The national launch of the ‘Ministry of Catechist’ is expected this September with a six-month preparation phase before candidates enter formal formation in 2026, The Irish Catholic has learned.
Dr Alexander O’Hara, who was the National Director for Catechetics until a few weeks ago told The Irish Catholic the role is a formal lay ministry that is “akin to the permanent diaconate” and goes further than just teaching the Faith. He said that “there will be a discernment phase for dioceses in terms of making it open to candidates. I believe that’s planned for September 2025… and then people will enter formation for September 2026”.
Dr O’Hara explained: “It is a vocational lay ministry, so it’s open to men and women. Catechists are very important in the Church in Africa and Latin America, you may not have many priests there so the catechists play very much a leadership role. So, this ministry is really working under the bishop in a diocese, they are given a public ecclesial mandate and are instituted for life.”
Pope Francis established the lay ministry of catechist in 2021. Since then national guidelines prepared over the course of three years have been published, so “basically the work has been done, it’s just up to the bishops now to roll it out and to push it,” according to Dr O’Hara.
“There’s a difference between people that are doing catechetical activity versus people that feel it is a vocational calling that is coming from the Holy Spirit, and they want to discern this and like any ministry, is conferred and confirmed by the Church – by the bishop,” he said.
Dr O’Hara said that the guidelines around instituting catechists are “quite flexible” and that ultimately it is up to each bishop. If they believe a person already has the requisite training, they can be made lay catechists.
“So there is that flexibility in terms of the bishop having the ultimate authority in terms of who he institutes for this ministry. You’re instituted for life, but you should be given a public ecclesial mandate by the bishop for one-three years and that can be renewed,” he said.
“If the bishops conference properly run with this and implement it, it has exciting implications for the Church. I do hope they follow through and implement it because a lot of work has gone into this, very much consulting with dioceses and various working groups that we had.”
Looking to the future, and his hopes for the ministry and what it can achieve particularly for the Irish Church, Dr O’Hara said: “The focus should be on adult catechises and adult faith formation, and if you look at what came through from dioceses in terms of the synod consultations, a lot of it was about adult faith formation.
“Traditionally in Ireland we focus too much on sacramental preparation of children, but actually if you look at the directory for catechises published by the Vatican, the focus should be adult faith formation. That’s where we need to put out focus now. A lot of people need that formation, that’s where the ministry of catechist could play a really important part.”
The National Guidelines called ‘Fan into a Flame’ and more information about the Ministry of Catechist are available at: religiouseducation.ie
