by Ms. Alisha Khemali

The Salesian Catechetical Centre, Pune, organized the Catechist Basic Training Course (CTBT) on June 22nd and 23rd, 2024, for 84 catechists of the Pune Diocese. 

Fr. Cyril led a session, explaining that the role of a catechist. He stated that being a catechist is a vocation and not merely a teacher. Br. Jittin conducted a session on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, introducing the attendees to the Youcat and Docat and how one needs to refer to them. He spoke of them as aids to sustain one's faith, the relationship between God and humans, and spoke of the importance of prayer and Christian life.

Fr. Dinesh Vasava, the Director of SCCP, emphasized that being a catechist is a call to serve the church and outlined the qualities essential for a catechist. The Core Committee of the Salesian Catechetical Centre, took sessions like "Come and See," "How Did Jesus Teach?" (the methodology of Jesus), and “the content and inspiration of the Bible.”

Fr. Ian Doulton and Mr. Uday Patil stressed the importance of proper lesson planning and showed the catechists how to plan a lesson.

The Catechist Basic Training course concluded with a Eucharistic celebration.

One of the catechists remarked, “All the resource persons were well-prepared and taught us how to be well- prepared in our lesson plans. I have learned a lot of values and insights that I will take back to my Sunday School class. The sessions have enriched our role as catechists.”