counseling among others and exhorted them to dedicate themselves for the work of the Lord.
He urged the Catholic faithful to volunteer for God’s work and indicated that the Diocese was getting ready to recruit and train interested members.
A Catechist is a person who has gone through training in catechizes or teaches people who want to be Christians, particularly people who want to be part of the Catholic faith.
A Catechist supports the priest in conducting services or communion services at places where the priests are unable to reach and help prepare Christians to receive the Sacraments of the Catholic Church including Baptism and confirmation, among others.
GNA