AMERICA/BRAZIL - III Catechesis Week of Brazil, October 6-11, on “Christian Initiation”

Itaci (Agenzia Fides) – From October 6-11, in Itaci, upon the initiative of the Bishops' Coommission for Biblical-Catechetical Animation of the National Conference of the Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), there will be a 3rd Catechesis Week in Brazil on the theme “Christian Initiation.” An estimated 460 people including specialists and coordinators in catechesis from Brazil's 271 dioceses are expected to attend the event, which is taking place at the end of the National Catechetical Year proclaimed by the CNBB in April and as a fruit of the parish study courses on the text entitled “Catechesis, Path for Discipleship.”
“The 3rd Brazilian Catechesis Week is a continuation of the path of catechesis begun in Brazil by the 'Renewed Catechesis' Document of 1983, as well as inspired by the Latin American Bishops' General Conference in Medellin,” said Irma Zelia Maria Batista, member of the Commission for Biblical-Catechetical Animation. The document “has renewed in us a catechetical spirit that is more Christocentric, Biblical, and transforming,” she added. The theme chosen this year, as she informed us, responds to the appeal made by the Latin American Bishops' Conference in Aparecida in 2007, which proposed “a permanent and integral formation, considering that souls will never be sufficiently evangelized...”
“The great challenge today is placing an end to the mentality of the past and overcoming a pastoral policy of maintenance, as the Aparecida Document has asked us,” Zelia Maria Batista said. The Church should be concerned “in formation of Christian adults in the faith and this is why catechesis is geared towards adults.” In addition, it should also be “permanent and gradual,” following the “usual course of preparation for the sacraments that we have in our parishes.” Among the featured speakers during the Week is Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, who will speak on October 9 on the theme “Missionary disciples today.” (GT) (Agenzia Fides 28/9/2009)